
Services
Riverview Center provides 100% free and confidential survivor services in Iowa and Illinois, addressing sexual and domestic violence. These services, such as crisis hotlines, advocacy, counseling, trauma-informed therapy, and essential needs assistance, are tailored to individual circumstances for a client-centered approach.

CRISIS HOTLINES
Our hotlines can be reached 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.
Counties in Iowa
Sexual Assault: 888-557-0310
Jo Daviess Co., Illinois
Sexual Assault: 815-777-8155
Domestic Violence: 815-777-3680
Carroll Co., Illinois
Sexual Assault: 815-244-7772
Domestic Violence: 815-244-1320


Legal, Medical & General Advocacy
We believe you. You are not alone.
Advocates support survivors. Survivors determine the course of their care based on their unique needs and circumstances. Advocates and survivors work together to achieve the goals identified by survivors in their individualized service plans.
Advocates support survivors during legal proceedings and medical exams and help connect survivors with the resources they require to meet their basic needs because we understand trauma can impact every facet of an individual’s life. It is their legal right, as the survivor of a crime, to have an advocate by their side as they navigate the criminal justice system. Riverview Center can also accompany the survivor to the hospital, should they decide to receive medical care following sexual abuse or assault. Advocates provide information for survivors for all available options and never push survivors toward a certain plan of action. From standing with survivors in the courtroom to finding safe housing, advocates are client-centered in everything they do.
SURVIVOR SERVICES
Therapy & Counseling
Riverview Center offers counseling and therapy to survivors of sexual violence in Iowa and to survivors of sexual and/or domestic violence in Illinois. When a survivor decides that counseling or therapy is part of their healing journey, they are given choices. Riverview Center therapists create service plans based on the needs and wishes of the client, including treatment goals that the therapist and survivor agree on. Therapists will never force a survivor to discuss experiences that they are not ready to talk about; instead, therapists guide the survivor toward their picture of healing at the survivor’s pace.
Therapy and counseling services are available for child, teen and adult survivors, and for friends and family of the survivor. Sessions can be one-on-one, with family or in a group setting, depending on the client’s preference and comfort level. Therapy and counseling take place within the privacy of our offices or in an agreed upon, confidential location in the community that is convenient and comfortable for the survivor.
Each session is centered by the needs and wishes of the client, including goals, types of therapy methods, and timeline. While one survivor may need a place to discuss their experience in a safe environment, another may benefit from using art or sand tray therapy to process the abuse. This service may last weeks, months, or years, depending on the survivor’s needs. The path to healing is not linear; rather, it takes a unique shape for each survivor.
If you are a survivor seeking help from Riverview Center for the first time, please call the Riverview Center office nearest you, or reach us by the hotline. We will set up a time for you to meet with an advocate or counselor in your area. All services are completely free and confidential. We believe you. We support you. We will be here when you’re ready.
SURVIVOR SERVICES

Community Services
Professional Training
Riverview Center offers professional training in the form of violence prevention presentations to allied professionals in the community. Preventionists routinely work with teachers and school staff, police officers and members of law enforcement teams, first responders and EMTs, social service agencies, and college students in fields such as education, criminal justice and human services. Professionals that could encounter a survivor in their line of work, or employers seeking to make their workplace safe are eligible to receive this free service.
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Professional training programs topics include How To's on:
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Handle a disclosure of sexual violence
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Connect a survivor with resources like Riverview Center
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Explain the impacts of sexual violence on individuals and communities in the short and long-term
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The necessity of a Survivor’s Privacy
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No matter the audience, professional training promotes empathy towards survivors and teaching the responders ways to assure the survivor they are believed.
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Survivors who have someone who believes in them, and subsequently receive professional, high-quality support in a timely manner are less likely to experience the long-term, negative consequences of sexual violence. Each person that meets a survivor will respond in a way that helps or hurts. We are dedicated to educating professionals how to help.
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Professional training programs can be tailored to the needs of the agency being served. For example, a disability service provider may receive training on how to recognize signs of sexual abuse in someone who communicates non-verbally. Workplace supervisors may receive training on sexual harassment and how to keep their employees safe. Youth leaders in schools, faith communities, and community organizations may receive training on violence as it relates to the age group they work with.
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Ultimately, Riverview Center aims to equip professionals with the education and tools necessary to prevent violence in every facet of the community.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Riverview Center uses evidence-based programs to teach kids, teens and young adults the importance of redefining the social norms that allow for violence against others. Starting in preschool and continuing through high school and college, students can receive a variety of lessons appropriate for each developmental stage of their life.
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School-Age Prevention Training
Riverview Center staff works with teachers directly to ensure programming is relevant to the students and what is occurring in the classrooms and throughout the community for that age group. Staff also works with parents to keep them informed of what their students are learning and encourage them to continue practices they are learning at home. Riverview Center hosts programming throughout the school year as well as summer camps.
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Starting in preschool, students learn about appropriate boundaries between themselves and other students, how to react to inappropriate behavior, and more. By starting the conversations early, we can garner a commitment to the prevention of inappropriate and harmful behavior down the line.
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In elementary school, students are taught inclusivity, respect for those around them, body safety and boundaries, and how to have empathy for others. Also introduced at this age is the harm of traditional gender roles on individuals.
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Middle schoolers are beginning to learn about relationships and how to interact others. This should include an understanding of how to determine if a relationship is healthy and safe, how to be a respectful and caring partner, and what boundaries look like and how to respect them. This keeps the empathy conversation going to help students become loving partners and supportive friends. Students also learn that they deserve to be in a happy and healthy relationship, and that nobody should be able to take that away from them.
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With the maturity of high schoolers comes a deeper conversation about what sexual harassment and abusive relationships look like, how to be aware of sexual assault whether they are a survivor or a bystander, and teaching students the skills and tools they need for their current and future relationships.
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LGBTQ+ Support Training
In addition to the general high school programming, Riverview Center’s Illinois offices offer support and education for the LGBTQ+ and ally youth through the Northwest Illinois Gender and Sexuality Alliance (NW IL GSA).
Through regular, safe-space meetings led by trained community members, school professionals, Riverview Center employees and student leaders, these groups discuss topics including, but not limited to: bullying, health safety, advocacy, and safe relationships. This group is intended to reduce self-harm, bullying and substance abuse, as well as increase the self-esteem of the young LGBTQ+ communities.
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For more information about our school programs, camp programs, or any of our prevention curricula, please contact your local Riverview Center office.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Prevention Services & Training
Community Partnerships
As part of our ongoing commitment to the communities we serve, Riverview Center is proud to partner with organizations that help support our mission and the safety and prosperity of the cities we live in.
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For example, Riverview Center staff often serve as members of service and social clubs, area boards, and social service coalitions to name a few. We also have a regular presence at community events to represent our agency and the services we provide.
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Creating lasting and effective community partnerships is an integral part of preventing violence and connecting more survivors to the support they need.