Heartly House provides comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse. They provide shelter, counseling, legal support, hospital accompaniment, education, crisis intervention, and abuse intervention.
Heartly House began in 1978 as The Frederick County Task Force on Battered Spouses. This group of concerned Frederick citizens wanted to address the issues of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault, topics that, at the time, were treated with shame and secrecy. In 1985 the organization officially became Heartly House. The 24-hour hotline that was established by the task force is still in operation today.
Heartly House provides their services to anyone in the county, regardless of income, race, education, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, or religious/political affiliations.
Heartly House would not be where we are without the ongoing support of the people of Frederick, the City and County governments, and the generosity of local foundations and philanthropies. We are grateful to be part of this community.
Take a moment to learn more about Heartly House and how you can support their mission in Frederick County.
Photo Courtesy Heartly House
Meet Heartly House
What makes Heartly House unique?
Heartly House is the only agency in Frederick County to provide comprehensive services and continuum of care in the way that we do. We are one of the only domestic violence agencies in the state who treat mental and emotional abuse with the same concern as we do physical abuse, and our emergency shelter is a place that is safe for everyone, regardless of gender or gender identity. We do not discriminate against anyone seeking shelter or other services.
Photo Courtesy Heartly House
What is something people may not know about Heartly House?
Most people know Heartly House for our emergency shelter, but people are sometimes surprised to learn about our other services, especially that we offer one-on-one and group counseling, free of charge, to survivors of sexual abuse, child abuse, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence. And our services aren’t just for people whose experience is recent; we want to help everyone who needs us, even if their abuse happened decades ago.
What does Heartly House do best?
We are here, consistently, for everyone who needs us. Being available 24-hours a day via our hotline at 301-662-8800 is one of the things we do best. If you need us, call us.
Photo Courtesy Heartly House
How can the community support your work?
Monetary donations are always welcome so that we can continue to provide services free of charge to our clients. Inviting us to your place of business, civic club, PTA, church group, etc., for programs about Heartly House and the issues we address is also a great way to support us and to help make Frederick a safer place.
We also have an exciting new sexual assault prevention campaign titled “We’re Over It” happening now. Keep an eye out for us on busses, in the News Post, and on Comcast, and hear us on your favorite radio station. To find out what it is that we’re over visit https://www.heartlyhouse.org/were-over-it/.
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.