Tell Your Story: Safe Spaces for Sexual Assault Survivors

Being the victim of sexual assault is traumatizing. Becoming a survivor of sexual assault is empowering. One of the most important steps to take when you’ve suffered a sexual assault is sharing your story in a safe space. Then healing can begin. There is a healing power in sharing your story and especially if you are in a safe space when you do so.

Why Is It Important to Share Your Story?

The only way for change to happen is for sexual assault survivors to tell their stories. It is often best to tell their stories of what happened to them as soon as possible (or when they come to grips with what happened). Sharing their horrific story with someone in a “safe space” can bring validation, empowerment, and healing for the survivor.

There is power in storytelling because it raises awareness, breaks societal stigmas, enhances your well-being, and creates change. Storytelling is a powerful communication tool in the sexual violence advocacy field. From support groups, to statehouse Advocacy Days, to #EmbraceYourVoice campaigns for SAAM (Sexual Assault Awareness Month), to fundraising efforts, storytelling practices are central to the work of supporting survivors and ending sexual violence.

Safe Places to Tell Your Sexual Assault Story

It can certainly be challenging for survivors of sexual assault to find a safe and supportive environment to share their story. Women working in a male-dominated workplace, together with significant power differentials, equal a high risk for sexual abuse. Institutional powerhouses can harbor systemic, sexual abuse, when the boss, coach, or CEO may first win your admiration, then betray you in the most dehumanizing way – then threaten you to keep quiet. You certainly can’t run to the guy in the next office. Places to tell your sexual assault story do exist, though: in online platforms, in-person support groups, and anonymous hotlines.

RAINN is the largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country. RAINN is a safe place to share a story of sexual abuse. Inspiring sexual assault survivor stories have been uploaded on RAINN’s website and testify to the truth that sharing your story can be healing. An important take-away is that IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!

Online Platforms

We all know that social media has changed the way we communicate with others. Platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook allow users to share their stories with a broader audience, if they so desire. Sharing can encourage someone else who has suffered a sexual assault to stand up and get healing by sharing their story.

There has been a rise in survivor-led online communities such as #MeToo. The Me Too Movement is a global, and survivor-led, movement against sexual violence, dedicated to creating pathways for healing, justice, action and leadership. Individuals can find support and connect with others who have similar experiences.

Another survivor-led online community is The Voices and Faces Project’s Survivor Stories, an award-winning non-profit storytelling initiative created to bring the names, faces, and testimonies of survivors of gender-based violence to the public’s attention. The survivor stories, strategically and mindfully told, do something more: They call the world not just to compassion, but social action. And action is what The Voices and Faces Project is all about.

RAINN offers the National Sexual Assault Hotline where survivors of sexual assault can get support, information, advice, or a referral, and also offers a place to Chat online. Trained staff members are available 24/7.

Survivors of Sexual Assault Anonymous (SSAA) is an inclusive, self-help group that engages in 12-step recovery and supportive fellowship, which aids survivors in healing from sexual trauma, ages 18 and over. Meetings can be attended via Zoom.

In-Person Support Groups

Support groups offer a non-judgmental, safe, and confident way for survivors to move forward in their healing process and connect with other survivors who have experienced similar situations. Hope & Healing Survivor Resource Center offers a variety of support groups to survivors of sexual violence and intimate partner violence. Support groups are very important for survivors because they provide a safe and supportive environment to share one’s story.

In-Person Support Groups

Anonymous Hotlines

Crisis hotlines give one an opportunity to share, get advice and information without giving their name. Seeking support through anonymous hotlines is beneficial because it is confidential and safe.

Sexual assault happens on rideshares (like Uber or Lyft), in church and schools, in the entertainment industry, athletics, and doctor’s offices. The list goes on and on. It is encouraging and empowering to be able to seek support anonymously, through support groups and hotlines, after going through the trauma of a sexual assault.

Sexual Assault while riding in an Uber or Lyft (rideshare services) happens more than you may think. You hired them to take you from Point A to Point B safely and certainly didn’t expect someone to assault you in a sexual manner. Filing a lawsuit can help women speak up against the rideshare company, and anonymous and national hotlines are available to talk.

Another issue that certainly benefits from seeking support through anonymous hotlines is the sexual abuse of The Catholic Church that covered up years of sexual abuse. The survivors were often very young and vulnerable and waited years to come forward. The Catholic Church has offered settlements to the victims (survivors), setting up settlement funds to compensate survivors.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States and its territories. It’s a leader in suicide prevention and mental health crisis care. The 988 Lifeline, known originally as the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, launched on January 1, 2005 with funding from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Sharing Options for Different Groups

It must be acknowledged that minorities and any marginalized groups are often the most vulnerable and the ones who struggle the most to gain protection and helpful resources. Therefore, not all sharing groups would be right for a survivor of sexual violence when factors such as race, class, ethnicity, and disability make them particularly vulnerable to sexual assault.

SASSMM (Sexual Assault Support Services of Midwest Maine) is an organization that is committed to providing support to anyone impacted by sexual violence, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, ability, or any other identity. SASSMM says on its website, “For survivors of sexual violence with marginalized identities, their experiences may be impacted by the oppression or discrimination they face. Their concerns may be related to the assault itself, but also may relate to their treatment in systems following the assault, from healthcare to legal to criminal justice.”

Young Adults and Teens

Young adults and teens can have a particularly hard time opening up about what has happened to them. But there are safe places for a teen to tell their sexual assault story. Love Is Respect is a website that is specifically designed for young survivors. Love is Respect is the national resource to disrupt and prevent unhealthy relationships and intimate partner violence by empowering young people through inclusive and equitable education, support, and resources. It offers 24/7 information, support, and advocacy to young people between the ages of 13 and 26, and a Live Chat.

Another resource specifically designed for young people is The National Runaway Safeline’s Online Forum. It is available 24/7 to support young people through a crisis, provide resource referrals, and offer a listening ear.

LGBTQ+ Community

Those survivors in the LGBTQ+ community have resources available such as The Trevor Project’s Crisis Intervention Hotline. The Trevor Project is the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ young people and provides information and support to LGBTQ+ young people 24/7, all year round. Another is the LGBT National Help Center’s Peer Support Group where one can connect one-to-one through instant message (IM) with a peer support volunteer.

Marginalized Populations

Creating safe spaces for survivors from marginalized communities to share their stories is paramount because these survivors face challenges already because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality, among others. The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center provides national leadership to end violence against American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women by lifting up the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen tribal sovereignty. Stronghearts Native Helpline is a safe, anonymous, and confidential domestic and sexual violence helpline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, offering culturally appropriate support and advocacy. Survivors can chat online safely and securely.

We Are Here For You.

How to Create Safe Spaces

When someone experiences a sexual assault, they are sometimes reluctant to share this horrible incident with a friend or loved one and need a safe space to do so. Survivors can be supported by someone listening without judgment, believing the survivor, and educating oneself on sexual assault.

A Case for Women has helped thousands of women by informing them about the affordable legal options that are available if and when they’ve been hurt by institutions, doctors, or even companies or schools that “look the other way” when women are assaulted. Prominent lawsuits such as Roblox, Dr. David Broadbent, and Dr. Fabio Ortego can create a safer environment for survivors to come forward and share their stories without fear of retaliation or disbelief.

Following are resources for sexual assault survivors:

RAINN
National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI)
Joyful Heart Foundation
Planned Parenthood
National Domestic Violence Hotline
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotlin e

Where to Tell Your SA Story

Why Is It Important to Share Your Story?

Safe Places to Tell Your Sexual Assault Story

Online Platforms

In-Person Support Groups

In-Person Support Groups

Anonymous Hotlines

Sharing Options for Different Groups

Young Adults and Teens

LGBTQ+ Community

Marginalized Populations

We Are Here For You.

How to Create Safe Spaces

Following are resources for sexual assault survivors: