This Advocacy Station explores interpersonal strategies and individual approaches to compassion satisfaction and resilience building.
The Administrative Assistant 3 position works within the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA) and provides daily coordination for the Managing Director, Assistant Managing Director, and the Sexual Assault Services, Victims of Crime, and Violence Against Women section’s activities. This position facilitates information sharing and collaboration, creates and distributes correspondence, and provides administrative assistance in tracking and completing personnel requests.
This…
Sitting through a presentation or training can be difficult, but every now and then there is one that just works. You are excited, engaged, and alert! You care! You want to be there!
What separates the wheat from the chaff? What made that training matter to you? If it mattered to others in the room as well, it is very likely the trainer's methods were informed by understanding adult learning styles.
Adults have specific needs around learning. We want to know what is in it for…
Over the last several years, sexual assault service providers in our state have been working to enhance their response and accessibility to minor survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA). Ideally, we want to create communities that offer safety for young survivors to disclose abuse and agencies that are prepared to provide early intervention services. However, we know that for many reasons, CSA survivors may not disclose their abuse for years. Thus, we want to also be ready to meet the unique…
This training is intended for trained and experienced sexual assault advocates. It explores the roles and responsibilities of hotline sexual assault advocates with two or more years of experience. Participants will explore the unique needs of survivors and address the specific challenges that may arise when advocating. Through sensitive, intentional and informed interventions, advocates will be equipped to offer survivors resources, options and crisis intervention, supporting their healing…
The information in this section is for professionals that work with or on behalf of survivors of sexual assault with a focus on advocacy and service provision.
Since the 1970's, advocates in Washington State have supported survivors and encouraged communities to work to end sexual assault. Advocacy for survivors of sexual assault has many dimensions, but is rooted in assisting each survivor in their healing process. Self-determination and autonomy, feeling heard, and social support…
In studies of adults who were sexually abused as children, two out of three said they never told anyone about the abuse during childhood (London, Bruck, Ceci & Shuman). Accordingly, we can expect survivors may not seek help until they are adults. As advocates, we should feel prepared to work with adult survivors who may no longer be in an immediate danger of assault and meet these survivors in varied places along the healing spectrum. Here are some considerations in your advocacy with…
Therapists can be a critical component of a child's support system and healing process following abuse. However, many children are reluctant to participate in counseling because they don't want to talk about what happened or they may believe that going to therapy means something is wrong with them. While there are significant areas of overlap between a therapist and an advocate, it is because of their differences that they are both important members of a child's professional team after a…
In WCSAP's 2006 issue of Connections, Sexual Assault: Not Part of the Penalty, we explored the issue of sexual assault in correctional facilities. A lot has changed since then. Although the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was passed in 2003 to address sexual assault and abuse in prison, it was not until 2012 and 2014 that the final PREA standards that govern implementation of this law took effect.
One thing that has not changed since our last exploration of the issue of…
