In hopes of raising awareness of the help available to sexual violence survivors, a local crisis centre has handed out stickers to over 200 businesses.
The Chatham-Kent (CK) Sexual Assault Crisis Centre handed out the stickers over the last few months. The stickers were then to be placed inside the businesses' bathrooms with contact information for those who need it.
"I've lived here my entire life, and I didn't know the centre existed until I started working here. I figured, why not just distribute something that we can place in different businesses across the city so that people can see them and know that we're there," said the CK Sexual Assault Centre Community Outreach Coordinator Kaitlyn Kirchner.
Kirchner explained that by having the stickers posted in bathrooms, it makes it easier for someone to seek help because they are likely alone and don't have someone watching.
"I think it's a really great thing to see in the community because sexual violence is still treated as such a taboo subject," Kirchner continued. "It means the world to know that other people are going to see this and maybe it'll do some work to destigmatize these conversations."
The initiative also included distributing stickers and information packages to motels and hotels for those who may be at risk of being trafficked.
"We know that in Chatham-Kent, we have the 401 and Highway 2 that are big human trafficking routes. So, we did, while doing these stickers, end up distributing those resources to every hotel and motel in the municipality," Said Kirchner.
Kirchner added that the centre has been receiving a lot more calls than normal, which could be attributed to the stickers that were passed out.
