No matter what your formal position, you can be a leader in advocating for services to address Intimate Partner Sexual Violence (IPSV). Often, it takes just one dedicated individual to initiate these much-needed services.
Even if you are a very experienced advocate, it is crucial to educate yourself thoroughly on Intimate Partner Sexual Violence. Two great starting places: the book…
Relationship-building with youth who have been commercially sexually exploited is no small task. In many cases, abuse, abandonment and betrayal have characterized their relationships with adults and created mistrust. Additionally, they may not see themselves as victims of exploitation or know how they want to move forward.
As advocates, you already have many of the skills you need to support youth who have been commercially sexually exploited. Building rapport with this population is…
Each member of your Board of Directors has accepted crucial responsibilities for the welfare of your agency, and needs training of the highest possible quality to carry out those responsibilities. The Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA) Accreditation Standards state:
Each member of the governing board or advisory committee for a sexual assault program must have orientation and training specific to their role.
The suggestions below are relevant…
Children who have been sexually abused have often experienced an entire series of traumatic events, from multiple victimizations to seriously disrupted relationships with their parents. These children's experiences can't be described with the traditional posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) label; their fundamental ways of interacting with the world and sometimes even their biological functions are changed because of the chronic, pervasive stress to which they have been exposed at this…
In cases of child sexual abuse, some prosecutors discourage parents or others from placing a child in therapy until after the trial. The fear is that therapy will create memory and suggestibility issues which may be used by defense counsel to attack the child's credibility. Therapists confronting this issue can make the following points.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is a therapeutic technique that helps clients to deal with trauma and disturbing memories. Developed by Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., in the 1980s, EMDR has been extensively researched and found to be an effective method of treating posttraumatic stress. The theory behind EMDR is that trauma memories must be disrupted not only cognitively but also neurologically, allowing the brain to handle past trauma in a different manner. EMDR is…
Sexual assault program managers are drawn to the coaching model of supervision because it is in line with the values we have in our field. The coaching approach is attractive because:
When we coach, we listen more than we talk, we facilitate rather than control, and we work with staff members to come up with…
In this issue of "Partners in Social Change" we examine what it looks like to engage men in sexual violence prevention. Much of the work we do focuses on how communities can prevent sexual violence; therefore this issue seeks to examine men as a community that has the potential to help create social change. The notion that men need to be involved in ending gender-based violence is not new by any means, but we want to take a look at how we can genuinely involve men as part of a movement that…
Providing advocacy services for children and teens who have been sexually abused often requires specialized knowledge and skills. Ensuring that your young clients and their parents are fully informed and supported means having specific information about things such as:
A multidisciplinary response to sexual assault cases is beneficial to our work and our communities. It cultivates communication and collaboration among service providers and system professionals; increases the effectiveness of criminal justice, social service, medical, and community interventions; and ultimately, it improves the response to and experiences of survivors.
This approach is most often supported through the development of teams comprised of the primary stakeholders who…
