HASHARON SEXUAL ASSAULT CRISIS CENTER
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Mission Statement
Established in 1984, RCC Hasharon provides practical and emotional support to survivors of sexual violence and their non-offending acquaintances, and labors to end sexual assault in Israel by means of preventative education and social awareness. Programming encompasses 24-hour crisis intervention, confidential counseling, support groups, victim advocacy and community wide education and training programs. We are a primarily volunteer-based organization aided by over 120 qualified volunteers, who receive specialized training and ongoing supervision.
About This Cause
Programming encompasses 24-hour crisis intervention through a telephone hotline, a chat online hotline, confidential counseling, support groups (for survivors, parents of survivors, partners of survivors and a running therapy group) , victim legal advocacy and community wide education and training programs. We are a primarily volunteer-based organization aided by over 120 qualified volunteers, who receive specialized training and ongoing supervision. RCC Hasharon is an independent non-profit affiliated with the National Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. While we deliver comprehensive programming and free services for residents of the Sharon region, we have pioneered innovative practices that have been scaled up to national level. Highlights of our activities include: Together in Consent - Putting an End to Sexual Violence through Education One of the pressing issues facing Israel today is the high rate of sexual violence. In Israel, 1 out of every 6 girls is sexually abused/molested by the age of 18 and 1 out of every 6 boys is molested until the age of 12. However, statistics such as these barely scratch the surface of this complex problem, which is deeply rooted in social and cultural norms. RCC Hasharon believes that preventative education is the key to reducing sexual violence, and efforts must target teens as early as elementary school to make a meaningful impact on their behaviors and beliefs. Teens are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence due to the media, which is shaping, or rather distorting, their knowledge of sexuality and sexual practices, and sending out confused messages about personal boundaries, body image, gender stereotypes, and what constitutes a sexual assault. RCC Hasharon's Education Department leads psycho-educational, gender-specific workshops in formal and informal education settings that facilitate age appropriate and eye-level communication about healthy sexuality and healthy intimate relationships, and critically examine youths’ information resources, gender socialization, stereotypes, and reactions to peer pressure. Additionally, specific curriculums have been tailored for youth at risk - teen girls and boys, emphasizing personal boundaries and consent, understanding and identifying healthy and unhealthy relationship patterns, equal power through communication, and help-seeking skills. Another primary mission of the program is to reach young victims of sexual assault, who have not come forward, and encourage him or her to seek help. Our experience shows that as a result of our workshops, many children who endure sexual violence, especially if they know the perpetrator personally, come to realize that they are being abused. Participants also gain information regarding how and to whom they can turn to stop sexual abuse. Indeed, it is also common that after the workshops, teens approach RCC Hasharon’s Hotline or Chat to share their story of abuse or that of a friend. In fact, the majority of our workshops will lead to the discovery of an unreported incident of sexual assault. To promote a whole school approach, the program also offers training for teachers and parents to help them identify sexual violence and provide appropriate responses. Each year, RCC Hasharon labors to reach over twenty thousand children and teenagers to break patterns of sexual violence and foster a sense of shared responsibility towards prevention and response. The program is only partially funded by the local municipalities and is sustained primarily through donations. Crisis Hotline (Chat) for Sexual Assault Victims In 2015, RCC Hasharon launched the first Online Hotline in Israel for victims of sexual assault and the demand for the service grows every year. Because we are living in a hi-tech based society, the service enables us to stay relevant and accommodate young populations, who prefer chat and text over traditional phone-based communication. In addition to appealing to a younger demographic, another consideration was to increase accessibility for people with a hearing or speech disability. Furthermore, the service is appealing to victims who are intimidated by speaking about their sexual assault experiences. Indeed, our experience shows that in the chat service, many people share what happened to them for the first time and without it, they would not have reached out in any other way. We speak to young survivors who say they could never talk about their experience out loud, yet online communication gives them the space to control the conversation and put down their own narrative about what happened. We have also found that the chat system is highly utilized by people who have been through particularly violent trauma or ongoing abuse The online chat is an anonymous, Instant Messenger-style service. Online Hotline volunteers provide free emotional support, crisis assistance, and referrals to specialized treatment programs in the community and/or to services run by RCC Centers. Volunteers also offer online support through e-mails with promised response within 48 hours. In 2018, the Online Hotline helped 2,900 users, predominantly callers aged 18 to 30; at least 50% of callers stated that they never approached the phone hotlines. The service has dramatically expanded our reach not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of populations. Because our support is highly specialized and our hotline volunteers are a victim's first point of contact, volunteers undergo a an intensive preliminary 72-hour training course followed by an additional 12-15 of supervised sessions. Once they join the volunteer staff, they are required to participate in month ongoing trainings to ensure high-quality support. While the program began as a local service, to meet growing demand it grew national by incorporating volunteers from other RCC centers (Jerusalem and Negev-Maslan). The MeToo# movement and current barrage of upsetting news about sexual violence incidents is compelling women and men from all walks of life to speak about their traumatic experiences with sexual assault, many for the first time. As calls to the web chat surge, the service is currently under-resourced. Presently, 48 volunteers run the national chat service, which is offered 5 evenings a week. On average, they answer between 12-15 calls per shift, yet 5 – 7 calls go unanswered. Our aim is to expand the service and respond to 6,000 online hotline visitors in 2020. This requires us to deliver 3 training courses that will introduce 45 new volunteers into this much needed service. Legal Advocacy for Survivors of Sexual Assault The need for victim advocates emerged as a result of the difficulties sexual violence victims face from the point of pressing charges until the end of the trial, and also following our acquaintance with the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. We know for a fact that the percentage of sex violence crimes reported to the police is significantly lower than the actual offenses that take place. There are many reasons for this, including embarrassment, fear of being treated with skepticism, lack of confidence in the investigative and prosecutorial systems and feelings of guilt or responsibility for being victimized. Furthermore, the State does not provide emotional and legislative support to victims (only after filing charges and if the offense is a serious one), and the system is notorious for overlooking the intimidating challenges of giving testimony, recapturing the trauma and being subject to detailed and offensive questioning of defense attorneys. Survivors also experience a great deal of stress waiting for the trial, court hearings and updates about their case. They are forced to deal with all of this while potentially suffering from the psychological consequences of sexual violence, and are at risk of experiencing additional trauma. RCC Hasharon helps survivors to navigate these complicated systems and make informed decisions throughout this lengthy and overwhelming process. We provide information on legal processes and courtroom logistics to reduce ambiguity and fear of reporting; escort victims to the police, the attorney, the hospital, and social service systems; follow up on the legal proceedings of their case; and liaise with law enforcement and prosecutors to ensure victims’ voice is heard and important information is passed on to both sides. It should also be mentioned that police officials will often refer victims who press charges to us knowing they will receive the support they need and that this support is crucial to building a case against a perpetrator. Our current needs are to provide trainings law-enforcement professionals and support for the accompaniment aspect of the program, which is currently funded, by limited support from the Ministry of Welfare and donations. Breaking New Ground: Running Therapy for Sexual Assault Survivors with Complex PTSD Women who have endured sexual assault experience a profound loss of control over their body, which can lead to health risk behaviors in an attempt to avoid or numb overwhelming feelings, dissociation, and detachment from the body. RCC Hasharon has developed a new running therapy program for PTSD after sexual assault that addresses survivors areas of need, including: a) establishing safety and stability in their body; b) tapping into and developing inner strengths; c) learning how to regulate emotions and manage symptoms that cause suffering; and d) strengthening skills for managing painful experiences and minimizing unhelpful responses to them. We are endeavoring to open 4 quarterly running groups which will also form the basis for an impact study that will contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the relationship between mind and body in recovery from sexual abuse, and the potential of exercise as a therapy for Complex PTSD following sexual abuse - a previously unexplored field. Also, backed by research findings, this body-mind intervention, which is not standardized in Israel or commonly applied by therapists, has the potential for scalability and integration alongside traditional therapy.