Frequently Asked Questions

What services does SASSL offer?

  • Walk-in support in our office
  • Our anonymous 24/7 support line at 416 650 8056
  • Various events and workshops throughout the year

Do I have to be a women to access SASSL’s services?

No. SASSL supports people of all genders, which includes, but is not limited to: gender queer/non-binary people, cis/trans women and cis/trans men.

Do I have to be a York student to use SASSL’s services?

No. Anyone can reach out to our organization for support, although many of our services are prioritized for York students.

Do I have to have been sexually assaulted to call SASSL?

No. Anyone can call for any reason. We specialize in all issues related to sexual violence. For example, if you have a friend or family member who has been assaulted, if you are looking for information concerning sexual assault services, etc. Feel free to call SASSL or use our walk-in support anytime.

Does my assault(s) have to have happened on campus or near campus for me to use SASSL’s services?

No. Wherever the assault(s) happened, whether at York, at home, or in another country, you can always call SASSL for peer support and referrals.

Does my assault(s) have to have happened recently for me to use SASSL’s services?

No. At SASSL we recognize that healing after an assault is a very personal experience that can take any amount of time, ranging from days, months, to many years depending on the person who is affected. It doesn’t matter if the assault happened yesterday, or 20 years ago. There is no time limit for being affected by an sexual violence. You deserve support whenever you feel you need it and SASSL is here for you.

Do I have to be a feminist to use SASSL’s services?

No. We do not ask about your personal or political beliefs when we provide support. Regardless of our beliefs as an organization, our support services are open, confidential, and anonymous to everyone. SASSL is an openly feminist organization, which means that we are committed to fighting varying modes of oppression in relation to the marginalization of women and trans people.

Intersectional feminism? What does that mean?

SASSL recognizes that sexual violence is gender-based, race-based, and class-based issue.  We also recognize that there is an uneven balance of power in our society that results in majority of sexual violence being perpetrated by cismen and the majority of those most impacted by sexual violence being cis-women, trans people, and non-binary gender people. We explicitly connect this to hyper-masculinity, patriarchy, misogyny,  rape-culture, white supremacy and settler-colonialism. We recognize that people who face multiple, intersecting forms of oppression including anti-black racism, Islamophobia, colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy, classism, cissexism, heterosexism, and ableism are at a higher risk of experiencing sexual violence and face more barriers to accessing services after the fact. In so doing, we understand and acknowledge the intersectional nature of oppression. Further, we recognize and seek to challenge the ways traditional ‘violence against women frameworks’ have historically prioritized a particular type of survivor- namely white, cisgender, straight, able-bodied women. In addition, we work to provide an equally effective and respectful service for survivors who identify as men

I would like to interview a SASSL Coordinator or volunteer as a media representative/for a class project. How do I do that?

SASSL is an organization that is run collectively, which means that we need to develop responses to your questions together. If you would like our full organization’s response, you will need to give us your questions in advance, and give us the collective time to generate our responses. If you would like to have our members’ individual opinions instead of our organizational views, then we can give you the answers that you need faster. If your questions are inappropriate or in any way threatening, we reserve the right to withdraw from your interview at any time.

PLEASE NOTE:

We will not answer any questions that ask for confidential information. Such information that we will not release includes, but is not limited to: call details, survivors’ stories, times or dates of calls, how many calls we receive, identifying information about the people that use our services, and identifying information about our staff or volunteers.

SASSL has not answered the phone. Why is that?

One common reason is that we are in the middle of another call. Most other reasons are related to how our phone system works.

SASSL has not answered the phone. Why is that?

One common reason is that we are in the middle of another call. Most other reasons are related to how our phone system works.SASSL is primarily student-run and student-funded. As a result, we do not have full-time staff or a call centre. We have an office phone and a cell phone. The office phone is answered by coordinators during our office hours (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm). At night and over the weekends, all calls are forwarded to our support-line cell phone which is operated by volunteers and coordinators who take the cell phone home. Since most of us are students, there can sometimes be scheduling conflicts. For example, for privacy and confidentiality issues, we turn the cell phone off while commuting/ travelling. Additionally, as our main phone line is located on York University’s Keele campus, we have been impacted by campus-wide power outages in the past.

If you have tried calling multiple times and do not get an answer, we want to know about it so that we can track what went wrong, and prevent this from happening in the future. If you would like to report any such problems anonymously, feel free to fill out our anonymous feedback form.

I am unsatisfied with SASSL's services and/or have encountered problems with a member of SASSL and/or feel that SASSL services are inaccessible to me. What can I do about this?

Your voice is important and you deserve to have your concerns taken seriously. There are several ways that you can contact SASSL to voice your concerns.

Anonymous ways to contact SASSL are:

  1. Through our anonymous feedback form. Our form is split up into a number of sections,  and you only need to fill out the sections that pertain to your situation or complaint.
  2. Through our Tumblr page at http://sasslyorku.tumblr.com/. Tumblr has an anonymous ask option which does not require an account to fill out. Be aware that unfortunately, Tumblr anonymous asks have a character limit.
  3. Call our office line at 416-736-2100 ext. 40345. We don’t have caller ID and you do not have to leave a callback number or tell us your name.

NON anonymous ways of contacting SASSL:

  1. Send an email to sassl@yorku.ca
  2. Stop by our office which is open Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm, and ask for a coordinator. Location: B449, 4th floor of the student centre at York University