Agencies Sexual Assault Help Center

Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center, Inc. 

Contact Information:

Address:
PO Box 6764
Wheeling, WV

Name of Programs Funded through UW: Self Defense Program & Prevention Education. 

Contact Name: Ashley Carpenter

Phone Number: 304.234.1783

Contact Email: [email protected]

Website: www.sexualassaulthelpcenter.com

What is the Sexual Assault Help Center?

The Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center (SAHC) is a private, non-profit rape crisis center. We provide 24/7 service to survivors of sexual violence. SAHC has been providing service since 1978 and covers an official WV five-county area of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

The mission statement of SAHC reads: “The Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center believes that the crimes of sexual assault and sexual abuse are a public policy issue, touching all aspects of a victim’s life, the lives of their family members and the community-at-large. It is the commitment of the Sexual Assault Help Center to provide support and community education to empower the victim/survivor to achieve a healthy resolution and to decrease these crimes.”

SAHC offers free and confidential counseling to survivors and their loved ones who have experienced directly or indirectly sexual assault, sexual abuse, human trafficking, stalking. We also offer medical and legal accompaniments, advocacy services, and prevention education presentations to schools and community organizations.

How does the United Way support the Sexual Assault Help Center?

The Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center, Inc. conducts a free Empowerment Self Defense Class for the public. A piece of our mission statement is to provide community education to empower victims/survivors. With this Empowerment Class, we have provided education about what it means to defend yourself in crises. This class also teaches people to use physical tools to deter potential predators effectively. Because of the continued support through the United Way, SAHC has grown in this educational class by adding a part two where the public learns about what it takes emotionally and psychologically to combat potential predators that may be within the inner circle of their lives. In addition, we have adapted this class to suit agencies and small groups in various ways.

The United Way also provides SAHC funding to provide prevention education throughout the Ohio Valley. Prevention education is vital to changing the culture and society that creates a harmful narrative to victims and survivors of sexual violence. SAHC’s mission is to provide prevention education with various evidence-based curriculums for elementary schools, middle and high schools, adults, parents, and other service providers. 

Check out our other member agencies and learn more about their programs here!

About the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley

The United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley supports Ohio County, Tyler County, Marshall County, Wetzel County, Brooke County in West Virginia, and Belmont County and Monroe County in Ohio. Donating through your local United Way is the best way to reach the most people in need. 

The United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley is an organization that supports nonprofit organizations in our area through annual campaigns, payroll deduction fundraising efforts, and individual donations. These community-minded people combine donations from employees and businesses alike to help assist those who need it most. The support from the annual campaign is then allocated to nonprofit programs through our volunteer allocations panels. We support 40 programs (and counting) in the upper Ohio Valley that tackle the toughest needs in the Ohio Valley. Consider giving to the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley today.

Community Success Stories

Check out the following Community Success Stories for examples of how Sexual Assault Help Center has impacted our community.

“The survivor experienced horrific sexual trauma from an intimate partner, who had coerced and manipulated them into believing that the abuser loved them.”

The survivor appeared at a local hospital for a forensic medical examination late one evening. The survivor experienced horrific sexual trauma from an intimate partner, who had coerced and manipulated them into believing that the abuser loved them. The individual took all of the right steps. They didn’t shower, brush their teeth, change clothing, or use the restroom. All of the evidence was i ...

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Determined To Seek Justice

Two years ago the Sexual Assault Help Center received a referral for a mother whose daughter had been sexually assaulted just a few days prior. The woman was able to escape from her offender, an intimate partner, and seek safety with her extended family. She called law enforcement immediately to report the incident and they encouraged her to go to the local hospital for a sexual assault forensic e ...

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“Terrified that something was going to happen to her mother, the child never told a soul…”

MS was referred to SAHC by a Child Advocacy Center. She is the mother of a child victim of sexual abuse and the CAC encouraged MS to seek services for herself while moving through the process of healing with her daughter. Her daughter is a victim of sexual abuse by her step-father. The child was sexually abused for years by him but never reported it. He would make threats about killing her moth ...

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Upper Ohio Valley SAHC

AR is a victim of sexual assault by a coworker. Within 72 hours she obtained a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) by a local hospital where SAHC's hotline was called. Once the SAHC advocate arrived at the hospital AR was able to tell her story. AR was drugged, raped, and a victim of pornography. The offender beat her severely, photographed her body, and videoed himself raping her. Some of ...

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Consistent Support Base

"RS was a victim of familial rape when she was a teenager at the hands of her father and uncle. She had kept most of her past a secret from everyone she’d met and had experienced four decades of flashbacks, nightmares, and mental health issues from never having dealt with her trauma from the abuse. When the #MeToo movement came about, she ultimately decided that she would seek help and wanted so ...

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Advocate in Time of Need

"LM experienced many difficulties in her journey to healing and SAHC was there each step of the way. LM was sexually assaulted by a former romantic partner of hers during a college party. Her friends, upon hearing the news, immediately took her to the hospital to have a sexual assault forensic exam done. Unfortunately, the first two hospitals in the area she went to did not have a Sexual Assault N ...

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