We can help you – initial advice on 116 016

Quickly, safely and however you need us to

Why me? Maybe it’s my own fault. How can I protect myself? What should I tell my children? And: Where can I find help? Questions like these cause a lot of emotional distress. And though you probably haven’t asked anyone questions like these before, these are questions you need an answer to. Whether you are feeling scared, helpless, sad or even angry and full of rage, no matter what you feel and what questions are running through your mind: we are there at your side to provide advice and support. We want to give you someone to lean on – to let you know you are not alone. With the Violence against Women Helpline we aim to give you a way of asking for help directly. Our counsellors (female) will make sure that you get the help you need, right away, any time of the day. You can put yourself in our hands.

Take the first step by calling us and we will simply listen to what you have to say. It is a central part of our philosophy that you decide how much you want to tell us and what you would prefer to keep to yourself. We always take you, your situation and your questions seriously. We will gladly offer to share with you our experience and our assessment of the situation. If you would like us to, we can help you find local support in your area.

How to contact us? The Violence against Women Helpline offers advice on 116 016 and online.

What kind of support can the Violence against Women Helpline give me?

If and in what form you wish to make use of our support, is up to you and you alone. You decide how much of your situation you wish to share with us. Maybe you are sceptical about how much we can really help you, maybe you aren’t sure you can really trust us. You are not alone in feeling these things and it is perfectly understandable to do so. We would like to give you a short overview of who we are, how we support you and how we can help you.

If you become the victim of violence or have been in the past and you decide you need help, you can simply call us. Sometimes it helps just to talk about your experiences. Or maybe you would like to ask us some of the questions that have been bothering you. If you take this first step, we can do a lot more for you than simply listen. We would like to give you the support, advice and orientation you need not only on the telephone, but also help you find appropriate counselling services in your area. We can refer you to local agencies providing support in your area if you request us to do so. These agencies can also provide you with longer-term support.

Which questions can I get answered?

There are many reasons why you might want to use the Violence against Women Helpline. No matter what your concern is, we take your questions and your wishes very seriously and give them our full attention.
Whether you are dealing with violence in your marriage or from your partner, sexual aggression or rape, stalking, forced prostitution or genital mutilation, we can advise you individually on all forms of violence against women and will take your very personal and specific experiences into account. We can also answer questions with respect to sexual harassment at the workplace, arranged marriage or cyber violence – and will work together with you to find solutions.

Even if your own personal situation isn’t covered by one of the forms of violence listed above, the counsellors at the support hotline will gladly be there for you. In particular if you simply have the feeling that you need help and need to talk to someone. In our experience, in most cases violence against women comes from men who are close to them. Perhaps you are suffering under what your husband, partner, boyfriend, brother or other relative is doing to you or has done to you in the past. If this is true for you, the perceived closeness with the aggressor is probably making it even more difficult for you to talk about your feelings. However, you can be completely assured that we will help you at any time, whenever you feel like talking to us about these or similar experiences.

Who will I be talking to on the support hotline?

All of our counsellors are female and highly experienced, trained professionals. The person you will be talking to is thus well prepared for your call and will be able to respond to your specific needs during the phone call. If you decide to call us you will always have a person you can trust to talk to. No matter what though: you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to. We are here to respond to your needs. When you call us, you yourself will decide the tenor and the pace of the conversation.

When can I reach the support hotline and what do I have to agree to when I call?

Be it sexual aggression or rape by your spouse, sharing your experiences with a counsellor certainly isn’t easy. Once you have decided to call us, you can do so even in the middle of the night or on the weekend. There is no bad time to share your worries and your pain. You can reach us from anywhere in Germany at any time 365 days a year using our free hotline number – weekends, holidays and time of the day or night make no difference.

You don’t have to tell us your name or details of your specific situation if you don’t wish to. It goes without saying that we will treat your call and anything you share with us with utmost confidentiality. You do not have to give us any personal data, and we do not store any personal data that we become privy to.

Is using the support hotline safe for me?

We understand that making a call to us may not be easy. When you decide to trust us and call us, your protection is our primary concern. We have thus ensured that calling the Violence against Women Helpline can be done securely – all calls to us are treated completely confidentially. You can ask questions anonymously at any time and can rest assured that we will not record your personal data or pass it on to anyone else. Your call to us cannot be traced back to you. Likewise, when you surf our website we do not save any information about you. In addition, our website also features an “Emergency exit” button, which when you click it takes you off our website with a single click. Via the button “Online security” you will find full information on surfing securely and anonymously.

How do the counsellors find appropriate local support options in my area?

Women who become the victim of violence can take advantage of a wide variety of support and aid programmes in Germany. Should you require local support in your area, we can help refer you to suitable agencies near you. We have a comprehensive database with information on the numerous local support agencies across Germany at our disposal.

How can I get support if I am a victim of human trafficking and/or forced prostitution?

Are you being forced into prostitution or work through violence or exploitation of a vulnerable situation? Counselling through the Violence against Women Helpline is safe. We are here to support you 24/7 on 116 016. This service is free of charge, anonymous, and available in 19 languages. Our counsellors are bound by confidentiality. You do not need to give your name or any personal information. You are not obligated to take any actions and are in control of whether or which steps you wish to take following the counselling session.

What languages can I receive help in?

Even if you don’t speak German or can’t express yourself well enough in German, the Violence against Women Helpline can provide you with support. Our counsellors can simply contact an interpreter so that you can ask all the questions you need without added stress and in the language you are most comfortable in. We provide telephone counselling in Turkish, Russian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Chinese, Bulgarian, Romanian, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese as well.