Support is now available by text

From July 2021 through June 2022, Advocates at the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment (CSE) answered 2,551 calls to the 24/7 free and confidential helpline. Now, they are adding text messaging to their available services. YWCA Northeast Kansas launched a texting hotline for individuals seeking help and support for domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking.  Center for Safety and Empowerment staff are now available on Mondays and Fridays from 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. by texting YWCANEKS to 847-411.

This new text line will meet a need for even more survivors seeking help, and connect them with real-life CSE Advocates who can offer information, resources, and support. There are many reasons that survivors may choose to text, or feel more comfortable reaching out to text:

• Survivors who feel unsafe verbalizing their needs or questions over the phone;
• Survivors who are D/deaf or hard-of-hearing;
• Adolescents and young adult survivors.

"In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become all the more critical to make our services as inclusive and accessible as possible. So we want the community to know that even by text message, our CSE Advocates who respond will offer the same level of support that has made the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment trusted by over 700 survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking in the past year," noted Center for Safety and Empowerment Program Director Becca Spielman. 

From Survivors:

“It means everything to me that [you] care enough to talk with me and assist me in finding the right resource [to meet my needs]!” 

“I’ve seen a lot of social workers and psychologists and none of them have helped me the way you have. The YWCA Northeast Kansas has done more for me than any other organization in the past.” 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. You helped me feel safe at my very worst. Thank you for not leaving me…scared, alone, and feeling hopeless.” 

 About the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment 

As a member of the largest network of domestic violence service providers in the United States, the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment provides free, non-judgmental, comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking in Shawnee, Jackson, Brown, and Wabaunsee Counties. Services include our FREE and CONFIDENTIAL 24/7 helpline (888) 822-2983, case management and counseling, shelter services, the Day Center for Human Trafficking, and a text-line available Mondays and Fridays 1 P.M. to 5 P.M. by texting YWCANEKS to 847-411.