On a practical level, there are important things you can do to help:  

• Help the victim to obtain medical assistance. Try to help the person think through consequences of choices.     
• Provide a safe place for her to stay until (s)he feels able to be on his/her own. Especially in the beginning, it may be hard for victims to be alone.
• Give a practical sort of comfort. Victims have been badly treated and need to be nurtured.
• Be available. Victims may need to talk at odd hours, or a great deal at the beginning. Be there as much as you can. Encourage him/her to also call a crisis hotline or go for personal counseling.

• Believe them if they say they were raped. With date rape especially, victims need to be believed that what occurred was, in fact, a rape.
• Believe that it was not his/her fault. Most rape victims believe initially that somehow the rape was their fault. They may feel guilty and ashamed. Gently let him/her know that the rapist is to blame, not themself. No one deserves or asks for rape.
• Listen; do not judge. It is not your place to play prosecutor and make him/her prove that an assault occurred. Accept his/her version of the facts and be supportive. Encourage him/her to express feelings and needs.
• Be patient and understanding. Everyone has his/her own timetable for recovering from rape. Do not impose a timetable on a victim. There is no right way to respond to a rape. Let him/her set the pace and follow her lead.
• Accept her choice of a solution to the rape. It is more important that (s)he make decisions and have them respected than it is for you to impose what you think is the "right" decision. One of the goals of recovery from a rape is to regain a sense of control, and this is one way victims can exercise their control over their lives.
• Put aside your feelings and deal with them somewhere else. It is important for rape survivors to know that others care enough about what happened to be upset. However, (s)he has enough to deal with without having to cope with your anger and rage as well. If you have strong feelings, talk to a crisis hotline, a counselor or another friend.