Help Center Happenings
Help Center, Inc. Board of Directors
Official Statement
This statement is in response to a recent series of social media posts regarding the Help Center, Inc. We intend to clarify our role in the matter and to reaffirm our unwavering advocacy for those experiencing sexual assault.
At the end of May, an individual accused one of our board members of sexual assault. The alleged conduct did not involve a Help Center, Inc. activity or event. Our staff and board immediately initiated an internal investigation based on the direct experience of the person who stepped forward. Within two weeks of the accusation, the board member resigned from our Board of Directors and the Run for Your Life Committee.
The reporting party was accompanied by a professional victim advocate* from another agency at the time the report was made to the Help Center, Inc. The individual was not seeking Help Center, Inc. services. We followed established policies and procedures through our administrative response to this report while navigating the confidentiality and communications restrictions we must operate under. We want to reassure our community that we have strong internal governance procedures which are reviewed regularly by an external accreditation process. We acted in a manner consistent with our ongoing mission and stand behind our leadership. Please be assured we simply do not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form.
We seek to help those who come forward with accusations to feel heard. We regret that our efforts to that end do not appear to have been effective and that we did not communicate perfectly in this situation. We are saddened to learn that due to the social media posts, members of our community are encouraging others to not seek the support they need from the Help Center, Inc. and to not participate in our Run for Your Life event, which raises money to provide critical suicide prevention and intervention services.
For almost 50 years, the Help Center, Inc. has been committed to providing quality trauma recovery counseling, outreach, advocacy, and information to survivors of sexual assault as well as 24/7 crisis/suicide counseling and intervention. We deeply believe that compassionate response to those in crisis and in need is critical to the well-being of our community.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@bozemanhelpcenter.org.
*Victim Advocate Definition: According to 42 U.S.C. § 13925, the term “victim advocate” means a person, whether paid or serving as a volunteer, who provides services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or dating violence under the auspices or supervision of a victim services program.
Official Statement
This statement is in response to a recent series of social media posts regarding the Help Center, Inc. We intend to clarify our role in the matter and to reaffirm our unwavering advocacy for those experiencing sexual assault.
At the end of May, an individual accused one of our board members of sexual assault. The alleged conduct did not involve a Help Center, Inc. activity or event. Our staff and board immediately initiated an internal investigation based on the direct experience of the person who stepped forward. Within two weeks of the accusation, the board member resigned from our Board of Directors and the Run for Your Life Committee.
The reporting party was accompanied by a professional victim advocate* from another agency at the time the report was made to the Help Center, Inc. The individual was not seeking Help Center, Inc. services. We followed established policies and procedures through our administrative response to this report while navigating the confidentiality and communications restrictions we must operate under. We want to reassure our community that we have strong internal governance procedures which are reviewed regularly by an external accreditation process. We acted in a manner consistent with our ongoing mission and stand behind our leadership. Please be assured we simply do not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form.
We seek to help those who come forward with accusations to feel heard. We regret that our efforts to that end do not appear to have been effective and that we did not communicate perfectly in this situation. We are saddened to learn that due to the social media posts, members of our community are encouraging others to not seek the support they need from the Help Center, Inc. and to not participate in our Run for Your Life event, which raises money to provide critical suicide prevention and intervention services.
For almost 50 years, the Help Center, Inc. has been committed to providing quality trauma recovery counseling, outreach, advocacy, and information to survivors of sexual assault as well as 24/7 crisis/suicide counseling and intervention. We deeply believe that compassionate response to those in crisis and in need is critical to the well-being of our community.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@bozemanhelpcenter.org.
*Victim Advocate Definition: According to 42 U.S.C. § 13925, the term “victim advocate” means a person, whether paid or serving as a volunteer, who provides services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or dating violence under the auspices or supervision of a victim services program.
We rang in our 5th Annual Run for Your Life with some snow and cold this year, but it didn't stop our community from coming out and showing their support! We had 1,053 people register and approximately 640 join us on race day.
Together, we raised $70,000 for suicide prevention and intervention services!
That day, we were reminded of how amazing our community truly is! Please check out our race day photos. We also had an individual donate their time to make a great highlight video.
Run for Your Life helps support:
Together, we raised $70,000 for suicide prevention and intervention services!
That day, we were reminded of how amazing our community truly is! Please check out our race day photos. We also had an individual donate their time to make a great highlight video.
Run for Your Life helps support:
- 24/7 suicide & crisis hotline for Gallatin and the surrounding 12 counties.
- Walk-in crisis counseling for approximately 32 individuals/month.
- Assistance for approximately 1,550 individuals through a suicidal crisis they or a loved one are experiencing (2018 Help Center data)
- Suicide prevention workshops and mental health stigma reduction outreach to 459 individuals (2018 Help Center data).
Scam Warning
The Help Center continues to be a target of a TELEPHONE SCAM. We will NEVER call you without prior arrangement, we do not sell products for pain management and we NEVER give out caller's phone numbers without permission. This would be a violation of HIPAA laws, not to mention extremely unethical.
We want to reassure everyone that our telephone system is extremely secure and protected! However, cell phones are not always secure. If you have received a robocall that states it is the Help Center and wants to sell you pain management equipment or medicine, please go to your cell phone company and ask them how to make your phone more secure.You might be more vulnerable to this scam if you have ever called us or come to our center.
The Help Center continues to be a target of a TELEPHONE SCAM. We will NEVER call you without prior arrangement, we do not sell products for pain management and we NEVER give out caller's phone numbers without permission. This would be a violation of HIPAA laws, not to mention extremely unethical.
We want to reassure everyone that our telephone system is extremely secure and protected! However, cell phones are not always secure. If you have received a robocall that states it is the Help Center and wants to sell you pain management equipment or medicine, please go to your cell phone company and ask them how to make your phone more secure.You might be more vulnerable to this scam if you have ever called us or come to our center.
Newsletters
We are beginning to send out monthly newsletters. Don't currently receive them? SIGN UP HERE.
We are beginning to send out monthly newsletters. Don't currently receive them? SIGN UP HERE.
Help Center Events
Check out our Events page to see what we have coming up!
Check out our Events page to see what we have coming up!
KBZK Community First Award
We received KBZK TV's August Community First Award! Thank you to First Security Bank for being a generous sponsor of these awards, giving the honored nonprofit a $500 Visa gift card and plaque.
We received KBZK TV's August Community First Award! Thank you to First Security Bank for being a generous sponsor of these awards, giving the honored nonprofit a $500 Visa gift card and plaque.
Help Center Director Retires after 44 Years
Our Director, Wendy Visscher, retired after 44 years of service to the Help Center. Read more about Wendy, her life and legacy HERE.
Our Director, Wendy Visscher, retired after 44 years of service to the Help Center. Read more about Wendy, her life and legacy HERE.
National News!
NBC News featured an increase in Lifeline calls after high-profile suicides and the Bozeman Help Center was highlighted!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/they-want-help-crisis-hotlines-inundated-calls-after-celebrity-suicides-n881986
NBC News featured an increase in Lifeline calls after high-profile suicides and the Bozeman Help Center was highlighted!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/they-want-help-crisis-hotlines-inundated-calls-after-celebrity-suicides-n881986
ABC Fox Interview
Our Community Educator provided and interview for ABC Fox Montana after a young child took their life in Butte recently.
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/story/37718217/suicide-prevention-resources-available-for-montana-kids
Our Community Educator provided and interview for ABC Fox Montana after a young child took their life in Butte recently.
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/story/37718217/suicide-prevention-resources-available-for-montana-kids
Community First Award
The Help Center was awarded KBZK's April Community First Award!
The Help Center was awarded KBZK's April Community First Award!
Pinwheels Popping Up to Raise Awareness for Child Abuse
April is Child Abuse Prevention month. Blue pinwheels are for sale at various locations around the community to help raise awareness!
KBZK Story>
ABC FOX>
April is Child Abuse Prevention month. Blue pinwheels are for sale at various locations around the community to help raise awareness!
KBZK Story>
ABC FOX>
March 2017
Child Advocacy Center Holds Grand Opening
After receiving accreditation, the Child Advocacy center held a grand opening to celebrate the momentous occasion! Read the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's article and watch the KBZK coverage.
Child Advocacy Center Holds Grand Opening
After receiving accreditation, the Child Advocacy center held a grand opening to celebrate the momentous occasion! Read the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's article and watch the KBZK coverage.
January 2017
Child Advocacy Center receives Accreditation
The Gallatin County Child Advocacy Center is a multidisciplinary team that works together to help child victims of sexual and severe physical abuse. In January 2017 they received accreditation! Read the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's article on the center.
Child Advocacy Center receives Accreditation
The Gallatin County Child Advocacy Center is a multidisciplinary team that works together to help child victims of sexual and severe physical abuse. In January 2017 they received accreditation! Read the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's article on the center.
October 31st, 2016
Thanks to everyone to who made Run for Your Life a success! We successfully hit our goal of raising $40,000!
Bozeman Daily Chronicle article about Run for Your Life 2016
A great article about our Race Director and board leader, Flora McCormick!
Thanks to everyone to who made Run for Your Life a success! We successfully hit our goal of raising $40,000!
Bozeman Daily Chronicle article about Run for Your Life 2016
A great article about our Race Director and board leader, Flora McCormick!
June 16th, 2016
You helped us raise $7,534 and win an extra $12,500 endowment for our suicide prevention & intervention work.
Thank you so much to all the generous donors who helped us win the Bozeman Area Community Foundation's Grand prize! and KBZK TV's Final countdown challenge during Give Big 2016. We ended up with 212 donors in total! Some were community members that we met for the first time on sidewalks or store fronts May 3rd. Other donors were ongoing friends/supporters who give to the Help Center regularly. We appreciate EVERY ONE of you! We are truly honored to be the recipients of the Endowment, and look forward to working with the Bozeman Area Community Foundation further. |
Thank you so much to these local businesses, for allowing us space for donation tables.
1. Town & Country Foods 2. The LARK Bozeman 3. Rosauers Food & Drug Center 4. The Baxter |
April 28th, 2016
Help Center Co-Director awarded the National Sexual Violence Resource Center Visionary Voice Award for Montana.
The NSVRC offers the Visionary Voice award, in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) each April, to recognize the creativity and hard work of individuals around the country who have demonstrated outstanding work to end sexual violence.
Christina Powell
Nominated by the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Christina Powell has tirelessly advocated on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking for nearly 40 years, first by creating programming that provided access to help for victims through reproductive health facilities. For the last 25 years, Christina has advocated through the programs of Help Center, Inc., which provides crisis intervention services to 13 counties in Montana. Working with the infrastructure provided by Help Center, Christina is the founder and Program Director of the Sexual Assault Counseling Center (SACC), Montana’s only designated sexual assault center.
SACC was the first program or center in Montana to implement sexual violence-specific trauma-based services and is known for its cutting-edge advocacy and counseling practices. Christina’s research from her early days working on victim issues in the mid-70s was incorporated into the trauma approaches used in the center since 1996. Under Christina’s leadership and expertise, all services of SACC were trauma informed years before the rest of the country implemented trauma-informed practices as best practice. Recognizing the critical importance of trauma-based therapeutic practices to victims of sexual violence, SACC implemented the practice of “trauma recovery” models of therapy in the unique, integrated staff position of counselor/advocate created to minimize the traumatic exposure to victims found in the multiple retellings of their story. The impact of Christina’s work is felt daily in the collaborative structures and programs she helped to build, as well as in the lives of victims of sexual and domestic violence who go on to rebuild happy, healthy lives.
Christina sits on multiple teams and committees working in issues of concern to survivors of sexual assault, including 20 years on Montana Board of Crime Control’s VAWA. Christina's work includes her tireless efforts at building trauma-informed collaborations between systems and community-based agencies to ensure victims are treated with dignity and respect and offenders are held accountable. She helped start and currently chairs both the Gallatin County Sexual Assault Response Team and the Gallatin County Multi-Disciplinary Team (GCMDT) for Child Abuse. She also coordinated the efforts to found the Gallatin County Child Advocacy Center, which opened on March 30th, 2015, and currently works with the GCMDT on not only fulfilling national accreditation standards but also creating protocols that are trauma-informed — a complex endeavor when working on the broad issue of child abuse response.
Help Center Co-Director awarded the National Sexual Violence Resource Center Visionary Voice Award for Montana.
The NSVRC offers the Visionary Voice award, in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) each April, to recognize the creativity and hard work of individuals around the country who have demonstrated outstanding work to end sexual violence.
Christina Powell
Nominated by the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Christina Powell has tirelessly advocated on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking for nearly 40 years, first by creating programming that provided access to help for victims through reproductive health facilities. For the last 25 years, Christina has advocated through the programs of Help Center, Inc., which provides crisis intervention services to 13 counties in Montana. Working with the infrastructure provided by Help Center, Christina is the founder and Program Director of the Sexual Assault Counseling Center (SACC), Montana’s only designated sexual assault center.
SACC was the first program or center in Montana to implement sexual violence-specific trauma-based services and is known for its cutting-edge advocacy and counseling practices. Christina’s research from her early days working on victim issues in the mid-70s was incorporated into the trauma approaches used in the center since 1996. Under Christina’s leadership and expertise, all services of SACC were trauma informed years before the rest of the country implemented trauma-informed practices as best practice. Recognizing the critical importance of trauma-based therapeutic practices to victims of sexual violence, SACC implemented the practice of “trauma recovery” models of therapy in the unique, integrated staff position of counselor/advocate created to minimize the traumatic exposure to victims found in the multiple retellings of their story. The impact of Christina’s work is felt daily in the collaborative structures and programs she helped to build, as well as in the lives of victims of sexual and domestic violence who go on to rebuild happy, healthy lives.
Christina sits on multiple teams and committees working in issues of concern to survivors of sexual assault, including 20 years on Montana Board of Crime Control’s VAWA. Christina's work includes her tireless efforts at building trauma-informed collaborations between systems and community-based agencies to ensure victims are treated with dignity and respect and offenders are held accountable. She helped start and currently chairs both the Gallatin County Sexual Assault Response Team and the Gallatin County Multi-Disciplinary Team (GCMDT) for Child Abuse. She also coordinated the efforts to found the Gallatin County Child Advocacy Center, which opened on March 30th, 2015, and currently works with the GCMDT on not only fulfilling national accreditation standards but also creating protocols that are trauma-informed — a complex endeavor when working on the broad issue of child abuse response.
Run for Your Life 2015: October 31st, 2015
A BIG thanks to the runners, volunteers, sponsors and supporters! Run for Your Life was a smashing success!
A BIG thanks to the runners, volunteers, sponsors and supporters! Run for Your Life was a smashing success!
October 30th, 2015
Help Center Co-Director Featured
Wendy Visscher, Help Center Co-Director, was featured in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's Prime Magazine on page 8! READ MORE>
Help Center Co-Director Featured
Wendy Visscher, Help Center Co-Director, was featured in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's Prime Magazine on page 8! READ MORE>
July 7th, 2015
Help Center Co-Director Honored
Christina Powell, Help Center Co-Director and Sexual Assault Counseling Center Founder and Program Director, was recently honored as the Outstanding Crime Victim Advocate from Montana Attorney General Tim Fox! See below for pictures from the award ceremony. CLICK HERE to read the Bozeman Daily Chronicle article about the award. A very well deserved award for one amazing woman!
