Free Survivor Support Groups — Topeka, KS | YWCA Center for Safety
The Center for Safety and Empowerment (CSE) is the survivor services arm of YWCA Northeast Kansas, and the successor to the YWCA Battered Women’s Task Force. It provides free and confidential services to victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking across Shawnee, Jackson, Brown, Nemaha, and Wabaunsee counties. Support groups sit alongside emergency shelter support, drop-in services, a food and hygiene pantry, medical and court advocacy, safety planning, case management, crisis intervention, and child and youth advocacy.
What to Expect
CSE lists support groups among its core services. Meeting days and times are confirmed through the hotline or the Topeka office rather than posted publicly. Groups are facilitated by advocates and centered on peer connection, safety planning, and practical navigation of courts, housing, and benefits. Drop-in services at the Topeka office mean survivors can access support without an appointment, which is often how people first make contact before committing to a group. Because CSE also runs a pantry and drop-in space, a group visit can be combined with picking up food and hygiene supplies.
Who This Group Is For
Adult survivors in northeast Kansas — Shawnee County and the surrounding rural counties of Jackson, Brown, Nemaha, and Wabaunsee. Services are open to survivors of any gender. There is no requirement to be in shelter, to have reported to police, or to have left the relationship. Survivors of stalking and human trafficking, populations that are frequently underserved by general domestic violence programming, are explicitly included.
Why Peer Support Works
Survivors leaving abusive situations face a stack of simultaneous logistical problems — housing, custody, income, safety — at exactly the moment their confidence is lowest. A group of people working through the same stack does two things at once. It normalizes the difficulty, which reduces the shame that keeps people from asking for help, and it circulates hard-won specifics about how local systems actually behave. Both are things a hotline call cannot deliver and a court advocate has limited time to.
How to Join
Call the 24/7 free and confidential hotline at (888) 822-2983, or text YWCANEKS and your message to 847411, and ask about current support group times. The Topeka office is at 1309 Huntoon Street, Topeka, KS 66604; a second office serves the northern counties at 129 W 4th Street, Holton, KS 66436. All services are free and confidential. Program details are at ywcaneks.org/cse.