Our hotline connects you to all of our services, including information regarding all legal options, therapy, and advocates to mediate between you and medical and law enforcement personnel. You will be connected with one of our staff or volunteers, all of whom undergo a rigorous training program and background check to better serve your needs.

You have the right to emotional support, replacement clothing, and to know all of your options. Our advocates provide information regarding the Sexual Assault Examination Kit procedures, STD testing/treatment and other medical choices. An advocate is available 24-hours a day to mediate interaction between you, emergency room personnel, and law enforcement. Our advocates concentrate on your best interests by providing information and listening to your needs, rather than asking questions and directing your behavior.

If you choose to pursue legal action, our legal advocates serve as your liaison with the criminal justice system to ensure that your rights are protected. The advocate can accompany you to a police interview, sustain contact with the investigator for case updates, and attend all meetings and court proceedings with law enforcement, the victim witness coordinator, and the prosecuting attorney’s office with you, or on your behalf.

Our master degree clinicians provide trauma-level short and long-term therapy for you and your significant others, including hypnotherapy, play therapy, art therapy, and eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) therapy services. Our client-centered approach focuses on reducing the effects of the trauma, helping you learn healthy survival skills, and reducing the potential for your re-victimization. We also have group therapy sessions available for children, adolescents, adults, and significant others. Our therapists have educational backgrounds specific to the needs of sexual abuse/assault survivors, and our offices have counselors specializing in child, adolescent, and adult therapy.

Riverview Center provides educational programming to tens of thousands of schoolchildren each year to help enact change in our cultural biases and assumptions, by addressing such topics as body safety, healthy versus unhealthy relationships, sexual harassment, sexting, gender stereotyping, bullying, cyberbullying, and Internet safety. But if our message does not reach parents, caregivers, and community leaders, not only do the adults not embrace our message, the information the children are learning could be contradicted in the home. To address this, we offer a variety of violence prevention presentations for adults in which we highlight positive role modeling and healthy parenting techniques, and strive to change attitudes and beliefs about gender roles, stereotypes, and violence in our society. We also provide the tools necessary to appropriately handle disclosures of abuse and recognize the possible physical and emotional consequences of being a survivor. Specialized training is also conducted for law enforcement, the prosecuting attorney’s office, and social service and medical personnel.

Please contact us if you would like to set up free programming.

• Go to a safe place

• Preserve all physical evidence of the assault
-- Do not shower, bathe, douche, eat, drink, wash your hands, or brush your teeth until after you have had a medical examination.
-- Save all of the clothing you were wearing at the time of the assault. Place each item of clothing in a separate paper bag.
-- Do not clean or disturb anything in the area where the assault occurred.

• Get medical care as soon as possible
--Collection of evidence is best done within 72 hours of an assault
--If you suspect that you have been given a rape drug, ask the hospital or clinic to take a urine sample

• Contact a friend, family member or someone else you trust who can be with you and give you support.

• Write down as much as you can remember about the circumstances of the assault, including a description of the assailant.

• Get information whenever you have questions or concerns. After a sexual assault, you have a lot of choices and decisions to make. We provide legal/medical advocacy and therapy services to help you heal and move forward.

Please remember, SEXUAL ASSAULT IS NEVER YOUR FAULT

Two styles of behavioral reactions:
1.) Expressed - Fear, Tension, Nervousness, Restlessness, Hysteria, Anxiety, Crying, and Anger
2.) Controlled - Mask Feeling, Appear Calm, Subdued, Quiet

Feelings felt during the healing process:

Guilt and Shame

Self-blame

Low Self Esteem

Vulnerability, Anxiety, General fear of people

Unsure about self or actions

Feelings of a loss of control

Concerns about the perpetrator

Anger towards self, assailant and people in general

Physical Signs:
•Torn, stained or bloody underwear
•Unusual odors, bruises, or bleeding in the genital and anal areas
•Vaginal or penile discharge, difficulty with urination
•Nightmares

Regressive Behaviors:
•Bed wetting
•Thumb sucking
•Baby talk

Behavior and Emotional Signs:
•Nervous, aggressive, hostile, or disruptive behavior toward adults
•Suicide attempts, depression, anxiety
•Apathy, tiredness, fatigue or insomnia
•Running away
•Extreme clinginess or social withdrawal
•Excessive masturbation or sexually acting out
•Reluctance to be with a certain person

IT IS NEVER YOUR FAULT NOR THE FAULT OF YOUR CHILD

What your child may be feeling...
•Fear
•Guilt
•Embarrassment
•Anger
•Powerlessness

What parents may be be feeling...
•Anger
•Overwhelmed
•Confused
•Vulnerable
•Guilt
•Denial
•Embarrassment

What you can do to protect your child...
•Talk to them about good, bad, and confusing touch
•Teach them to say "no" to confusing touch, get away, and tell someone
•Let them know offenders aren't always strangers
•Listen to what your child tells you
•Believe them if they tell you they've been abused
•Call the authorities

What you can do if your child discloses...
•Remain calm
•Believe them
•Call Riverview Center, Inc. 1-888-707-8155

• Believe your child if they disclose. More often, children minimize the abuse.

• Let your child know that there are no topics off limits.

• Listen to your child, validate feelings, and respect their opinions.

• Know who your child is with at all times. Refuse to leave your child with persons you do not know well enough to trust.

• Let them know that most adults won’t hurt them, but some might. Unwanted touch most often comes from someone we like and trust.

• Listen when your child tells you that s/he doesn’t want to be with someone. Find out the reason.

• Model self-protective and limit-setting behavior for children: it is okay to seek help, make mistakes, and not know an answer to everything.

• Teach them correct names for body parts at an early age.

• Don’t insist that children kiss or hug a relative or friend if they do not want to. It is healthy for children to have boundaries.

• Develop a safety plan that includes touching. Play “what if” to practice decision making and develop assertiveness towards adults and other children. Help them develop both verbal and non-verbal responses.

• Have a wide support system to which your child can turn for all types of decision-making.

• Teach children their personal information: telephone number, address, etc.

• Teach children emergency procedures, and how to dial 911.

By an eleven-year-old female survivor

My heart lay warm
But my body cold
As the strong winds
Blow my hair
and ruffle my clothes
To the Breeze
I am standing on
The cement
When the rain is dripping
And erasing the light dirt
Into a puddle of mud
The sky is dark
But the grass is light
If only the warmth
Would cover me
Then I'd know
You'd be covering
Protecting
Me too

By an eleven-year-old female survivor

Guide me Confide in me
Listen to my goals
Can't take me down
Today I'm renown
Because my dreams matter
I can reach my plans
All my fans
Will see hopes inside
Can't crush my dreams
In the seams
I am a winner
No matter what chances
Whatever enhances
will come after
My dreams hereafter
And to come

By a fifteen-year-old survivor

The gunshot of the memory hits me hard,
Empty air fills my lungs as I endure the wrinkled hand I once felt,

Tension arises from beneath my skin,
Striking every surface of my flesh with fear,

My voice box is screaming but my lips won’t release,
Inside my eyes sewed tight and I grab tight for coverage from every trigger I see waiting to hit,

But the triggers will never die,
Nor will they hit softly to allow me to breathe,
Anxiety is building heavy and alone inside,

I fight to stand,
Because my own strength is my only protection

Do you hear us? Can you see the pain in our gray eyes?
Do you feel our pain within? Look inside yourself. See us now?
We are the four younger souls of your youth.
Our souls cried out……

On the road of mayhem, we endured…seeking a way to communicate.
Waiting for you to listen, be there for us, help us stand tall and not fall.
Our souls cried out……

Take our pain away….years of sorrow, suffering and despair.
So we can let you be the woman you were born to be…..FREE.
Separate from the shame and guilt; free from their world of cruelty.
Our souls cried out……

We wore many coats of material in order to protect to you.
Mostly, corduroy, made of steel, we are the underpinning of your youth.
Four tiny souls determined to merge with the one that harbors us within.
Our souls cried out…….

They destroyed our innocence; robbed you of that right.
Please don’t criticize us more; bring us into your world.
Illuminate our way to wholeness with your candle of hope.
Our souls cried out…….

Alone, we were fearful of the unknown…
Frightened, lonely, confused, forlorn and unloved.
Together, we are safe from the unknown…
Strength, courage, beauty, joy and peace,
United and FREE.
Our souls cried out…….

Did we see the true beauty of a sunset in full circle?
Watching with anticipation as a brilliant sun melts away.
Turning the sky into a fiery ball of wondrous delight,
Spreading colors of red and gold with a touch of yellow.
Blending together to rest before another day begins.

Did we see the wonder of birds soaring gracefully?
Serenely gliding in swirls across the blue-hued sky.
Accumulating in maple, evergreen and oak trees,
Nestling on leaves, concluding their day’s flight.
Undisturbed, hoping to continue their magical flight tomorrow.

Did we feel the cool, refreshing breeze as night falls?
Blowing tenderly across our sun-warmed bodies.
Gently crashing over us as waves of mist-filled moments,
Appreciative of the droplets that dance over our skin.
A tranquility that soothes our souls under a starlit skied night.

It is now I offer a silent prayer that tomorrow we can savor this greatness.

A world filled with beauty that brings about
joyous moments of peace.

So many beautiful sight to enjoy; marvelous
sounds that shout harmory…

But …only if we see, hear and feel all the wonders of our days.

Do you know who I am?
I know who you are.
Inside and out,
we’re connected heart and soul.

When you….
feel alone on this journey of life,
I will be here neighboring you with company.
When you….
feel as though all faith has vanished,
I will light your prayers and provide hope.
When you….
feel like giving up on everything,
I will destroy that option with loving encouragement.
When you….
feel totally depleted of energy at days’ end,
I will provide you the inner strength needed.
When you….
feel overwhelmed and confused,
I will furnish the guidance to see you through.
When you….
feel discouraged, worried and scared,
I will replace your fears with gentle serenity.
When you….
feel as though you have failed,
I will embrace you with confident thoughts.
When you….
feel all of this and much more,
I will be the force that keeps you strong.

Do you know who I am yet?
I am the core of your total being.
I am Spirit.

Serpents slip into the night, hoping you won’t put up a fight.

Tempted to do the unthinkable crime,
wanting to fill their lonely mind.

In the darkness they invade your space,
unable to notice your tear streaked face.

Nights are filled with silence and pain,
wanting to hurt them just the same.

A frightened child you’ve come to hold,
a secret that’s afraid to be told.

What’s your thoughts that make this sane,
I wish you could feel all my pain.

Pay attention you might not see,
the hurt you’ve caused inside of me.

Trembling in fear don’t make a sound,
go to your place alone you have found.

Stand up and fight don’t be afraid,
your silence inside will turn to shame.

Lies that were told to disguise the truth,
only to destroy your innocence of youth.

Do you pretend to live the lie or shut the door to the pain inside?

Bound by chains from the past, the key is there for you to grasp.

I give you my word to forgive, if only you could feel the guilt I live.

Do you understand completely,
exactly what you've done,
To everyone involved in this?
Trust me, we are not the only ones.

You have shattered the innocents of,
our children without thought.
For one moment of perverted pleasure,
Their silence you desperately sought.

By manipulation their loyalty,
and their trust and love of you,
You took away a part of them,
that I can never re-do.

And since you've harmed our children,
You've harmed us parents as well.
For because of your unyielding acts,
on this subject we are forced to dwell.

Every time our children cry,
because they are afraid,
I hate you more and more each time,
For the choices that you made.

And each time that they awaken,
with a nightmare and a tear,
There is very little that I can do,
to reassure their fears.

So my ability to protect and comfort,
the children that I bore,
You carelessly and maliciously,
took away behind closed doors.

While you preyed upon these babies,
of innocents so pure,
You destroyed everything I made for them,
of this you can be sure.

I no longer can reassure them,
that they are safe from people like you.
Because I am not completely sure,
that that is something I can do.

I thought that I had protected them,
from this kind of awful fate.
But you crawled up from beneath a rock,
and now it is too late.

For they will never be innocent,
of this kind of carnal sin.
Just trying to bring back their dignity,
is where we must begin.

So while you sit and rot in jail,
and onder what you've done,
All of us must just remember,
you are not the only one.