Safe HelpRoom, a secure moderated group chat service, is making it possible for sexual assault survivors in the military to connect with and support one another. The newest of five support services provided by DoD Safe Helpline, Safe HelpRoom addresses the exact needs of sexual assault survivors in the military by building sessions around topics selected by participants.

"Online peer support is a popular way for survivors to seek help, but many times, the options available aren't safe," said Jennifer Marsh, RAINN's vice president for victim services.

"Safe HelpRoom makes it easy for survivors to get practical advice from peers; advice that can often help reduce feelings of loneliness or isolation, and lead to improved coping skills and reduced stress, depression and anxiety."

Safe HelpRoom participants and sessions remain completely anonymous and confidential. The service does not capture personal information or save session transcripts, and participants cannot share personally identifying information.

Read more about the Safe HelpRoom here.

Reps. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Jim Costa (D-CA) and other members of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus are honoring RAINN's work helping survivors and fighting sexual violence. At a ceremony on Capitol Hill attended by anti-crime organizations and members of Congress, Poe, the caucus co-chair, presented RAINN president Scott Berkowitz with the Suzanne McDaniel Memorial Award for Public Awareness, which is named for a victims' rights pioneer.

According to Poe, RAINN was nominated for the award in part for its leadership and longtime work to end the backlog of untested rape kits, including helping to pass the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting (SAFER) Act, which was signed into law last month. SAFER, sponsored by Poe along with Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), will help eliminate the backlog of untested DNA evidence from unsolved rape cases and take countless rapists off the streets. SAFER will bring transparency to the testing process and increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system by more effectively targeting areas with large backlogs. The bill requires participating law enforcement agencies to audit and publicly disclose their backlogs for the first time. It also reallocates existing funding to ensure that much more gets spent directly on testing evidence and solving cases (without increasing the deficit).

Learn more about the SAFER Act.

Read more about RAINN receiving the Suzanne McDaniel Memorial Award for Public Awareness here.

This month, Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, partnered with RAINN to launch #Speak4RAINN — a Twitter campaign to raise funds for survivors of sexual violence. The campaign has ignited a national conversation about sexual violence and, so far, has raised the funds to help 622 survivors though RAINN's Online Hotline.

The campaign coincides with the 14th anniversary of Speak, a powerful story that follows a high school freshman as she recovers from a sexual assault and eventually speaks out about what happened to her after months of silence and isolation. For years survivors have told RAINN and Anderson about the positive impact the book has had on them in their own journey to recovery. Now the book is working to help survivors in a new and exciting way.

In a recent interview, Anderson said, "If you go on the RAINN website, they have the best source of sexual assault statistics in the world. But I think it's more than half of the women who are raped are under eighteen, and of that group, a staggering number of girls are raped before they're fifteen. And so, these are topics that if we start talking to seventeen year olds about it, we're way too late. We have to be talking to eleven year olds about this. Twelve year olds, thirteen years olds."

Anderson has offered some incredible incentives for donors: For a donation of $500 she will name a character after you (or someone you choose) in her next novel — what a great birthday present or Mother's Day gift! Anderson will also review your manuscript with you over Skype; group Skype with your writers' group or book club; and even take you and your friends out to lunch! Read more about the campaign, and these exciting incentives.

Anderson's influential novel Speak has given thousands of survivors the courage to come forward. To join Anderson in showing other survivors that recovery is possible, make your contribution today. All donations to the #Speak4RAINN campaign will be matched, up to $10,000, by Macmillan, the publisher of Speak.

Stay tuned to RAINN's Twitter feed (@RAINN01) for the latest on #Speak4RAINN.