CAPE is committed to supporting survivors and allies by providing information about rights and choices, resources, and referrals to other services.  

Survivors can meet with advocates to discuss different options and resources available to them. While each situation is unique and resources may vary, CAPE offers a variety of services and support, including housing accommodations, academic assistance, financial assistance, wellness and resilience support, an overview of reporting options, emotional support and referrals, safety planning and medical advocacy.   

For additional information about each area, please select the heading from the list below:

Learn more about what we do and how we can help

Make An Appointment

CAPE advocates have a survivor-centric approach to care. Transparency is at the heart of this approach. With that in mind, here is what an appointment with an advocate will look like:

Once you connect with CAPE, staff will assist you with scheduling an appointment with an advocate. Depending on your preference, this appointment can be in-person, over the phone or via Zoom. The advocate will send you the Zoom information in advance of the appointment, along with the client consent form for you to review and sign regarding CAPE’s confidentiality policy.

During your appointment, the advocate will talk with you about confidentiality and privilege. Then, you guide the conversation. The advocate may ask "What brings you to CAPE?" or "How can CAPE help you?" It is up to you how much you would like to share. You can share how much or how little detail you are comfortable with. You are not required to disclose your traumatic experience.

The advocate will also provide an overview of CAPE's services and options for assistance and support. You will then work together to discuss your individual needs and create a plan for addressing these needs, as well as steps for additional safety and support. These goals may require additional paperwork or referrals and the advocate will talk with you about ways to complete these forms remotely. Due to confidentiality, CAPE may also need you to sign a release of information in order for the advocate to assist with communication outside of CAPE. 

Going forward, you are welcome to communicate and/or meet with the advocate as needed to work on these advocacy goals.

If you have any trouble connecting at the time of your appointment, please email them directly or call the CAPE main line to troubleshoot or arrange for alternative communication.

Make An Appointment

CAPE advocates support survivors in obtaining assistance with their classes and other academic needs. 

Advocates can communicate with professors in conjunction with or on behalf of survivors and help them obtain extensions, excused absences, support for individual assignments and other accommodations. 

Depending on your situation, we can also support and explore options for circumstances regarding late withdrawals, dropping classes, refunds, incomplete grades and academic probation.

We are here to help navigate university systems, connect survivors with financial aid, student accounts and other departments not specific to individual assignments. Advocates can also support students with petitions and appeals as needed, as well as accompany survivors to any meetings with professors, department deans or advisors. 

Please make an appointment with an advocate in order to further explore these options.

Make An Appointment

CAPE Advocates can help survivors access and secure financial assistance.

The Survivor Fund is available to directly provide financial compensation to survivors for costs they may have incurred as a result of their experience. This can include reimbursement for expenses such as hospital bills, medical care, transportation, clothes and emergency hotel stays. Please contact the CAPE office for further information.

Advocates can work with university systems and partners, such as financial aid, to help survivors work through any financial hardships they may be facing. We also connect students with our partner colleagues at other campus offices and resources for support, such as student accounts and the Basic Needs Center.

Make An Appointment

CAPE advocates are committed to advocating for survivor rights. We work to prepare you for life beyond OSU and to help you build up a sense of wellness.

Developing strategies for wellness and resilience after trauma are unique processes for each survivor. What helps one survivor cope and work toward healing may be completely different for someone else. Consider thinking about the self-care strategies already in your toolbox. What helps you feel calm or relaxed? What gives you joy or a sense of community? What ways have you expressed your feelings before? This might help you get started on an individualized plan that works specifically for you.  

A CAPE advocate can also support you in exploring options to incorporate wellness in ways that are accessible and of interest to you.

Make An Appointment

CAPE is committed to taking an active stance in survivor-focused health care.

Sarah's Place is a clinic in Albany, Oregon, offering specialized medical care with certified sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) for anyone who has experienced sexual assault. If you have experienced a sexual assault within the last five days, please contact CAPE immediately to discuss urgent medical needs, including the option of a forensic exam.

An exam is free and can be anonymous or non-anonymous. You are not required to report to law enforcement or to the school before or after a SANE exam. 

CAPE advocates can discuss, explain and answer questions around your medical options. This can include a sexual assault forensic exam, STI and pregnancy testing, accessing emergency contraception, talking through contraceptive and reproductive health care options, and generalized medical care after a physical assault.  We can accompany survivors to medical appointments as desired. We can also help you access STI testing and emergency contraception. Student Health Services clinicians are confidential.

Make An Appointment

A safety plan is a personalized plan that addresses a survivor's safety needs. It is specific to the individual and their experience. Depending on their circumstances, it can also include a plan for managing crises or a continued threat of violence. 

CAPE advocates support survivors in thinking through their options for safety, including physical, emotional, social and technological safety.

Advocates and survivors can co-create a personalized safety plan. We assist survivors and discuss their options to safely leave or to safely stay in their situation. Some options for safety planning include:

  • Explaining the step-by-step process of filling out and obtaining a restraining order.  
  • Filling out legal paperwork and connecting with legal assistance.
  • Obtaining "No Contact Orders" on campus through the university.
  • Creating individualized safety plans.
    • If a survivor is concerned about the continued threat of violence from an assailant, it is helpful to identify options for safety to reduce harm. Consider safe people to contact for assistance when needed or a safe place to stay if your location has been compromised. This can also include identifying locations within your home to physically place yourself in to stay safe during a violent encounter, as well as devising a plan with neighbors or friends to assist you or call for help when the need arises. Survivors can also discreetly gather and store documents, medications and other essentials if considering leaving.
    • For cyberstalking, consider maintaining your original handle or profile and creating a new one that the stalker is unaware of, planning out different routes to classes each day or establishing safety check-ins with friends or classmates, etc. It can also include making your public information private, asking others to maintain your privacy and adding other safety precautions to your everyday life. 
    • Consider blocking certain individuals through phone, social media and other accounts for tech safety. Turn off location settings on your phone and plan out various routes to classes and work in case of tracking.
    • An emotional safety plan could include having a plan to contact a support person, listing and utilizing go-to coping strategies, and any other follow-up care that may be needed.

Make An Appointment

CAPE advocates offer crisis intervention and provide emotional support to survivors. They can help develop coping skills and talk through issues the survivor may be facing. Advocates can also give referrals for survivors who are in need of ongoing counseling. 

Counseling

We work closely with Counseling & Psychological Services and their interpersonal violence services coordinator. We can refer students directly to our colleagues at CAPS or to other counseling options in the community. CAPS offers individualized and group counseling. 

Support Groups

CAPE and CAPS co-facilitate the Circle of Support group, a peer-support group for survivors for interpersonal violence. The support group provides survivors with a safe setting to share thoughts and feelings, connect with other survivors, and learn information that supports healing. 

The Circle of Support is open to all students on a drop-in basis and is free and confidential. The support group schedule is subject to change. If you are interested in attending, please contact CAPE for the most up to date information.

Make An Appointment

CAPE advocates can support you in considering reporting options and deciding if you want to report. We can talk through questions or concerns you may have before making a decision. We work closely with the Corvallis Police Department and can arrange for them to take a report either in the CAPE office or at their station. Advocates can accompany survivors throughout the school's Title IX process through the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (EOA) and can refer out to other assistance, such as legal aid, as needed.

Please note: reporting to law enforcement or EOA is NOT required. CAPE knows there may be various reasons that survivors do not want to report, including reactivating trauma by going through the reporting process and/or harm experienced through prior contact with law enforcement.  

 

Reporting Options 

OSU Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (EOA) 

  • Snell Hall, Third Floor
  • (541)737-3556
  • Accepts and investigates formal and informal reports of sexual violence and harassment.

 

Corvallis Police Department (CPD)

  • (541)766-6924 or 911
  • Responds to immediate safety concerns and criminal violations to parties living off OSU campus, including sexual and intimate partner violence, which may lead to criminal proceedings.
  • Please note that if a crime occurred in another jurisdiction, reports may need to made to other law enforcement agencies. 

 

Some employees are required to disclose any form of sexual harassment, including sexual/dating/domestic violence and stalking under the Responsible Employees Mandate

Please be mindful of who you disclose to on an OSU campus, knowing that an employee may have to report.

Make An Appointment

CAPE can help survivors find safe housing alternatives so that survivors are secure, both physically and emotionally. 

Advocates assist in finding safe and alternative housing accommodations for survivors and help them secure new living arrangements suitable for their situation. We can work with on- or off-campus partners in order to best support survivors. Advocates can discuss alternatives, help negotiate contracts, advocate to landlords or property managers as needed, and pay for emergency hotel stays.

We work with CARDV to provide confidential living arrangements and with the Basic Needs Center to help survivors access hotel stays, short term on-campus leases, and vouchers. We also can provide financial, emotional and logistical support throughout the moving process for survivors.