First, call our 24-Hour Help Line at 1-877-733-1990 or 812-932-SAFE. This is a free and confidential service. We can help you decide what you want to do next.
Making the decision to reach out and tell someone about your experience can be difficult. It can also be empowering. Safe Place will honor your feelings and decisions about your own healing process.
If you are assaulted…
- Get to a safe place as quickly as possible. If you need immediate help, call 911.
- Know that you did nothing wrong. What happened is not your fault!
- Call us at 1-812-932-SAFE. We can help you figure out what to do next. And we can go with you if you decide to go to the hospital or to the police.
- Consider getting medical attention for injuries, infections, STIs and pregnancy.
- It is best not to shower or change clothes. If you go to the hospital, medical staff can collect evidence from your body and clothes. However, you can still receive medical care even if you decide not to file a report.
- Get emotional support from family, friends, and the Center. You may want to think about filing a police report. If you want, you can make a blind report – this is when you file a report without giving your name.
- Our staff can provide ongoing emotional support to sexual violence survivors. We can support you immediately after an assault and also long after an assault.
Survivor Rights:
- Many survivors of violent crimes and sexual assault experience emotional shock. Part of this process is for survivors to take control of their lives again. In order to do this, survivors must be certain that they are receiving the care and information to which they are entitled. Know your rights!
As a survivor, you have the right:
- To call the Safe Place Sexual Assault Center 24-Hour Help Line at 1-877-733-1990 or 812-932-SAFE for support, even if you’re not sure if what happened to you was rape.
- To determine whether or not you want to report the assault to the police.
- To request to be interviewed by a gender specific officer if you decide to make a report. (This may result in delays in reporting.)
- To report a crime, but not proceed with prosecution.
- To make a blind report, where you report the crime without giving your name.
- To withdraw your testimony against the attacker at any time.
- To be treated in a considerate and sensitive manner.
- To sue a person or company for negligence, if you were assaulted in a place having unsafe conditions.
- To contact and be contacted (where and when you wish) by the police or court.
- To get copies of police reports.
- To report the attack to the police and expect that all avenues within the law will be pursued to find and convict the offender.
- To file a third-party report (i.e. a rape crisis center reports the crime but does not disclose your name).
- To not be exposed to prejudice because of your race, age, class, lifestyle, or occupation.
- To be considered a rape survivor regardless of the relationship of the assailant to you (for example, spouse, acquaintance, relative, etc.).
- To be loved—you have done nothing wrong.
If you have been assaulted in the past…
There is still hope, healing, and help ahead. Whenever and however you choose to heal, we will support you in the process.
GET IN TOUCH
Contact us
Safe Place Sexual Assault Center
PO Box 235
Batesville, Indiana 47006
812-932-SAFE (7233)
This project is supported in part (or in whole) by grant, 03215VAGX006403 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. Views contained herein are those of the author and do not represent the position of USDOJ or ICJI.
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