By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
After a pilot program, Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services will soon launch tele-counseling service through its website.
This will allow survivors of domestic or sexual violence to talk live face-to-face with an advocate through an online teleconferencing service.
The service will be accessible by computer, tablet or mobile device. The survivor doesn't have to have special software or an app to use the program.
Right now, survivors can call into Options helpline at 1-800-794-4624. The survivor will then be sent a link to access the service. The service is only being offered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, but those hours will be expanded when the program is fully implemented.
The website link will be added within the next two weeks.
Options anticipated it would see a decrease in requests for service after the pandemic restrictions started to be lifted. However, requests for services are up 63 percent compared to 2020. Last year, requests for services were up 43 percent from 2019, Jennifer Hecker, Options executive director, said.
"What I think is happening is people are beginning to feel more safe coming forward," Hecker said. "There has been a lot of national media attention around domestic violence during the pandemic.
"I think people have begun to see, 'Wait, that may be what's happening to me. I might me experiencing that.' The general awareness has really helped make the connection with people who now feel safe to come forward."
She said the addition of new ways to access services is also allowing more people to come forward.
"Victims often have to seek help in secret because they are often living with the person who's hurting them," Hecker said.
Options chat line, which can be accessed through texting Hope to 847-411 and the chat features in Options free mobile app are seeing usage increases every month.
The tele-counseling service will also have a safe escape function, that will allow a survivor to quickly disconnect from the service if the user happens to be disturbed, Hecker said.
The service is confidential. The service does not keep a record of users.
Hecker said Options chose the Doxy.me platform because it is very user friendly.
Options launched the program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been running the pilot program for about six months. Hecker said the agency knew people would have difficulty traveling because of pandemic restrictions. The agency was able to use COVID relief funds to implement the new program.
"We set it up so we could continue the service even after the pandemic was over, because we know that transportation is going to continue to be an issue for victims and survivors throughout our service area," Hecker said.
Options covers 18 counties in northwest Kansas.
Hecker said she sees advantages for the new service compared to the chat and phone services the agency already offers.
"For some people texting is great," she said, "but other people find that very impersonal. They need the personal connection with someone.
"To be able to read body language and facial expressions are all part of communication. I think having that extra level of connectedness will build a stronger relationship and bring more trust with the relationship with the advocate and the victim or survivor."
The addition of the tele-counseling service is an expansion of the agency's mobile advocacy initiative. Options brings safety and choices to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, Hecker said.
"We live in a resource desert," she said. "Public transportation is very difficult for people. If you can't figure out an easy way to get services, people often go without services."