A new charity based in Pool has turned to technology to address problems associated with sexual violence and domestic abuse in the community.

The charity, named Skoodhya after the Cornish verb to assist, has installed a state-of-the-art “private cloud” system that allows charity workers to operate remotely while keeping information safe and secure.

This is because the work requires its team of 24 core staff and additional volunteers to hot-desk and work efficiently together, regardless of where they are in the county.

The charity, which is about to mark its first year in operation, said the new system will manage document versioning as well as handle vital backing-up automatically. It offers a high degree of security – vital for an organisation dealing with sensitive client information relating to victims of what are the most serious crimes.

The system was installed by CF Systems of Redruth, which even donated some of the IT hardware in an effort to help.

Sally Piper, chief executive of Skoodhya, said: “As someone who has worked in charities for some time I know that poor IT infrastructure is capable of keeping a charity from performing its best and we are not prepared to let that happen. We are very grateful for the support and help of CF Systems.”

As well as building public awareness of how to deal with abuse, the charity offers support to victims of harmful behaviour and educates the public to help reduce the likelihood of such harmful behaviour in the future.

Supported by organisations, including the NHS, the police and Cornwall Council, Skoodhya runs several related projects including the SAFE Project that builds awareness in young people of abusive relationships and ways to keep safe, the Willow Centre, Cornwall’s sexual assault referral centre, a support service for men and women who have been sexually assaulted and a service to support people who are called to attend inquests.

Tim Neasom, business development manager for CF Systems, said: “Domestic abuse and sexual violence is clearly a serious issue and we’ve been really impressed to see this charity with a vision of how technology can work for them. Though a small gesture, we were pleased to have been able to help by donating a small part of the system hardware – but the real win for us is seeing this charity able to help people more effectively.”