SAN ANTONIO – For the first time in more than 39 years of serving victims of sexual assault, the Rape Crisis Center in San Antonio is on a three to four week wait.
There are 37 men, women and children on the list waiting for counseling services.
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"Some people have waited five to 10 years to call in the first place, and when they do finally have the courage to call, to be told that they need to wait, we don't know what that really does to them," said Miriam Elizondo, co-executive director at the Rape Crisis Center.
The goal at the center is immediate service, but since April, there has been an on-and-off short wait.
Something happened around September where we have been on a waitlist and that waitlist has grown more and more and more," Elizondo said.
She said there aren't just more clients seeking help, some of the cases therapists are handling involve kidnapping, attempted murder and other crimes along with rape. Those cases can require many more hours of counseling.
For the same time frame from 2012-2013, therapists handled 600 more counseling sessions and that number has continued to climb slightly in 2014.
Even executives like Elizondo have taken on more clients to meet the need.
The center also hired a new part-time therapist in the last week.
But even if they continue to hire new therapists to meet the need, there isn't space for those therapists to see clients.
Instead they're hoping for help from other qualified therapists outside the center.
"If they were to provide pro-bono work for one client, (or) if they would volunteer one hour a week for one client, that would make a significant difference," Elizondo said.
For now, the Rape Crisis Center is referring to sister organizations who provide help to sexual assault victims, but most people are choosing to stay on the wait list.
Staff is also asking people who are in crisis to call them again, so they can at least get them in for an assessment.