DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997                TAG: 9704180680

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIKA REIF,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   50 lines

STATEWIDE RAPE CRISIS HOTLINE OPENS TOLL-FREE IN WILLIAMSBURG

It was the opening-night reception for the Virginia Sexual Assault Hotline on Wednesday, and already the phones were ringing.

About 50 guests from various agencies celebrated in the hall of the Virginians Against Domestic Violence office in Williamsburg, while in the next room, staff members took their first calls.

The 24-hour link to rape crisis support and information is the first toll-free, statewide hotline of its kind.

The hotline will be particularly helpful to the 23 counties in Virginia without rape crisis centers, said Pat Groot, executive director for Virginians Aligned Against Sexual Assault.

Groot's organization in Charlottesville is providing staff for the Williamsburg office, which has combined the sexual assault hotline with a domestic violence hotline.

As a rape and family violence information system, ``I would speculate that it's probably the most comprehensive database in the state,'' Groot said.

It is funded by General Assembly and state Department of Health grants totaling $175,000.

Callers anywhere in Virginia can phone the hotline and be connected directly with support services in their area.

The database lists community resource centers, domestic violence and sexual assault agencies, police departments, hospitals, legal aid offices, homeless shelters, batterers' treatment programs, social service agencies and others.

One of the greatest barriers rape victims encounter is not being listened to or believed, Groot said. So a hotline providing a trusting ear is often the victim's first step toward recovery.

``It's actually pretty exciting that we're able to offer this,'' Groot said. ``To see and hear the relief someone experiences when they talk to someone who understands and knows what they're talking about.''

Most rapes are still not reported, according to a summary by the Sexual Assault Crisis Centers in Virginia. The 1,794 rapes and attempted rapes reported to police in 1995 are estimated to be only one-third to one-tenth the actual number. Last year, Virginia sexual assault centers provided services to more than 4,000 victims and to nearly 2,000 family members and friends of victims.

Staff at the Virginia Sexual Assault Hotline inform callers of their choices, but do not make a decision for them.

It's a philosophy of ``empowering people to help themselves,'' hotline coordinator Kate McCord said. ``The person has had power and control taken away from them. It doesn't do a great deal of good to tell them what to do.'' MEMO: The hotline number is (800) 838

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