The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) report of 2013, indicated 108,030 domestic violence incidents were reported in Florida. Additional data suggests, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. Furthermore, when considering SV and DV victimization, between 14% and 25% of women are sexually assaulted by intimate partners during their relationship. (NCADV, 2015)

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Statistics, specifically the report for Osceola County; in 2017, there was an incident rate of 1,941 Domestic Violence cases and an approximate of 144 Sexual Assault related offenses. (FDLE, 2017)

Due to the reported incidents and recurrent concern from community leaders, agencies and individuals, VSC partnered with a group of professionals to provide information related on DV and SV awareness. Most recently, in 2017, a group of Hispanics including Puerto Ricans were impacted by a natural disaster that influenced the need of seeking shelter in the state of Florida. As a result, numerous individuals including men, women, elderly and children have been temporarily residing in local hotels. Some community concerns have developed including: financial hardship, homelessness, fatal and non-fatal cases related to domestic violence, and other crimes. Ultimately, distressing the functionality and mental health of the Puerto Rican families.

One of the most significant points discussed was the importance of Roles and Ethical implications when witnessing a crime or supporting a survivor. VSC Advocates informed community leaders on the various responders that can assist in the event of a crime or crisis including: Law Enforcement, Victim Advocates, Crisis Counselors, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), EMT’s, Fire Fighters and other agencies that may support further needs of victims. As social science professionals, is imperative to highlight the roles of specialized teams and community leaders. Thus, an open communication was developed in the importance to understand limitations and strengths, displayed by individuals, in the event of working a crisis. Some guidelines were exposed such as: trauma focused professional intervention, ethical code for social science practice, mandatory reporting, vicarious disorder, secondary victimization and awareness of community resources.

VSC Advocates offered the following information and strategies:

• Definition: What is a Crisis?
• Learning how to identify indicators present in crisis situation.
• CRISIS Intervention strategies: assessment of a situation, things to consider when approaching a victim-survivor, Proactive verbal intervention towards a victim (tone, volume, and language) and body language awareness.
• Physical and Emotional Common Reactions to Victimization
• Victimization in a different culture
• Empowerment skills: Appropriate approach to be conducted in a crisis situation (verbal phrases, validation of emotions and victim emotional regulation to assess needs. In the effort to empower a victim-survivor.
• Safety tips and planning (injunction process & reporting to LE)
• Types of Victims, Victims’ rights, and Mandatory Reporting
• Community Resources: Response from Agencies when working with DV & SV incidents, Information and contacts of services in the event of a crisis.
• Role & Ethical implications

 If you or a loved one is experiencing consequences associated with being a Victim of a Crime, reach out to Victim Service Center through our 24/7 Crisis Helpline (407) 500 – HEAL. You can also reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or through their online chat.

At VSC we care for Victims, contact us, we would love to be part of your healing process!

ROSA M. ABRAHAM, MS | Victim Advocate & Crisis Counselor

References:

Domestic Violence national statistics (2015). Retrieved from www.ncadv.org

Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Florida Uniform Crime Report (2017) Retrieved from www.fdle.state.fl.us

Written by: Katherine Olsen, VSC’s Social Justice Intern

Continuity of Care (COC) is a common concept in the medical and mental health fields and is considered a central goal in both arenas.  Although definitions vary, COC can be broadly described as health care events that are experienced as coherent and consistent with the user’s needs.  Research reveals two significant components of COC:  informational continuity and relational continuity.  Informational continuity refers to the flow of adequate information from professionals to service users, while relational continuity refers to the consistency of mental health and medical staffing and the quality of relationships between the staff and service users.

Vertical advocacy is a fairly new concept in the field of sexual assault advocacy and is directly related to COC.  Vertical advocacy refers to the process when a victim’s advocate is responsible for responding to the sexual assault survivor’s needs from start to finish.  This process is in contrast to non-vertical advocacy that involves a hands-off process between advocates who serve various functions.  The benefit of vertical advocacy is that it incorporates both informational continuity and relational continuity by helping the sexual assault survivor to avoid any unnecessary trauma and disruption while building a trusting relationship between the survivor, the advocate, and the advocacy organization.   While 100% vertical advocacy is difficult to achieve, best care practice for sexual assault advocacy works to maintain vertical advocacy to the greatest extent possible.

Research pertaining to continuity of care and vertical advocacy indicates that the Victim Service Center of Central Florida can be considered a model for best care practice in sexual assault advocacy.   The VSC strives for vertical advocacy and the corresponding COC components of informational and relational continuity by maintaining advocate continuity between the hotline, forensic exam, and case management.   In addition, COC is promoted through informational continuity in the SART protocols of the associated counties of the VSC and by hiring master-level victim advocates with extensive training and skills to prevent turnover and promote relational continuity.   The practices of the VSC promote the victim’s quality of life, empowerment, ability to function within the community and satisfaction with care services.

References:

Adnanes, M., & Steihaug, S. (2013). Obstacles to continuity of care in young mental health service users’ pathways – an explorative study. International Journal of Integrated Care, 13, International Journal of Integrated Care, 2013 Jul-Sep, Vol.13.

Lonsway, K.A., & Archambault, J. (2013, January). Effective victim advocacy in the criminal justice system: a training course for victim advocates.  Retrieved from http://www.evawintl.org/Library/DocumentLibraryHandler.ashx?id=32

McDougall, G., Gordon, A., Joyce, A., Adair, C., Wild, T., Kowalsky, L., . . . Barnes, F. (2004). Continuity of care in mental health services: Toward clarifying the construct. Canadian           Journal of Psychiatry, 49(8), 539-50.

Sweeney, A., Rose, D., Clement, S., Jichi, F., Jones, I., Burns, T., . . . Wykes, T. (2012). Understanding service user-defined continuity of care and its relationship to health and    social   measures: A cross-sectional study. Bmc Health Services Research, 12, Bmc     Health Services Research, 2012 Jun 8, Vol.12.

Written by: Katherine Olsen, a 2^nd year graduate student pursuing a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, worked with the Victim Service Center (VSC) of Central Florida during the summer of 2015 as part of 100 required hours for a program-related social justice pre-practicum.  This social justice pre-practicum component is designed to introduce graduate counseling students to professional social justice advocacy roles through service learning in community organizations and agencies.  In conjunction with her role at the VSC, Katherine spent the majority of her time researching best care advocacy practices for victims of trauma, particularly women who are survivors of sexual assault.  Her research revealed that best care practices for victims of sexual assault revolve around the two key, interrelated concepts of continuity of care and vertical advocacy.