Hello! This has been a rather serious week (between this and this and a whole host of other stories) and I thought it might not be a bad idea to plug resources and services for people who have experienced sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence.
RAINN (the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1.800.656.HOPE and online.rainn.org).
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, it’s not your fault. You are not alone. Help is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE and online.rainn.org.
The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center does great work for a particularly underserved community.
A.A.R.D.V.A.R.C. supports victims of sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence in LGBT relationships (it happens! It happens more than you might think) — it can be additionally difficult to report or just find support when you’re also concerned about outing yourself or subjecting your relationship to anti-LGBT scrutiny.
If there’s another service you think merits support, please feel free to chime in below in the comments.
Tags: loose threads, sorry for the cheesy generic picture but you know, support
http://www.ihollaback.org/resources/responding-to…
What are some ways to volunteer/assist these organizations? I’ve been looking into volunteer options in the NYC area, but keep getting overwhelmed by the options and bailing (yes, I know this is bad).
I don’t specifically know what your local org needs, but plenty of rape crisis centers could use help with clerical work, setting up/taking down chairs etc. for support groups, and other types of help that don’t involve the super-tough emotional work. And they definitely can always use financial support!
You can probably look up organizations in your area and get in touch to see what sort of help they need.
Staffing a crisis hotline is an accessible means of volunteering. RAINN may have a branch or there could be advocacy services locally. Hard but necessary work.
RAINN has an online crisis hotline you can volunteer for if you don’t want to talk on the phone! Also, as accidentalbeard said, there’s probably a shelter near you that needs volunteers to do manual labor or the kind of background, behind-the-scenes work that just helps keep things running smoothly. I know the shelter I’m closest to has a thrift shop where they sell clothes to support the shelter and they use volunteers to staff it! So, no contact with the super hard emotional stuff. If you are interested in the super hard emotional stuff, you’ll have to go through some rigorous training first.
I’m going to be volunteering at The Ali Forney Center in the near future, if you’d like to meet up and go together some time! The resources are for homeless LGBTQ youth, rather than sexual violence resources, but I figured I’d post it here anyway. They have a whole bunch of options listed — ideally I’d like to help with recreational/creative activities, but I’m also perfectly willing to do meal preparation. My manager pointed me in the direction of Ali Forney, he has a friend who did a lot of volunteering in meal prep, which is basically making sandwiches for the kids, but he said he loved talking to them and getting to know them.
ARGH I somehow missed this for a full week, until today’s open thread. Let me know if you’d still interested in volunteering — it sounds like an incredible organization. I’m down for recreation/creative or meal prep!
http://www.safehorizon.org –This is in NYC. They have a 24-hour hotline and offer lots of different services.
Also, thanks for this! I’m a rape/SA survivor with PTSD, so I will definitely be saving this list as I can never have too many resources.
I would definitely suggest that folks look up local rape crisis centers to see if any are nearby – I don’t want to downplay RAINN but a lot of what they do is connect people with local resources and I feel like local centers often use their money in ways that don’t involve paying their president close to $300k per year and downplaying rape culture: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/03/18/r…
Local rape crisis centers probably need your money and support more than RAINN does, if you’re looking at donating, and if you need help they will be the best places to connect you with support in your particular area.
I’m also angry still because I had someone come to the live chat support at Scarleteen, describe a CLEAR instance of rape, and say “I got in touch with RAINN and when I told them this story, the person there said this wasn’t rape.” Which is never ok to say to someone who’s just described their experience, but ESPECIALLY NOT when you are a fucking rape crisis volunteer.
I have gone through the crisis line volunteer training at the Orange County Rape Crisis Center (of North Carolina, not California) and even though I’ve moved away I still donate because that is a really well-run center. Ocrcc.org
For teens/young adults, Scarleteen provides support for sexual assault and rape; there’s a list of our direct services here: http://www.scarleteen.com/need_help_now_a_guide_t…
I don’t have direct experience with Pandora’s Project but I’ve heard good things about this as a community of survivors providing support to each other: http://www.pandys.org/
These are specific to the Austin area, but: Safe Place, 24-hour hotline number 512.267.SAFE (7233) and Asian Family Support Services of Austin, serving Asian and immigrant communities, hotline number (877) 281-8371 or (512) 651-3743.
My local centre is here: http://www.sexualassaultniagara.org/ We do really good work, we got great training, and we can use volunteers and donations.
I’m just over the border in Buffalo! Is it weird to call us neighbors?
For Canadians:
– The Sexual Assault in Canada page has a lot of helpful resources for what you can do legally if you are a victim http://www.sexassault.ca
-Various region-specific links for emotional and physical support: http://crcvc.ca/links/ (scroll down to “support for women”)
-Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres: http://www.casac.ca/
-The Assaulted Women’s Helpline (24/7): 1-866-863-0511 http://www.awhl.org/
RAINN also posts links and help line telephone numbers for region-specific Canadian crisis centres.
Not a hotline, but for planning: http://www.womenslaw.org/ lays out a ton of information around leaving abusive relationships for those in the United States; not just safety tips, but what to expect from restraining orders and custody battles, what your state’s gun laws are, how to get a lawyer, lists of local shelters….
http://www.womenshelters.org/ is a (not complete, but comprehensive) list of shelters across the US.
In the SF Bay Area, Ruby’s Place has a particularly good reputation for protecting people. http://www.rubysplace.org/
And (because a lot of abusers threaten people through their pets) here’s a searchable list of shelters that take pets/have places you can safely leave your pet. http://www.petsofthehomeless.org/need-help/Homele…
It’s worth knowing that Motel 6 always takes pets, too, for a $10 additional fee.
The last line of your comment reminded me–there’s also http://www.petswelcome.com/, which is a searchable database of pet-friendly hotels. I did a couple test searches, and it looks like they have pretty comprehensive rundowns for most of the hotels re: fees and restrictions.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline http://www.thehotline.org/ can always use help (last year they were unable to answer 77,000 calls because they didn’t have the resources/staff to answer all the calls)
My former workplace. Based in Brighton in the UK. http://www.riseuk.org.uk/ It works with victims of domestic abuse.
I volunteer for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center!!! We have a 24/7 support and informational hotline which anyone can call at 800-841-8371 as well as free counseling, case management and legal advocacy for survivors and supporters of survivors in the great Boston Area. more info: http://www.barcc.org/
I’m a huge believer in BARCC and what we do! I volunteer with the hotline and it’s a wonderful and supportive group of people – I hope that if you’re a survivor, or a significant other (in any capacity) of a survivor you’ll reach out to someone if you feel you need to. taking care of yourself is hard but important work.
if you’re looking to volunteer/donate I’d agree that your local rape crisis center or shelter is a great great place to make a really immediate and meaningful difference in your community.
The Rape Crisis Center in San Antonio is top-notch.
SARA (sexual assault resource center) serves Charlottesville, VA, and its surrounding counties:
http://saracville.org/
Western New York:
Family Justice Center: http://www.fjcsafe.org
Haven House: http://www.cfsbny.org/programs/haven-house/
Erie County services and 24 hour hotline: http://www2.erie.gov/da/index.php?q=domestic-viol…
211 for WNY with links to services in all 8 counties: http://www.211wny.org
The Chicago YWCA does a lot – they have a rape crisis hotline and do outreach and education. And they provide free (yes free) counseling to survivors of sexual assault and abuse and non-offending family members. I had good experiences with the counselors I saw there.
Here’s the direct link to the counseling page – http://www.ywcachicago.org/site/c.fmJWKcOZJkI6G/b…
Big ups to the Northwest Network, they also work with BTLG survivors of DV, they do phone counseling, and some really excellent relationship skills classes and work wiht youth in Seattle. http://nwnetwork.org/