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The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is an American nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, the largest in the United States. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, as well as the Department of Defense Safe Helpline, and carries out programs to prevent sexual assault, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice through victim services, public education, public policy, and consulting services.
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1951 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the English speaking world at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have expanded their mandate to deal more generally with emotional crises. Similar hotlines operate to help people in other circumstances, including rape, bullying, self-harm, runaway children, human trafficking, and people who identify as LGBT or intersex. Despite crisis hotlines being common, their effectiveness in reducing suicides is unclear.
Sexual assault in the United States armed forces is an ongoing issue which has received extensive media coverage in the past. A 2012 Pentagon survey found that approximately 26,000 women and men were sexually assaulted that year; of those, only 3,374 cases were reported. In 2013, a new Pentagon report found that 5,061 troops reported cases of assault. Of the reported cases, only 484 cases went to trial; 376 resulted in convictions. Another investigation found that one in five women in the United States Air Force who were sexually assaulted by service members reported it, for one in 15 men.
Telephone counseling refers to any type of psychological service performed over the telephone. Telephone counseling ranges from individual, couple or group psychotherapy with a professional therapist to psychological first aid provided by para-professional counselors. In-person therapists often advise clients to make use of telephone crisis counseling to provide the client with an avenue to obtain support outside of therapy if they cannot be reached in an emergency or at the conclusion of a therapeutic relationship.
Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, reflective listening, or counseling. Peer support is also used to refer to initiatives where colleagues, members of self-help organizations and others meet, in person or online, as equals to give each other connection and support on a reciprocal basis.
Katherine Anne Castor is an American politician and lawyer currently representing Florida's 14th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, serving since 2007. The district, numbered as the 11th district from 2007 to 2013, is based in Tampa. A Democrat, Castor was a member of the Hillsborough County Commission.
Rape is a traumatic experience that affects the victim in a physical, psychological, and sociological way. Even though the effects and aftermath of rape differentiate among victims, individuals tend to suffer from similar issues found within these three categories. Long-term reactions may involve the development of coping mechanisms that will either benefit the victim, such as social support, or inhibit their recovery. Seeking support and professional resources may assist the victim in numerous ways.
Rape crisis centers (RCCs) are community-based organizations affiliated with the anti-rape movement that work to help victims of rape, sexual abuse, and sexual violence. Central to a community's rape response, RCCs provide a number of services, such as victim advocacy, crisis hotlines, community outreach, and education programs. As social movement organizations, they seek to change social beliefs and institutions, particularly in terms of how rape is understood by medical and legal entities and society at large. There is a great deal of diversity in terms of how RCCs are organized, which has implications for their ideological foundations, roles in their communities, and the services they offer.
Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR) is the only organization in Allegheny County solely devoted to the issues of sexual violence. It was founded in 1972 as a volunteer organisation by Anne Pride, and was the first rape crisis center in Pennsylvania. In 1977 it became one of the first centers in the United States to receive federal funding.
As defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, military sexual trauma (MST) are experiences of sexual assault, or repeated threatening sexual harassment that occurred while a person was in the United States Armed Forces.
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 9-8-8. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. The caller is routed to their nearest crisis center to receive immediate counseling and local mental health referrals. The lifeline supports people who call for themselves or someone they care about.
The Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center is a non-profit rape crisis center operating in Gurnee, Illinois, and was incorporated in 1983. The center is a member organization of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA), which provides funding and statewide standards for 33 rape crisis centers throughout Illinois.
Switchboard of Miami, Inc., commonly referred to as Switchboard, was a private, nonprofit and registered 501(c)(3) organization located in Miami, Florida, United States that provided Miami-Dade County with comprehensive telephone counseling and referral services to thousands of social service programs beginning in 1968. The organization also offered counseling services and prevention programs, such as initiatives aimed at assisting high-risk youth and their families through partnerships with local schools. Since 1968, these services have been offered to the community at no charge. Callers can seek advice confidentially, as no information is needed by the company in order to receive the services. Switchboard shut down in 2016 following a "major financial emergency".
United States military veteran suicide is an ongoing phenomenon regarding the high rate of suicide among U.S. military veterans in comparison to the general civilian public. A focus on preventing veteran suicide began in 1958 with the opening of the first suicide prevention center in the United States. During the mid-1990s, a paradigm shift in addressing veteran suicide occurred with the development of a national strategy which included several Congressional Resolutions. More advancements were made in 2007, when the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act created a comprehensive program including outreach at each Veterans Affairs Office (VA) and the implementation of a 24-hour crisis hotline. PTSD, depression, and combat-related guilt in veterans are often related to suicide as it can be difficult for veterans to transition to civilian life.
Safe Horizon, formerly the Victim Services Agency, is the largest victim services nonprofit organization in the United States, providing social services for victims of abuse and violent crime in 57 locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Safe Horizon provides social services to over 250,000 victims of violent crime and abuse and their families per year. It has over 800 employees, and has programs for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking, as well as homeless youth and the families of homicide victims. Safe Horizon's website has been accessible for the Spanish-speaking population since 2012. Safe Horizon has an annual budget of over $63 million.
Crisis Text Line is a global not-for-profit organization providing free mental health texting service through confidential crisis intervention via SMS message. The organization's services are available 24 hours a day, every day, throughout the United States, Canada, UK, and Ireland. It can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada, 85258 in the UK, or 50808 in Ireland. Crisis Counselors help texters move from a "hot moment to a cool calm" through an approach that is centered on empathetic listening, collaborative problem-solving, and referral suggestions. Crisis Text Line has been growing extensively in popularity since its launch in 2013 and seeks to expand its services to Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and Latin America. As of December 5, 2019, Crisis Text Line has processed over 105 million text messages.
Texas Legal Services Center (TLSC) is a legal aid service provider in Texas, providing services to Texas residents based on the subject matter involved in their legal issues. It serves as a gap filler to provide legal services to Texas residents who may not qualify for services from Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Lone Star Legal Aid, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, or Disability Rights Texas. TLSC also provides support services to each of those providers.
Womankind, formerly known as the New York Asian Women's Centre (NYAWC), was founded in 1982 by a group of volunteers led by Pat Eng. In 2017, the NYAWC changed its name to Womankind. It is a non-profit organization which aims to empower Asian survivors of gender based violence. Womankind was initially a community awareness program designed to educate families about domestic violence in Chinatown, and then developed into a 24-hour multilingual hotline that now includes 18 different Asian languages and dialects. Womankind also provides Asian immigrant women confidential services including an emergency refuge, shelter services, crisis counseling, 24-hour online free multilingual hotline, welfare promotion, support groups, parenting workshops, children's services, volunteer training, community education, and some English courses. Each year, the organization receives over 3,000 hotline calls.
Lisa McVey Noland is an American police officer, school resource officer, and motivational speaker from Tampa, Florida. At age 17, she was abducted by Bobby Joe Long, a serial killer and rapist who sexually assaulted and murdered ten women in the Tampa Bay area in 1984. McVey was one of Long's last victims and the information she provided to police led to his capture. A few years after her ordeal, McVey began to pursue a career in law enforcement.
References
- ↑ Price, Victoria. "Crisis Center of Tampa Bay: ‘Help is just a call away’", NBC WFLA 8, 19 December 2018. Retrieved on 17 August 2019.
- ↑ "You are not alone: Discussing survivor’s guilt with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay", NBC WFLA 8, Tampa, 25 March 2019. Retrieved on 17 August 2019.
- ↑ DiNatale, Sara. "Top Workplace: At the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay the stakes are high, but the job rewarding", Tampa Bay Times , 5 April 2019. Retrieved on 17 August 2019.
- ↑ Smith, Ryan. "Group collecting clothes for survivors of sexual assault", WFTS , 25 February 2020. Retrieved on 7 March 2020.
- ↑ Cascio, Josh. "One dead in Plant City officer-involved shooting", Fox 13 News, Utah, 24 December 2019. Retrieved on 31 December 2019.
- ↑ King, McKenna. "Hillsborough Co., TransCare homebound vaccination program reaches 1,000+ doses for most vulnerable", ABC News , 30 April 2021. Retrieved on 7 May 2021.
- ↑ Verdina, Natalia. "Overwhelmed? Dial 211 for free, professional help", Fox 13 News, 24 October 2018. Retrieved on 17 August 2019.
- ↑ Verdina, Natalia. "High-schoolers take the stage to give suicide a voice", Fox 13 News, 23 April 2019. Retrieved on 17 August 2019.
- ↑ "Editorial: State help needed to staff hotlines with veterans helping veterans", Tampa Bay Times , 22 June 2018. Retrieved on 17 August 2019.