Sexual Assault Services

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IF YOU NEED HELP IMMEDIATELY
PLEASE CALL OUR 24-HOUR TOLL-FREE
CRISIS LINES:

1.877.946.6854 or 636.946.6854 – St. Charles County

1.877.462.1758 – Lincoln County

Bridgeway’s Sexual Assault Center is the only rape crisis center in St. Charles County. We serve a combination of rural, suburban and urban areas within the Greater St. Louis Area and its outlying counties. Bridgeway is the only multi­-service agency in the region which provides services to sexual violence and domestic abuse victims as well as treating substance abuse and other addictive disorders. This is important because we have identified that a majority of women seeking treatment for addictive disorders at any given time are or have been victims of battery and/or sexual abuse.

Our crisis line is available 24/7 for those needing assistance. All of our services are offered free of charge and the length of services is not restricted but based solely on the needs of the clients. Clients have an advantage when receiving services here because we can identify and treat many of the disorders and illnesses that come from trauma related events. Our referral services to our partners within the community can assist clients in finding resources for housing, nutrition, education and employment.

The goal of the Sexual Assault Center is to help victims become survivors. We provide individual and group counseling by licensed staff, free of charge to women and men, age 14+, who have experienced sexual assault and /or have a history of childhood sexual abuse.

For more information or to schedule an appoint please call 636.224.1202.

The Sexual Assault Center offers a violence prevention program called The Green Dot etc. Strategy.  Green Dot is a comprehensive approach to violence prevention that capitalizes on the power of peer and cultural influence.

The model targets all community members as potential bystanders to violence and seeks to engage them, through awareness, education and skills practice.  Green Dot is built on the premise that we can measurably and systematically reduce violence within any community by teaching bystanders how to intervene in high-risk situations and establish intolerance of violence as the norm.  Certified Green Dot instructors from Bridgeway partner with local high schools to assist with implementing the strategy, ultimately resulting in safer schools and student success!

Our professionally trained, experienced sexual assault staff provides many resources to the community, including rape prevention education for high schools, colleges and organizations.

This program is available in:
St. Charles County: 636.224.1201
Lincoln County:     877.462.1758

Bridgeway offers the only Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) in St.Charles and Lincoln Counties. SART volunteers respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week to area emergency rooms when a sexual assault victim enters the hospital. Each year approximately 60 victims receive our help. We provide emotional support and resources for the victim and their support system (parents, partner, etc.). The Sexual Assault Center works very closely with law enforcement, court-based victims’ advocates, prosecutors, and health care professionals.  Our collaborative approach allows clients the best possible outcomes, and aids our dual mission to serve victims and put an end to sexual violence in our community. This program is available in:

St. Charles County: 877.946.6854 or 636.946.6854

Lincoln County: 877.462.1758. 

The Reality of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence remains a serious, pervasive problem despite community and nationwide efforts in the last few decades to better understand and prevent it. Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey reveal that 1 in 6 women will experience a rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Nearly half of the female victims surveyed, regarding their most recent experience of rape, thought they or somebody close to them would be seriously harmed or killed. (Tjaden & Thoennes, US Dept of Justice, 2006). Rape and sexual assault remain the most under reported crimes in the United States.

In Rebecca Campbell’s review of therapeutic issues for rape survivors, she states that rape destroys a victim’s sense of personal safety and threatens the assumptions survivors have about themselves and the world. She states that through the process of recovery, many victims experience guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, tension, crying spells, depression, anger, discomfort in social situations, impaired memory and concentration, exaggerated startle response and rapid mood swings. Even years after the assault, survivors are more likely to have a mental health diagnosis, alcohol or drug dependence, generalized anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Sexual violence is unique in the way that it’s experienced by victims because they are most often acquainted or in some type of relationship with the perpetrators. Low incidences of reporting should never be confused with the impact that sexual violence has on victims. Not only do victims often decide to refrain from or withdraw their report to the police, they also tend to withhold their experiences from friends and family due to shame, embarrassment or fear of rejection or disapproval. Often, counseling is their only option for working through the feelings and symptoms that are a result of being sexually victimized. A victim’s suffering can be reduced by appropriate intervention.

The Sexual Assault Center provides individual and group counseling, community prevention and education programs, and advocacy services all free of charge. For immediate help, call our 24-Hour Toll-Free Crisis Line 1.877.946.6854 or 636.946.6854