Got a question you're too afraid to ask? A Woman's Place (AWP) is chatting online!

Thanks to generous funding received from Doylestown Presbyterian Church (DPC), AWP has launched a "chat line" that can be accessed through AWP's website at www.awomansplace.org/teens, designed to offer youth a vehicle through which to access information about dating violence, how to help a friend, how to access supportive services, or address other difficult issues about youth dating violence and building healthy relationships.

"We look into the faces of youth every day and read the statistics," shares Associate Director Ifeoma Aduba. "1 in 3 teens experiences some kind of abuse in their dating relationships and more than two-thirds will never report this to anyone. When you are dealing with statistics like that, how can you not do everything possible to reach youth? They are our greatest community resource, our future. We must do everything we can to keep them healthy, for the well-being of our entire community. If they are online, we'll do everything we can to reach them there. And, we are thrilled that DPC joined us in this effort."

AWP's partnership with DPC is cause for celebration. The faith community has a unique and critical role to play in ending the complicated and ubiquitous social issue of domestic violence. Faith communities may be the first and/or only place that a victim turns for help. The inclusion of faith communities like DPC is critical, particularly because they are charged with forming and informing the moral and ethical values of a community. AWP's partnership with DPC and other faith communities offers the opportunity to build new social understandings around healthy relationships and can be instrumental in developing safe and effective responses to violence in relationships.

AWP's chat line is open daily between 2:30 pm and midnight.