Support after sexual violence

You can reach a trained advocate any time, day or night, with no obligation to do anything else. They are there to listen, not to push.

• Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC): 24/7 support line 503-640-5311. Advocacy, counseling, and someone to help you think through your options, at your pace.
• Call to Safety: 888-235-5333. Oregon's 24/7 line for domestic and sexual violence, for people of all genders, multilingual.

An advocate will not tell you what to do. They will listen, believe you, explain your choices, and stay with you through whatever you decide.

🏳️‍⚧️ You can ask for a trans-affirming advocate. Your identity is not up for debate, and a good advocate will follow your lead on the words you use for your body and for what happened.

If you want medical care, you have the right to it, and you can say yes or no to any part of it.

• A medical forensic exam (sometimes called a SAFE exam) can be done at a hospital, often up to about a week afterward, and you do not have to talk to police to get one. In Oregon it is free to you.
• You can be checked for injuries and offered preventive care and any medication you need, whether or not you decide anything about reporting.
• You do not have to go alone. An advocate can meet you at the hospital and make sure you are treated gently. Call SARC or Call to Safety and ask for someone to come with you.

If none of this feels possible right now, that is okay. There is no deadline on your healing, and some options stay open for a while, so you can decide later.

Wherever you are in Oregon, there is an advocacy program near you, and some are built for specific communities.

• Oregon Sexual Assault Task Force keeps the statewide network and can point you to the advocacy center for your county.
• Safety Compass: 24/7 line 971-235-0021. For survivors 25 and under and survivors of trafficking in Clackamas, Marion, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, with a team that can come to you.

If what you lived through was ongoing control or exploitation, the trafficking section of the You're not safe at home path has more support.

When you are ready, and only then, there is real help most survivors are never told about. None of it requires a criminal case.

• Victim Rights Law Center offers free legal help to survivors of sexual violence on privacy, housing, school, immigration, and safety.
• Oregon Crime Victims' Compensation: 503-378-5348. Can help pay for counseling, medical bills, lost wages, and sometimes relocation.
• Oregon Address Confidentiality Program: 1-888-559-9090. A free substitute-address service so someone cannot find you through public records.

Any advocate in this path can help you apply for these. You never have to face the paperwork by yourself. And if what happened was also targeted at who you are, the After a hate or bias crime path may fit too.