Violence Intervention and Prevention
Need Immediate Assistance?
24-Hour Hotline: 1-800-654-1211
If you are in need of help, please call our free and confidential hotline to speak to an advocate about safety planning and options available to you. If you are in immediate danger, please call 9-1-1.
Who qualifies for this service?
We advocate for more than 4,000 victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking each year. To qualify for these YWCA services, we look for individuals who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Victims and survivors of domestic violence
- Victims and survivors of sexual assault and violence
- Victims and survivors of human trafficking
Counties Served
Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry and surrounding counties
Our Violence Intervention and Prevention Program
The Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs (VIP) provide comprehensive crisis and counseling services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, including a crisis hotline, individual and group counseling and medical and court accompaniments.
Services are available to victims and non-offending family members of all ages and genders and are free and confidential.
What is Domestic Violence?
Domestic Violence can take many forms including physical abuse (hitting, throwing objects, using weapons); verbal or emotional abuse (criticism, name calling, etc.); sexual abuse (rape, unwanted touching or sexual practices including incest and child molestation); economic abuse (withholding or lying about assets); and psychological (intimidation, threatening, harassment, isolation, etc.). Warning: an abuser may try to track your internet activities.
What is Sexual Assault?
Sexual assault is one of the most dramatically underreported crimes in the United States with two-thirds of attacks not reported. It is a crime of power and control - anyone can be a victim of sexual assault no matter what age, gender, ethnicity or economic class. Sexual assault may also take many forms including forcing sexual contact through physical or psychological means; tricking or coercing one to expose body parts; presenting pornographic materials to minors; fondling, rape, incest; child sexual molestation; and sexual harassment.
What is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act (source: dhs.gov). It is an industry generating more than $32 billion a year and can occur in restaurants, hotels/motels, farms, factories, homes, strip clubs, brothels, etc. Victims can be either international or domestic and forms of human trafficking include labor trafficking, organ trafficking, and/or sex trafficking.
Prevention Education Services
The YWCA Greater Harrisburg provides Prevention Education Services that are essential to the reduction and prevention of violence. We provide free, age-appropriate workshops at pre-schools, elementary schools, middle/junior high schools, colleges, community groups, and to professional organizations and businesses. Topics covered include dating violence, date rape, domestic violence, sexual harrassment, body rights, statutory rape, violence prevention, conflict resolution, anger management and personal safety.
Violence/Sexual Assault Survivor Groups
Survivor groups are available to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their significant others and are designed to provide safe, confidential space to promote healing from DV/SA through peer support and facilitated group interaction. All groups are free and confidential and are available to women adult survivors, male adult survivors, and for friends and loved ones who wish to learn how to provide support to victims. Drop-ins are welcome. Children’s groups are specially scheduled. Call our hotline at 1.800.654.1211 for more information.
PAATH to Success Mentor Program
The PAATH to Success Mentoring Program is designed to reduce anti-social behaviors and risk factors in youth while building in protective factors that decrease a child’s risk of participating in or becoming a victim to community violence and trauma.
Volunteer Training
Individuals interested in volunteering with victims of domestic violence or sexual assault are required to complete victim advocate training. Opportunities include staffing the crisis hotline, providing medical and legal accompaniments, facilitating support groups, assisting staff in shelter, providing childcare, and assisting with clerical duties. Must be 18 years of age or older, interested in working with victims, available to volunteer on evenings and weekends, be willing to obtain background clearances, and complete combined classroom and online training, as well as a field practicum.
Get Involved!
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