Online Chat

Online Chat Availability

The Online Chat will be closed until further notice. If you need support, please call our 24/7 hotline at 1-800-899-4000.

What to expect

Click the “Chat Now” button at the bottom of this page to begin a chat with one of our highly trained staff or volunteer advocates. Our advocates are here to listen to you, help you safety plan, understand your options, or provide information about other community supports and resources. You don’t need to share any information with us unless you want to.

All conversations are confidential, and we do not record conversations, or collect/store any specific data about you. You can choose what information you want to share, and are not required to share any information such as your name or location. However, because our online chat staff and volunteers are considered mandatory reporters by law your confidentiality may be waived if you tell a staff or volunteer about any of the following: child abuse or neglect of a minor under 18 years of age, abuse of an elder person 60 years of age or older, abuse of a person with a disability, that you intend to cause imminent danger (suicide) to yourself or imminent harm to others.

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In the event that you disclose any of these situations and provide enough details about them in the chat, our staff and volunteers may need to file a report with the appropriate agencies or call for an emergency response to assist the person or persons in danger.

Privacy/Safety

You can view our full privacy policy here.  We use a third party company called ResourceConnect to power our Online Chat. Learn more about ResourceConnect here.

Your privacy and safety are very important to us. The online chat does not collect any information that would identify you or your device. No transcripts of your chat are recorded or stored.  No information from your chat is saved. And, once the chat has ended it will be deleted and cannot be retrieved. The online chat box has “Quick Escape” button on the upper right corner that you can use if you need to end the chat for safety reasons.  If you end the chat you can always open a new chat again later.

However, no internet transmission is ever 100% secure. If you think someone may be monitoring your device, you may want to consider one of the following options:

  • Is there a safer device you could use, such as a library computer?
  • Would a phone call be safer? If so, you can call our 24/7 hotline at 1-800-899-4000
  • Could you clear your internet history to minimize the record of viewing this site?
    • Keep in mind, if someone has installed spyware on your device, clearing the history will not delete all records of your site usage

You can learn more about safety planning around technology through the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s Survivor Toolkit. https://www.techsafety.org/resources-survivors

While each chat conversation will be deleted once a chat session has ended or if you hit the Quick Escape button, your browser history will show that you visited the REACH website so it is best practice that you also clear your history on your search bar.

If you are in immediate danger or this is a life-threatening emergency, please call or text 911, or go to the nearest emergency room.