Services | Fair Haven Rape Crisis Center

Fair Haven Direct Services Department Provides 24-hour Rape Response

We provide a rape survivor emergency access to a professionally trained Sexual Assault Victim Advocate who will support you through the entire medical and legal proceedings, and healing process.

Our emergency 24-hour line: 219-218-2552. Call or text us just as soon as you can.

Toll-free: Call or text 24-hour line: 877-345-2552

If you live in Lake County, Porter County or LaPorte County, Indiana and are a survivor of sexual assault, we would like to speak to you. Please contact our office to make an appointment 219-961-4357.

Our Anti-Trafficking Team responds 24/7 to our regional hospitals with a Human-Trafficking Victim Advocate. They would be present prior to and during all medical and legal proceedings and throughout the entire legal and healing process. Individual advocacy services are held at our office, where a victim advocate works through an individualized care plan with a trafficking survivor. Trauma therapy is available as well.

Crisis Advocacy Services

What does a Victim Advocate do? Advocates are professionally trained to support victims of sexual assault crimes. Offering a continuum in care, they help navigate the complex waters of the medical and judicial system.

Advocates offer:

- - - Emotional support.
    - Weekly support groups.
    - Individual sessions to develop coping strategies & increase stabilization.
    - Accompaniment during the forensic evidence examination as well as police interviews.
    - Information on crime prevention.
    - Information of a victims legal rights.
    - Support during the criminal justice process.
    - Accompaniment during court proceedings with the victim.
    - Safety planning.
    - Assistance with Victim Compensation paperwork.
    - Community resources and referrals.
    - Confidentiality.

Support Groups for Survivors

Healing happens differently for each individual. We will direct you to a recovery plan best for you. Fair Haven Rape Crisis Center offers survivors:

Support Groups for Teens and Adults
Sharing the use of different tools to overcome shame and pain, which decreases the likelihood of substance abuse and self-harm
Individual Supportive Counseling
Build your toolbox of coping strategies around self-care, honoring emotions, telling your story, safety in relationships, boundaries, breaking the cycle, etc.
Professional Trauma-based Therapists
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is real. Serious distressing experiences leave effects, and we’ve learned so much about how to overcome

Call us to confirm our most recent schedule. More than ever, we want you to get past this and start thriving once again.

Weekly support groups meet:

- - - Tuesday: Work Release Support Group 3pm-4pm (held off-site)
    - Wednesday: Curriculum Support Group 10am-11:30pm
    - Thursday: Adolescent Support Group 5pm-6:30pm
    - Friday: SELF Group 1pm-2:30pm

Teen Support Group

Our Teen Support Group equips participants (ages 12-18) with the tools to overcome the shame & pain of childhood trauma, which decreases the likelihood of involvement with maladaptive coping methods (substance abuse, self-harm, etc.)

Adult Support Group

Our Adult Support Groups provide services to adult women & men ages 19 and older who have experienced sexual, emotional, and/or physical abuse, incest, rape or stalking.

Aspen, Our Emotional Support Animal

Victims of sexual assault are: 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

After experiencing a traumatic event, PTSD can become a burden affecting many with: panic attacks, sudden mood swings, difficulty in social settings, and an overall inability to return to life as it was before the assault occurred. In recent years, animal assisted therapy has been shown to provide life-altering advantages to those who struggle with PTSD symptoms.

Therapy dogs are trained to calm someone having an anxiety or panic attack. Aspen, Fair Haven’s Registered and Certified Therapy Dog, has been trained to gently comfort and soothe clients by “hugging” or nestling up to the person by leaning against their leg or lying at/on their feet. She loves unconditionally! When our clients walk through the door, she is immediately happy to see them. Her tail wags and she “smiles” as they approach her. Having her on the greeting committee impacts the victims overall counseling experience.

Working at Fair Haven since she was just 9 weeks old, Aspen has grown into a beautiful four-year-old Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever weighing 100 pounds. She shares an office space with her handler and our Executive Director, Kelly Vates. When they are not working with clients, they are out in the community spreading awareness and educating others of the long term effects of sexual abuse.