Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and
Advocacy
The Center provides services for all victims of sexual abuse in
Lower Fairfield County, including children, women and men. Our free
and confidential services are provided 24- hours a day, 7-days a
week. Services include:
24-hour Crisis Hotline-- staffed with Certified Sexual
Assault Crisis Counselors
Individual Short-Term Counseling
Up to 12 sessions of one-on-one crisis counseling is available with
a Certified Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor. Our advocates will
meet you in our office or out in the community, striving to make it
as easy as possible for you to get the help you need. Appointments
are available throughout the day, as well as early mornings and
evenings.
Support groups
We offer separate groups for survivors and their families.
Advocacy
Advocates are available 24-hours a day to meet clients at the
hospitals and police stations to support and aid in the evidence
collection examination, making a police statement, etc. Our
advocates are also available for support and accompaniment to guide
clients through the court process and judicial proceedings. If a
client is unable to attend a trial for any reason, our advocates
are available to attend the proceedings for them.
Assistance in filing for victim's compensation
benefits
Application assistance for the Address Confidentiality
Program for survivors of sexual violence
Information and referrals to outside
agencies
TTY access available for persons who are deaf or hearing
impaired during office hours; after hours use CT relay (800)
842-9710
Bilingual staff, as needed
Community Education Programs: Raising
Awareness to End the Violence
Our wish? A world where sexual violence no longer exists.
At The Center, we believe education is at the very heart of making
our wish become a reality. The Center offers a variety of
educational programs on a wide range of topics to raise awareness
about sexual violence. Our programs are age appropriate,
non-threatening and teach audiences:
- Risk reduction and prevention techniques
- The prevalence and pervasiveness of these crimes
- What to do if you or someone you know is sexually
assaulted
During the 2010 - 2011 fiscal year, The Center provided risk
reduction education to more than 9,500 individualsin Lower
Fairfield County, which was significantly more than the year
before. These education programs reached:
Pre-school and
Elementary School Audiences
Recent studies show the importance of safety programs that are
direct, consistent, and extremely interactive when discussing
inappropriate touching problems with young children. Research shows
that ambiguous ideas, such as feelings, are difficult for small
children to follow and that the message should be clear and
concise.
Our "Feeling Safe" program is an interactive educational program
designed to empower children to talk about touches that make them
feel uncomfortable. This program is safety education, NOT sex
education. It is designed around safety lessons they already know,
so the child can integrate these lessons into their lives just as
they would with bike or fire safety education. Our elementary
programs include interactive exercises and a video component.
Middle and
Highschool Audiences
Studies show that 33% of all sexual assault victims are between the
ages of 12-17 years of age and that 22% are under the age of 12.
Research also shows that juveniles perpetrate approximately 1/5 of
rapes and 1/2 of all child molestation cases committed in the
United States.
Sexual violence can lead to post traumatic stress disorder, alcohol
and drug use and /or dependence, depression as well as other
destructive behaviors. Our Middle and High School programs are age
appropriate, interactive, provoke discussion, and are relevant and
applicable to the student's everyday lives. Programs look at both
ends of the sexual violence continuum: sexual harassment and sexual
assault.
College
Students
In response to the national statistics that have shown that 1 in 4
college females will be the victim of rape or attempted rape during
their four-year college career, The Center has created "What to
Know, Before You Go!" (a campus safely program for high school
students and their parents) and "Personal Safety on Campus."
Contact us for more information
about how your group can benefit froum our educational programs and
to schedule a presentation.
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