FAQs/Help

OVC's Sexual Assault Advocate/Counselor Training (SAACT) teaches advocates how to provide competent, effective crisis intervention services to victims and survivors of sexual assault. Originally taught onsite throughout the nation, OVC decided to make this popular course more widely available by putting it online so that rape crisis centers could train their own staff and volunteers. See About This Curriculum for more information.

SAACT is designed primarily for new advocates/counselors who are volunteers or staff at rape crisis centers and for seasoned veterans who may need a refresher course. Nurses, physicians, law enforcement officers, and professional counselors may also find it useful.

Ideally, SAACT trainers should have indepth knowledge of sexual assault advocacy/counseling, practical experience as a sexual assault advocate/counselor, and experience conducting training. If you are a subject matter expert but a novice trainer, practice each module before the training.

Go to About This Curriculum, where you'll find information on your target audience, trainer 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 your state sexual assault coalition to collaborate with professionals who are working with sexual assault victims and survivors.

Throughout the training, you'll need trainer's and participant's curriculum materials, PowerPoint visuals, 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; a flip chart and easel; multicolored, thick, dark markers; name tags (for participants and trainer); and pens. Individual modules may call for additional equipment (see the introductory pages of each module's trainer'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:

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)

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. SAACT has been tested on a wide variety of systems and tools, and works best with:

Windows: XP, Vista, and 2000: Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 6.0 and above; Firefox, version 2.0 and above; Opera, version 9.21 and above

Macintosh: OS Tiger: Apple Safari, version 2.0.4 and above; Firefox, version 2.004 and above. OS 10: Apple Safari, version 1.32 and above; Internet Explorer, version 5.2.

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: Safari
• Google: Chrome
• Microsoft: Internet Explorer
• Mozilla: Firefox
• Opera Software: Opera

Contact OVC TTAC at 866-OVC-TTAC.

The following organizations all deal with sexual assault issues and are good starting points for additional information:

• International Association of Forensic Nurses
• National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• Office on Violence Against Women
• Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
• State sexual assault coalitions

OVC has additional downloadable curricula and more training resources available.