Your Intimate Memories · Model Safety
Resource Directory
Every hotline, legal contact, and organization referenced across this site, and a few more worth having, in one place.
This page is not an article. It is a lookup tool. If you need a number fast, or want to know where to turn before, during, or after a session, everything is organized below by category so you are not searching through prose to find it.
If you are in immediate physical danger, call 911. Everything else on this page assumes you have a moment to look something up, not an emergency in progress.
Crisis and suicide prevention support.
These lines exist for exactly the moment you'd use them. National coverage first, then the DC, Maryland, and Virginia lines specific to this region.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988 for suicide, mental health, or substance-use crisis support. Also reachable by chat.
Crisis Text Line
Free, confidential, text-based crisis support if a call is not safe or possible in the moment.
DC Access HelpLine
Run by the DC Department of Behavioral Health. Connects to mobile crisis teams, available in over 100 languages.
Virginia Regional Crisis Call Center
Virginia's 988 system routes through regional crisis call centers. The Northern Virginia line reaches the region covering this area directly.
Maryland 211, Crisis Option
Maryland routes crisis intervention through its statewide 211 network rather than a separate hotline number. Available 24/7/365.
The Trevor Project
Crisis support for LGBTQ+ young people specifically. Call, text, or chat, all confidential.
Trans Lifeline
Peer support run by and for transgender people. Not a rescue line, no non-consensual intervention.
Support that exists for exactly this.
Covered in more depth throughout the Model Safety page and the Journal. Gathered here for quick access.
RAINN
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Covers sexual violence in all forms, including image-based abuse.
National Human Trafficking Hotline
Operated by Polaris Project. Modeling and photography scams are a documented recruitment method within trafficking patterns.
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative
The dedicated organization for adult victims of non-consensual intimate image abuse. Crisis support, legal referrals, and platform reporting guidance.
Virginia Family Violence & Sexual Assault Hotline
Statewide hotline through the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. Connects to local crisis centers and a free forensic exam that does not require police involvement.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Covers intimate partner violence broadly, available in over 200 languages, TTY line available.
DC SAFE
The only 24/7 crisis intervention agency for domestic violence in Washington, DC. All services are free and confidential.
DC Metropolitan Police, Sexual Assault Resources
Dedicated reporting and resources page maintained by DC's police department for sexual assault victims.
Maryland Governor's Office of Crime Prevention
Publishes statewide crime statistics and victim resources through its Statistical Analysis Center.
Where to report a scam or a crime.
Filing a report does not commit you to prosecution. It creates a record, and records matter.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
For offenses involving the internet or digital distribution. Reports are reviewed by FBI analysts and routed to the appropriate body.
FTC Consumer Advice, Modeling Scams
The Federal Trade Commission's dedicated page on fake photographer and talent scout scams targeting aspiring models.
911, and Text-to-911
Standard emergency line everywhere in the DMV. Text-to-911 is live statewide in DC and Maryland. In Virginia it is locality-specific, confirmed available in Loudoun and Prince William counties; check your specific locality before relying on it elsewhere in the state.
Legal aid, by jurisdiction.
Free or low-cost legal help for a contract dispute, image rights violation, or harassment situation.
Virginia Lawyer Referral Service
Run by the Virginia State Bar. A $35 cap applies to the initial thirty-minute consultation.
MyDCLawyer, DC Bar Lawyer Referral
Free referral matching to a licensed DC attorney appropriate to the issue.
Legal Aid DC
Housing, family law, domestic violence, benefits, and immigration matters.
Prince George's County Lawyer Referral
Local bar referral service for the DMV-adjacent Maryland counties.
Wage theft and exploitative contracts.
For unpaid bookings, misclassified pay, or contract terms that were not honored.
VA Department of Labor and Industry
Payment of Wage Unit, for filing an unpaid-wages complaint.
DC DOES, Office of Wage-Hour
Handles wage complaints for work performed in the District.
MD Department of Labor, Employment Standards
Wage complaint line. Spanish-language lines also available.
New York Fashion Workers Act
The only comprehensive modeling-industry labor law in the country. Requires agency registration, a fiduciary duty standard, a 20% commission cap, and a mandatory written sexual harassment policy. If you work with a New York-based agency, this applies to you regardless of where you live.
Industry and advocacy groups.
Standing organizations doing real work on model safety, labor rights, and photography professional standards.
Model Alliance
Founded by working model Sara Ziff. The leading policy organization advocating for models as workers, including its RESPECT program.
American Society of Media Photographers
Legal resources and model-release standards for independent photographers and the clients they work with.
Professional Photographers of America
The largest nonprofit photography association in the country, maintaining a code of ethics and copyright advocacy resources.
Model Mayhem
Verified Credit system lets photographers and models who have actually worked together vouch for one another.
Downloadable safety tools.
Built to be saved to your phone, no signal or data connection required once downloaded.
The Cooper Color Code Safety Card
A phone-ready situational-awareness reference. Read the full guide in the Journal, or download the card directly.
What Institutional Betrayal Looks Like
Why modeling shares the same structural abuse pattern documented in sport, the Church, and the Boy Scouts, and why it still has almost none of the protections those industries eventually built.
Have a resource that should be listed here, or a link that no longer works? Let me know and it will be corrected.