Publications

This Guide is a supplement to the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs' (WCSAP) general guide to psychoeducational support groups, Circle of Hope. Circle of Hope provides excellent information about the nature of psychoeducational groups and how they differ from self-help and therapy groups. In addition, there is information about how to select participants, work with a co-facilitator, establish a curriculum, handle the inevitable concerns that arise in the course of running…

Executive Summary

In 1997, Washington State developed its first sexual violence prevention plan. The plan focused on changing the conditions that cause sexual violence. In 2008, the state began the process of revising the plan. Like the 1997 plan, this new plan emphasizes meaningful change rather than symptoms. Both plans view community development as a lever for change.

The Washington State Department of Health and the…

Intimate Partner Sexual Violence (IPSV) is a comprehensive term that includes not only marital rape, but all other forms of sexual assault that take place within a current or former intimate relationship, whether the partners are married or not. Sometimes referred to as "sexual assault within the context of domestic violence," IPSV is a complicated, heart-wrenching form of abuse that has often been overlooked by the general public, law enforcement, and human service providers. IPSV is at the…

I am a person, so treat me like you.
Don't hurt me, abuse me,
or embarrass me too.
I think and I feel and I will speak out-
If someone does hurt me,
I'll stand up and shout!

This poem is a nice summary of this issue of Partners in Social Change, where we turn our attention to disabilities and sexual violence prevention.

To craft this issue, we asked ourselves a few questions.

1. If our organization…

This issue of Partners in Social Change explores current prevention strategies in our state and delves into community development as a primary prevention strategy. Additionally, it discusses educational presentation efficacy.

The research presented here has several implica­tions for service providers. Our first aims are always to support the safety and self-determi­nation of child sexual abuse survivors in fos­ter care and their foster and adoptive parents. Since many of our interactions are likely to be with the parents, it is important that we ex­plain the dynamics and effects of sexual abuse and situate problematic behavior as a normal response to trauma.

Service providers can ex­plain the importance…

A systematic response to intimate partner sexual violence is one that involves all levels of advocacy, legal, and political realms. The articles within this issue illustrate the complexities of IPSV, while painting a picture of that systematic response.

By capturing the voices of survivors, advocates and legal leaders in this movement to end violence against women, this "Connections" will inspire you to look beyond traditional paths of service delivery, dig deeper into the root…

This "Research and Advocacy Digest" explores sibling incest dynamics and victimization effects. It features an enlightening expert interview by John Caffaro, who provides a quality overview of sibling incest trauma and shares considerations for advocates and clinicians providing services to sibling incest survivors and their families.

Historically sibling incest has been scarcely studied. It has been unrecognized, overshadowed by parent-child incest research, or dismissed as normal…

The articles and featured interview in this issue explore long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to adult survivor wellbeing and functionality.

Upon filtering through the research and critically thinking about reported effects to survivor well-being and functionality, three challenges become quite apparent. These include,

1. designing comprehensive and representative CSA effect studies is intrinsically difficult;
2. there is a need for…

Around the state of Washington we are working to promote social change by encouraging communities to take an active role in identifying the root causes to sexual violence in their community and taking steps to address these conditions. In this issue of Partners in Social Change are articles on community development, logic models and the statewide prevention planning meetings.

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