Yes.
Live Chat
Sometimes it can feel difficult to pick up the phone. Sometimes writing down your thoughts and feelings can help you better understand them.
Our confidential and anonymous live chat is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and offers open ended emotional support and signposting to other support services. It is not a therapeutic service, but we will listen to, believe and support you. This service is run by our team of fully trained, femme-identifying volunteers.
Live Chat
Our Live Chat offers emotional support to Black femmes, aged 16 and over, who have experienced any form of gender-based violence.
If you would like to speak with us or receive emotional support you can contact us by clicking on the live chat icon on the bottom of your screen. Anyone who has been affected by gendered violence, now or in the past, can contact us.
All of our support services are designed to create safe spaces for survivors. We offer non-judgmental, empathic and non-advisory support.
We also offer to support friends, family or partners of survivors.
If you find it hard to send us a message via our Live Chat, you can also send us a message via email or request a callback.
Self Referrals
If you would like to refer yourself for any support at HERSANA you can do this through our online self-referral form or you can phone us.
Request a Callback
If you are seeking support regarding any form of abuse, you can leave a message for our expert support team via the form below.
Your message will go to HERSANA’s secure inbox and won’t leave any trace on your emails.
So HERSANA can respond to your message, we ask for the safest way to contact you. We will get back to you within 48 hours, or at the safe time you enter into this form. If you give us a phone number to contact you on and we can’t get through, you will need to contact us again. We are not able to leave voicemails, for your safety.
FAQs
You can still get in touch with us. We’re here for you, whatever your age. Our first responsibility is to you, not your parents or guardian.
You can talk to us about whatever is on your mind, we’ll listen.
We aim for everyone to get through to someone straight away, but sometimes this is not always possible as it depends on the number of volunteers we have online at that time.
Online, we can chat about what you’re going through and you can ask us any questions you like. We will not judge you or tell you what to do.
You may not know yet what kind of help you need, or if you’re even ready to ask for help. That’s okay. Contacting the live chat is the right place to start: An expert advisor will listen to whatever you want to tell her. She’ll offer confidential and non-judgemental information, and if you’d like, help you make a plan.
Whatever your situation, we are here for you. Our Helpline online team can take you through your rights and options, refer you to specialist services (apart from refuges), and support you to think about your safety and the safety of any children.
HERSANA’s Live Chat service is confidential. We won’t share any information you give us with a third party unless you ask us to. The only exception to this is where there is a serious risk of harm to you or others, or where a child is believed to be at risk of harm, when we may have to share information without your permission.
The chat platform HERSANA uses has end-to-end encryption. That means only you and the person you're chatting with can read the content of the messages being sent.
Once the chat has finished, or if you use the exit button at any point during your chat with us, it will be deleted and contents of the chat will not be stored anywhere. The only exception would be if you took screenshots or photographs of the conversation and saved them on your device, which we would not recommend.
You will be chatting with one of our expert, femme-identifying chatline team members.
Other services
Let’s stay in touch. Sign up for our newsletter…
Send us your email address to receive all of our latest news & updates.