Crisis Line Program

The Crisis Line program consists of the following components:

Crisis-Line Counselling

The crisis line program provides 24-hours, 7 days a week service to survivors of sexual violence, supporters, family and friends of survivors. The crisis line volunteer counselors provide crisis intervention on issues that range from childhood sexual abuse, recent sexual assault, flashbacks and suicide intervention. In addition, counselors provide information on community resource and services, and accompaniment to police stations and to the Sexual Assault Partner Care program at the Civic campus of the Ottawa hospital.

The crisis line program provides continuous professional development training for volunteers on topics such as vicarious trauma, addictions, mental illness, self harm, and self care and explores different treatment modalities.

Crisis line volunteer counselors also receive support and supervision on their work on the crisis line.

Crisis Line Training

The Crisis Line Coordinator holds three volunteer training sessions a year (spring, fall and winter).  The training covers a variety of topics including sexual violence through an anti-oppression framework, feminist crisis counseling, recent sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, coping strategies, suicide, role plays, and self care.  The training program is approximately 30 hours in length and runs for ten weeks, on Tuesdays from 6.00-9.00p.m.

The ORCC requests that volunteers commit to one year and volunteer on the crisis line for 20 hours a month.

The crisis line training costs $40.00 and is subject to change as of spring 2011. Women interested in volunteering on the crisis line are required to call (613)562-2334x22 to set up a screening interview to determine if both the volunteers’ and the centre’s needs are met.