It's well understood that evaluation is a necessary component of sexual violence prevention - most curricula includes materials such as post-tests and surveys so that facilitators can gauge its effectiveness. These tools are often focused on outcomes, or in other words, they measure the impact of the entire program after it is finished. Another way of evaluating involves analyzing the effectiveness of the process. For example, if someone's goal is to run a…
This Advocacy Station explores interpersonal strategies and individual approaches to compassion satisfaction and resilience building.
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…
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…
Like suicidality, talking about self-harm directly with young people who have been engaged in this coping mechanism can be hard. However, because such a vital part of our work as advocates is to discuss coping strategies and help survivors discover what mechanisms work best for them, discussions that involve self-injury, self-medication, eating disorders, engaging in risky sex, and other self-harming behaviors are integral.
Advocates are often the only people in a survivor’s life…
