Quebec’s Sexual Violence Helpline gets online chat feature

Quebec’s 24/7 helpline for victims of sexual violence, is now offering a chat line.

The chat option will be available from noon to midnight seven days a week before becoming available 24/7 in the Spring.

The Sexual Violence Helpline chat line will be managed by the Montreal Sexual Assault Centre (MSAC) run by consellors who have worked in sexual violence counselling for over 10 years.

The service is available to people of all ages, and the MSAC says anyone who has experienced sexual violence can access it no matter how recent.

“When someone is ready to talk, ready to ask for help, we need to be there for them. The Sexual Violence Helpline’s new chat platform gives us an additional tool to reach out to both adults and young people, another way to extend a helping hand to victims who want to begin healing. We are very grateful to all those who were involved in making this initiative a success,” said Justice Minister and Attorney General Simon Jolin-Barrette.

The chat service will also have a feature that will allow the user to remain anonymous and have a confidential setting if they so choose.

“You know, sometimes people feel more comfortable doing something that is even more anonymous than, than calling an anonymous telephone line they will feel more comfortable just chatting or writing something down. So, I mean, something people may decide that that’s what they feel most comfortable with but hopefully once they access the service that way, then they will be able to, to use the telephone sort of element. But we need to know,” explained Dèby Trent, Director of the MSAC.

The MSAC says the chat line was developed after recommendations made by the Select Committee on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors (2019-2020), which stated the importance of an interactive online platform.

“There was this motivation from the Quebec government, but also, we also knew that with the numbers of the calls that we were receiving our statistics were very low in relation to anybody under the ages of 25,” said Trent.

“Since the younger generations prefer to communicate online in writing, we set up a chat tool to offer them easier access based on their communication habits. This new development reflects our desire to reach out to all people affected by sexual violence, regardless of their age or their preferred form of communication. Since 62 per cent of sexual violence victims are under 18, we knew it was imperative to find an effective, safe way to offer them the support they need.”

According to Quebec’s National Health Institute, the age group that sees the largest proportion of sexual assault victims is 15 to 24 – with the age of alleged perpetrators between 12 and 17-years-old.

“We knew that we weren’t reaching that population, and we really wanted to provide something that would be more accessible to them. So, hence the decision to develop a chat service.”

For now the MSAC says, what’s most important is getting the message that the bilingual service is out.

“People can access the chat line by going on or it’s accessible via our website and if you go on the website there’s information. There’s either there’s a button that you press and it will lead you to the chat counselors. And then they will ask, it will ask you if you, this is what you’re looking for and ask you if you want to chat with someone in English or in French because it’s a bilingual service which is really important,” said Trent.

The MSAC has been helping sexual violence victims since 1980.

-With files from Anastasia Dextrene