Safe Connections

Safe Connections’ award-winning, nationally-accredited programs reduce the impact and incidence of domestic and sexual violence through youth education, 24-hour crisis care, and therapy for adult and teen survivors.

Services:

• A domestic and sexual abuse 24-hour crisis intervention helpline (not intended for child abuse cases)

• Free individual and group counseling for survivors of all genders, ages 12 and up, who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse.

• Counseling and support groups for victims of domestic abuse, dating violence, sexual assault or rape.

• Prevention education workshops and discussion groups for middle and high school students.

• Support groups for survivors of all genders

• Workshops

• Outreach services

• Teen violence prevention program- Services for deaf or hard of hearing individuals

• Fluent Languages: English, Farsi, Hebrew

• All services are for ages 12 and up.

Clinical intake line: 314-616-7500 ext. 118 (if looking for individual or group counseling)

• Callers might get to an answering machine, but can leave a message with a callback number.

• Operators will get back in 3+ business days.

Notes on Crisis Intervention Helpline:

• High volume of peer support calls (not always crisis intervention). Not a lot of callers disclose queer/trans identity. Typically 15-20 minutes calls with a safety plan. Operators try to keep the line open because only one operator is answering at once.

• Not therapists – not a processing line. Will gently redirect to behavioral health resources (“Would you be open to seeing a counselor?”) and talk through options for virtual or in-area counseling for sliding scale options.

• Will not drop a caller but will refer to behavioral health resources by affirming emotional experience. E.g. "I get the feeling you really want to unpack some of this… Unfortunately that’s not within our line's capacity right now but i do have this great resource" (to BHR or counseling referral route).

• Operators will emphasize safety planning because shelters are 99% full (e.g. "If everything is full or closed, how can we help facilitate a conversation to make the crisis a little less dangerous right now? What part of the city are you in; can we Google Map the nearest 24/7 place to be warm or get A/C?").