The purpose of the Help-In-Crisis program is to provide a 24-hour crisis line to Tahlequah and the surrounding counties. The crisis line affords support and peer counseling to any caller who is in need of services. The line is available to those who are depressed and threatening suicide, to those who need direct services from Help-In-Crisis or other agencies, and to those seeking information about the issues of violence against women.
The major purpose of the program is to provide immediate response to adult abuse victims and their children by providing safe shelter, transportation to shelter, and meeting their basic needs while in shelter. Among those needs that can be met are emergency medical care from the local hospitals and physicians, advocacy through social service agencies, and contact with other persons in similar situations for informal networking and support.
Help-In-Crisis is committed to providing education to families and the community concerning the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. It is our purpose to bring about solutions to domestic violence and sexual assault and to promote alternative thinking and lifestyles that will enable people to live without violence and fear. We believe that the children in domestic violence situations are most vulnerable and that they are the ultimate vehicle for stopping violence in the home. It is the attitudes of future generations toward violence that will reduce the incidents of violence, and we work to help shape those attitudes. We believe thaat violence is a learned behavior and that more appropriate attitudes of non-acceptance toward violence can be taught and carried on into the future. Our educational efforts serve to alert people to the prevalence of domestic violence, promote non-violence, and notify those people who need our services when those services are available.
We are, moreover, committed to providing counseling, advocacy, and immediate response to rape victims and their families. It is important that the victim receives support in her crisis with medical and legal assistance and counseling. The family may also need assistance in coping with their feelings and with developing appropriate responses to the victim.
To provide these services, Help-In-Crisis uses trained volunteers in addition to paid staff. The levels of volunteer training include (1) crisis line worker, (2) women's advocate, and (3) rape response team. Training is administered in the order presented, and every component must be completed in sequence. Volunteers are considered as staff and are subject to the same requirements and rights as paid staff.
