About Us

We hope that the information provided will help you learn about our center, the populations we serve, how we are here to help, and the critical need for our services in our community.

Who We Help

Our services are available at no charge to women, men, and children who are victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, and child abuse. Our toll free hotline operates 24/7 for anyone in our community needing crisis assistance or referral information. We know that violence and abuse can affect anyone, at anytime, and at any stage of life. Our goal is to help victims grow into survivors in a violence-free environment.

We also offer a wide range of classes including on site training for child abuse prevention and suicide prevention for a nominal fee.

Who We Are

The Life Crisis Center is a local non-profit agency that was established in 1976. The Center's mission is to improve the quality of life in our community through crisis intervention and violence prevention. The licensed, professional staff uses national best practice treatment models to serve Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset Counties.

We advocate for and provide a wide range of services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. Through prevention, intervention, therapy, legal services, advocacy, and collaboration, we work to provide a safe place for healing. Some of the comprehensive support services offered to the community include a 19 bed safe home, intensive case management, supervised visitation, counseling, legal services, victim support, abuser groups, and outreach. The LCC is a United Way agency of the Lower Eastern Shore.

Additionally, the LCC also houses the suicide hotline and is the designated information and referral center for Maryland 2-1-1 for the entire Eastern Shore of Maryland. Through an array of supportive and therapeutic services, it is our hope that survivors and their families find healing and hope for the future.

There Is Hope

The good news is that victims of child abuse, domestic, violence and sexual assault can and do heal.

The Life Crisis Center is here to help children, women, men, and families through intervention by trained professionals. Every day we see the creation of hope as victims become survivors.

Why We Help

We, at the Life Crisis Center, recognize that victims of child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault need a safe place to come for healing, safe housing, and advocacy by trained professionals, that promotes life through therapeutic services.

Child Abuse Statistics

•1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before the age of 18.
•1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18.
•1 in 5 children are solicited sexually while on the internet.
•Nearly 70% of all reported sexual assaults (including assaults on adults) occur at age 17 and under.
•An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today.

Even within their own homes, children are at risk for sexual abuse:
•30-40% of victims are abused by a family member.
•50% are abused by someone outside the family whom they know & trust.
•About 40% are abused by older or larger children whom they know.
•90% of children are abused by someone known to them, usually someone they know and trust.

Sexual abuse occurs at all ages, probably younger than you think:
•The median age for reported abuse is 9 years old.
•More than 20% of children are sexually abused before age 8.
•Nearly 50% of all victims of forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and forcible fondling are children under 12.

Most perpetrators are repeat offenders if they are not reported & stopped:
•Nearly 70% of sex offenders have between 1 and 9 victims; at least 20% have 10 to 40 victims.
•An average serial child molester may have as many as 400 victims in his or her lifetime.

Source: Darkness to Light, Statistics Surrounding Child Sexual Abuse, www.D2L.org

Domestic Violence Statistics

•A woman is beaten every 15 seconds.
•Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States- more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined.
•Domestic violence is the leading cause of death in pregnant women.
•Children who witness domestic violence without intervention suffer the effects their entire lives.
•Nationally, 50 percent of all homeless women and children are on the streets due to violence in the home.

Source: www.ncadv.org

Sexual Assault/Rape Statistics

•Every 45 seconds a woman in the United States is raped.
•Less than 30 percent of sex crimes are reported to the police.
•Most rapes are planned.
•More than 60 percent of rape victims know their attacker.
•Nine out of ten rape victims are female.

Rape is an act of violence that uses force and fear to take away a victim's dignity, trust and feelings of safety.
Rape is NEVER a woman's fault.

For more information about sexual assault: www.rainn.org