Summary:

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), in partnership with the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and Indian Health Service (IHS), held a National Roundtable Discussion on Sexual Assault in Indian Country with a multidisciplinary group of professionals with expertise in developing, implementing, or enhancing a sexual assault response in tribal communities. Through the report generated from that discussion, OVC, OVW, and IHS seek to share lessons learned and practical guidance from the roundtable participants, including tribal governments and responders to sexual violence.

Summary:

Image exploitation is a distinct form of sexual abuse involving the nonconsensual creation, possession, or distribution of an image or images depicting the victim as nude, semi-nude, engaged in consensual sexual activity, or being sexually assaulted. All forms of image exploitation expose the victim to immeasurable trauma of essentially infinite duration by permanently invading the victim’s autonomy and security. In this session, we will describe various forms of image exploitation, including the dynamics of the behavior and the potential for harm, and discuss the ways that law enforcement and prosecutors can use existing laws to hold offenders accountable

Summary:

People who have experienced trauma, violence, and oppression are more than just these experiences. Like all of us, they are people who often face multiple challenges, they juggle multiple identities, and they have interests and relationships that sustain them. The term "victim-centered" means putting the person seeking services truly at the center of the work, which starts with engagement and recognizing that they are whole people, not just victims or survivors. These approaches require attention, openness, connection, and a capacity to engage and partner authentically with the person seeking assistance to support their well-being, which includes, but goes beyond their safety. These approaches also require examining how systems—programs and services—may inadvertently create barriers to engagement and erode well-being. In this session, we will explore empathy, transdisciplinary collaboration, the art of presence in a collaborative response to family violence, and how to shift from a focus on problems to supporting well-being for those experiencing family violence.

Summary:

It takes courage to help child and adult victims of sexual abuse, assist survivors of acts of terrorism and mass violence, fight fires that may have taken people's lives, or respond to shootings and other crime scenes. It also takes commitment to do this work in spite of the personal, physical, emotional, and mental impact it can have. This session will focus on how OVC’s Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (VTT) can help you to—

• Conduct an assessment of your agency's current capacity as a vicarious trauma-informed organization.
• Bring leadership and staff together to review your existing capacity, identify gaps, and prioritize needs.
• Locate resources and tools in the VTT and Compendium of Resources to help meet your identified needs.
• Develop a comprehensive plan to become a vicarious trauma-informed organization that addresses exposure to single incidents of crime or violence and acts of mass violence and terrorism.

Summary:

Incidents of mass violence and terrorism present unique challenges to the communities in which they occur. These incidents require a coordinated, cross-sector approach among federal, state, local, and tribal governments; private entities; and nonprofit organizations to drive an effective response. This session will address how to create and maintain partnerships, address resource gaps, develop victim assistance protocols, and use the protocols after an incident of mass violence or terrorism

Summary:

This session will address lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) youth; young men who have sex with men; and young women who have sex with women who are victims of human trafficking, experiencing homelessness, or engaged in survival sex. The session will discuss the delivery of trauma-informed, gender-sensitive, and inclusive services, and how service providers can advocate to improve their experiences with law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the child welfare system.

Summary:

Alcohol-impaired driving is a crime. Its perpetrators are criminals. And, most importantly, victims of drunk drivers and other impaired driving crashes are crime victims and deserve to be treated no differently than any other crime victim. This session will focus on how to help law enforcement support and integrate victim assistance services within their agencies and, thereby, provide both crisis and longer term assistance to victims of DUI/impaired driving crashes and all crime victims.

Summary:

Providing comprehensive health care to survivors of sexual assault is critical to minimizing the long-term consequences of this traumatic experience. That is where a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) can help. This session will focus on how to start or improve a SANE program in your community with OVC’s SANE Program Development and Operation Guide.

Summary:

Organizations that serve these youth should be well grounded in trauma-informed care. This session will address how to mitigate the risk for both (re)victimization and criminal offending, the victim/offender overlap, responding to youth victims of crime, and the complex ethics and mandatory reporting requirements involved in this work.

Summary:

Now that the VOCA Final Rule has been released, many more nonprofit agencies can apply for funding to assist unserved and underserved victims. The VOCA Final Rule released some previous restrictions in the VOCA Victim Assistance Guidelines, but this does not necessarily mean every state’s statutes, rules, and/or policies have changed. This session will provide some best practices on how to navigate this complicated state system to maximize your agency’s ability to build capacity in your organization and increase services to our most vulnerable victim populations.

Summary:

Substance use can be a coping mechanism for a trauma response to being trafficked; however, it can also be the mechanism that ensures control by traffickers on human trafficking (HT) victims/survivors. This session will address procedures, for example: How does addiction play a role for survivors of HT experiencing trauma? What should service providers know about substance abuse when responding to survivors of HT or investigating HT? How to balance the substance abuse with the victimization and the trauma that occur?