*We provide free listening service, rather than mental health services. Since we are not a Crisis Intervention Hotline, we are unable to provide any suggestions to the clients. Please consider whether you need to seek professional help or contact local agents based on your situation. If this is an emergency, please dial 911.
About us
A letter from our founders
The idea for COWA came from our own experiences. It was a simple conversation between us, Julia and Katie Ou, friends, but also mother and daughter. We had reflected on the hardships that we had faced walking out of the divorce and the struggle with mental health that we had experienced. Seeking help, we connected with women in our community who had shared similar experiences and told similar stories. Hearing these stories led us to the roots of what COWA is today. While friends and family were there to support us, we still found resources lacking and unavailable. Seeing this, Julia proposed the idea of building a community for women who shared similar stories as us, to build a network where safety and love could be shared. Thus, the name of Community of Women’s Alliance. COWA was built on the idea of providing a safe environment for women in our community to share, connect, and love. What once was a project dedicated to helping us grow and come out of hard times, became an idea that sprouted into what it is today.
We would like to thank our volunteers who worked tirelessly to help COWA become what it is today and our incredible team of mentors and psychiatrists. We thank everyone of those who have helped support, listen, and inspire us along the road. What once was an idea from a daughter to help support her mother, has become a project that aims to help all women who have ever suffered from hardship, lost hope, or are in the process of building herself back up again. We want to thank the men and women behind COWA and we want to thank you for believing in us and trusting our services. We hope that you enjoy your stay here with us and we hope that this COWA is a little resting place for those who ever feel a little down or just want to talk.
Thank you and sending you love,
Julia Liu and Katie Ou
Community of Women’s Alliance
Co-Founders
Our Volunteers
Currently we already have over 200 volunteers including 50 trained volunteers, and professional psychiatrists, marriage counselors, and mentors. Our volunteers came from all kinds of background, but all share the same love and goal to empathize and help
Our volunteer team
- OT management team
- Mentor team
- Website maintenance team
- Data team
- Finance team
- Professional psychiatrist team
- Law team
- Listening team
- Information team
- Podcast team
- Training team
- Emotion comforting team
Our volunteer training program
Our 8-week-long training program consists of six topics, including “self-awareness”, “observation”, “empathizing”, “listening”, “crisis intervention”, and “identifying boundaries”. We also have a mentor support system to provide volunteers with real-time supports.
A total of 16 training and practice hours
Conducted by professional psychiatrists and marriage counselors
Three mandatory exams upon completion of training
Mentor system to monitor and assit volunteers along the program.
Three ways to help support us and people in need.
