Sexual Assault Team Protocol Template

Throughout the years, the Sexual Violence Justice Institute (SVJI) at the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault has provided guidance and support to sexual violence response multi- disciplinary collaborations across the United States and the U.S. territories. Many of the collaborations and teams have undertaken the process of writing a sexual assault response protocols, which have been designed to designate each disciplines’ roles and responsibilities. Despite the extraordinary investment of resources to complete and approve protocols, many communities still do not see the critical systems changes the protocol was supposed to achieve.

Protocols should serve as one tool to improve and refine individual practices, agency policies, and systems procedures; the protocol is also a tool for increasing conversation and collaboration among the disciplines that respond to reports of sexual violence. This means a protocol is a reference guide of highly focused but generalized information. You will find that the content and sections have been designed to concentrate on best practice of the most critical response points. Through this paradigm shift away from discipline bound content towards universal response points, all service providers can use the research and body of knowledge to meaningfully adjust their work and enhance their collaborative efforts.

Throughout the template you will find standardized language and information as well as customizable sections. Content in black text on white background should not be edited. The content found in the gray background is where you will customize the document. This report is provided in a Word Document Format to simplify editing. In each customizable portion, the team will select actions and changes that should be systems-wide and should reflect all

participating agencies, not individual or discipline specific agencies. The examples have been written to reflect this intention. Any discipline-specific information should be provided in the discipline-based pages later in the template.

The template has also been written to adhere to plain language and accessibility principles. The text should be at 14-point, sans serif font. Any acronyms or abbreviations should be spelled out or explained upon the first use. Additionally, the protocol should be designed in the format that meets the needs of responders in your community. For example, if your team and agencies no longer print materials, your team should hyperlink any relevant information to applicable websites. Alternatively, you may wish to format the content to be a pocket-sized guide for those communities that rely on hardcopies.

This template has been designed to maximize usefulness, increase communication and collaboration, and to be a much needed resource for Sexual Assault Response Teams. SVJI wishes you and your collaborative team good luck and happy customizing as you make use of this Protocol Template.