The New Statewide Hotline is up and running!

Did you know that as of February 1st, Victim Support Services now runs and manages the new statewide hotline for general crime victims?  We are very excited for this opportunity and have been very busy with this transition and it is still a work in progress.  What this means is that VSS will be answering all crisis calls for Washington State.  Before switching to statewide, we answered calls for 10 counties and 2/3 of all calls in WA state, so for us there isn’t too much of an increase in call volume but time will only tell.  Because we are now statewide, we hired 4 new staff members as hotline advocates that will be on-call after hours, as well as current and new volunteers.  We also have a new number and are currently working on the branding and marketing, along with many other things. It’s a work in progress but things are coming together.  It’s been a lot of hard work but all of us here are thrilled to be part of this huge change and are proud to manage the new Washington State Crime Victim Service Center Hotline. For assistance, call 1.888.288.9221, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. To check out who our new hotline advocates are, read below.
Welcome back Heather!  We are pleased to announce that Heather Turner has accepted one of the hotline advocate positions. Heather currently has been serving as a volunteer for our former regional hotline since November of 2012.  Heather used to work as our Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator for Victim Support Services.  She is now currently working for the Snohomish County Public Defender’s Association as a Release Planning Specialist.  Heather has a wealth of experience working with victims of crime as a hotline advocate, but also as a victim/witness advocate for the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.  We are excited to welcome Heather back to our team here at Victim Support Services.
Welcome aboard Patricia!  We are excited to announce that Patricia Stuart is going to be joining our team as another Hotline Advocate.  Patricia has been a volunteer with Victim Support Services since 2013. She has been active in assisting with our regional hotline, as well as helping us out with fundraising events. Patricia currently works at Senior Services of Snohomish County as the SHIBA Community Outreach Coordinator. We are pleased that Patricia will be joining our staff to help us with the statewide hotline.
Meet Aubrey!  We are excited to announce that we are welcoming Aubrey Cushing to our team. Aubrey joins us with a background in criminal justice, and a passion for working with people as well as victims of crime. Aubrey currently works from home for Events 360 as a Field Marketing Coordinator for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day events. Aubrey just bought a home in Tacoma with her husband, and is really looking forward to putting her criminal justice background into action. Welcome Aubrey!
Say Hello to Aki!  We are thrilled to bring into the fold Aki Randolph. Aki joins us from the YWCA women’s emergency shelter in downtown Seattle working as a Domestic Violence Advocate. Aki has a wealth of experience working in the victim service field, and is looking forward to putting her skills into practice with VSS. Aki traveled to Washington State from Alabama in 2015. In Alabama she worked at the Lighthouse shelter providing crisis assistance to domestic violence victims. We are so lucky to have her!
As we continue through this transistion, we will keep you up to date on all of our exciting changes!