Far from any police station, a team of specialist investigators is working side-by-side with counsellors to support victim-survivors of sexual harm.
Inside Arch, a multi-disciplinary space comprising counsellors, trained support specialists and a team of Tasmania Police detectives, the lighting is soft, the wallpaper a muted forest green.
Everything about the service - even down to the clothes staff wear - is intentional and trauma-informed.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, an important time for the broader community to recognise the prevalence of sexual harm in the community.
There are no uniformed police at Arch. The team of specialist police investigators, lead by Detective Sergeant Leighton Riggall, wear smart casual dress.
The result is as unlike a traditional police station as possible - and designed with the best interests of victim-survivors in mind.
"We get a better evidentiary product at the end of the day if it comes to us to investigate, because they're (the victim-survivors who come to the service) comfortable, and they're safe, and it's not in a police station," Detective Sergeant Riggall said.
"They're not going to bump into a criminal out the front that's signing in on bail."
Coming forward after two decades
In its first year, nearly 300 people accessed support on offer at Arch. The program has since expanded to offer its broad range of services across the state in Launceston, Burnie and Hobart.
Statewide Coordinator Alison Birchall said consistently across the three years that Arch has operated in the North and South, about a third of clients were children.
The majority of victim-survivors are female, and access support at Arch within 12 months of being sexually harmed.
Ms Birchall said Arch has even supported people who were in their eighties and have come forward about sexual harm they experienced more than twenty years ago.
"I also think that's something really special: that people at that stage in their life who have perhaps accessed support based around their experience for the first time in 20 years is a really good reflection on how well the model supports and welcomes people," she said.
The sentiment was echoed by Detective Sergeant Riggall.
"The feedback has been it's a far better experience for a victim-survivor to come here, versus going to a police station," he said.
"Sexual harm is really complex. Sometimes it's someone they're in a relationship with, it might be a sibling or a relative, it might be someone they work with. There are all these factors that are barriers for people to report, or to take it through to the justice system if they want to."
Centred around the victim-survivor
Working together under the one roof, the atmosphere among staff across the service's multiple in-house organisations is collegial. Detective Sergeant Riggall's team of detectives are only one part of the picture.
Dedicated to providing trauma-informed support, counsellors from Laurel House, the state-wide sexual assault support service, also work out of the centre.
"We're all here for the victim-survivor," Laurel House Community Education Advocacy manager Kaity Graham said.
"I think it's the strength of this model where they otherwise would been isolated, trying to navigate those barriers, we can wrap around through this model to overcome some of them, alongside them."
Ms Birchall said Sexual Assault Awareness Month is, for Arch, a chance to shine a light on the experiences of victim-survivors and appreciate the courage they have in coming forward.
Sexual crimes still under-reported
Detective Riggall's team operates across the entire Northern district, a 19,975 km-squared area stretching up to Flinders Island. His detectives are trained in interviewing vulnerable people of all ages on crimes and offences that relate to sexual harm.
Sometimes victim-survivors have been traumatised for decades. Most of the time they have experienced significant harm.
"Typically, our detectives carry a range of investigations that can be something that happened today, to something that happened 50, 60, 70 years ago," Detective Sergeant Riggall said.
Like any other police squad investigating allegations of sexual harm, his team is confronted with the same challenges of crimes happening behind closed doors and a lack of eyewitnesses.
"I think it's grossly under-reported. So there's a lot that goes on that we don't actually ever hear about," Detective Sergeant Riggall said.
"So there are some definite challenges around it, but that doesn't stop us from doing the best we can for the people that come and see us."
Ms Birchall said the differences in methods and functions across the different organisations at Arch are not a weakness, but a strength.
"And being able to explore and gain more mutual understanding about each other through exploring difference is a really important part of working together effectively."
Arch's opening hours are 9am-5pm weekdays.
Specialist police investigators are available outside these hours on 131 444 and crisis phone counselling, as well as support to attend a forensic medical examination, is available 24/7 on 1800 697 877.