FAQs/Help

This training explores common ethical conflicts and how to apply ethical standards and decisionmaking to resolve them. The goals associated with this training include increasing self-awareness and understanding of how attitudes and beliefs influence responses to victims of crime; becoming familiar with and applying the Standards for Victim Assistance Programs and Providers developed by the National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium; recognizing when a person is acting in an ethically questionable way; and using a standard decisionmaking process when faced with an ethical dilemma.

See About This Curriculum for more information.

Ethics in Victim Services is designed primarily for those who work in the field of victim services with at least 2 years of experience. The training material is useful for both supervisors and direct services staff.

Ideally, Ethics in Victim Services instructors should have practical experience as victim advocates/counselors. They should also have experience conducting training, particularly experiential and interactive (rather than lecture-based) training.

If an instructor is a subject matter expert but a novice instructor, they should practice each module before the training and refer to training resources such as The Instant Trainer: Quick Tips on How to Teach Others What You Know by Leslie Charles and Chris Clarke-Epstein.

Go to About This Curriculum, where you'll find information on your target audience, instructor requirements, and how to prepare for the training. A general rule: Familiarize yourself with all materials well before you hold your training event. Also, consider contacting other professionals who are working with victims and survivors.

Throughout the training, you'll need instructor's and participant's curriculum materials, PowerPoint visuals, and vignettes, all of which are available in the Presenter's Toolbox and on the individual Training Module pages. In addition, you'll need a laptop PC; tear sheets and easel; multicolored, thick, dark markers; name tags (for participants and instructor); and pens. Individual modules may call for additional equipment (see the introductory pages of each module's instructor's materials).

You may need to download or upgrade free software to get the most out of the downloadable files, from lecture materials to audiovisual files.

Visit the following sites to download the free software:

Software to use lecture materials:	Software to use audiovisual files:
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)	QuickTime Player Windows Media Player

The vignettes referenced throughout the curriculum are special features that illustrate scenarios covered in the curriculum materials. If your computer does not play the vignettes effectively, you may wish to read the transcripts located in the Presenter's Toolbox

We are dedicated to providing a quality service for our visitors. We have attempted to support the operating systems and tools used by the majority of visitors to our site. Ethics in Victim Services has been tested on a wide variety of systems and tools, and works best with Windows or Macintosh.

Some visitors might experience difficulty when trying to access this site using other Internet browsers, operating systems, and devices (e.g., handheld computers, cell phones, personal digital assistants).

To upgrade your web browser, please visit one of the sites below and download the appropriate software for your hardware platform:

• Apple: Safari
• Google: Chrome
• Microsoft: Edge
• Mozilla: Firefox
• Opera Software: Opera

Contact OVC TTAC at 866-OVC-TTAC.

The following sources will provide additional background and information about ethical issues in assisting victims of crime:

• National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium (NVASC): The Consortium was established as an ad hoc group by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, in partnership with the University of South Carolina's Center for Child and Family Studies. The NVASC developed a set of sixteen standards for victim assistance programs and providers.
  
  
• Ethics in Victim Services: This book by Melissa Hook addresses the core ethics of the victims' rights and services field and promotes the self-awareness necessary for effective victim services. For more information about the book, visit www.sidran.org/store.

There are several downloadable curricula available on this Web site. OVC is planning to introduce additional downloadable curricula and online interactive training in the near future.