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National Institute Recap: Part 4

Fatima Jayoma | Rural Projects Coordinator at SVJI @MNCASA

Happy Wednesday! If you haven’t already, check out our previous National Institute Recap blog post from last week. Last week, we posted recordings of sessions led by AEquitas, the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN), and the Mariposa Community Health Center. This week, we’re back with more recordings led by state and national level TA leaders.

Title: Community Centered Teams

Presenters:

Jenna Harper, Sexual Assault Response Program Manager at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA)
Gina Lopez, Rural & Indigenous Communities Specialist at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA)

Description:

We will discuss how we can expand SART work to engage with the community. With a focus on community connection and accountability, we will examine how we can expand membership and work toward more opportunities for healing and working toward ending sexual violence outside of mainstream SART models.

Learning Objectives/Outcomes:

  • Assess how many survivors are being reached with current SART models
  • Examine other options
  • Discuss engaging the community
  • Explore expanded membership

Title: Working Collaboratively to Provide the Best Medical Forensic Care, Even When There is No SANE in Sight

Presenter:

Angelita Olowu, Forensic Nursing Specialist at the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN)

Description:
With the understanding that communities vary vastly, the need for effective and innovative multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are continuously highlighted in the response to sexual violence. The relationships and guidance that evolve within these teams are imperative to facilitating this response amongst all disciplines. This response process should remain fluid and cohesive whether the community has direct access to a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) or if they only have access to non-SANE trained health clinicians to provide medical forensic exams. This session will provide an overview of a recently released training that was developed to provide a clear understanding of the needs of individuals that have experienced sexual assault and the process of the medical forensic exam. This session will elaborate on how this new training can be utilized by MDTs to assist in standardizing the response to sexual violence within their communities and local regions.

Learning Objectives/Outcomes:

  • Establish the knowledge of the availability of an online training to improve the overall medical care provided to the sexually assaulted/abused patient.
  • Discuss the significance of providing medical care that is guided by the Minimum Training Recommendations to patients that have been sexually assaulted and/or abused when there is no SANE accessible.
  • Articulate the importance for victim centered, trauma informed services by all individuals who respond to individuals that have been sexually assaulted.
  • Recognize how this online training can be utilized amongst multidisciplinary teams to improve and standardize the response process, especially with they have no access to SANEs within their communities

Title: Centering the Margins and Building Community Centered Teams

Presenters:

Olivia Montgomery, Coordinator for Equity and Inclusion at the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV)
Shandra Witherspoon, Director of Coordinated Community Responses at the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV)

Description:

Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) were created on the basis of only centering the legal system, building their foundations around systems level work. However, sexual violence is a public health pandemic and a community issue, which requires community responses to truly eradicate and respond to this violence. Coordinators will learn how they can transform their teams, expanding on the work of their current SARTs, to become Coordinated Community Response Teams, centering the voices of the entirety of their communities, with an emphasis on those who reside at the margins of the margin. The presenters will share the strategic plan they developed to host community forums and listening sessions with marginalized communities, to transform the work of SARTs/CCRTs. Additionally, SART Coordinators will explore the composition of their communities. Through examination of data, we will discuss community demographics, who experiences sexual violence, who engages with various system and in what capacity. Coordinators will discuss the work in which their SARTs have engaged community members.

Learning Objectives/Outcomes:

  • Coordinators will leave with an enhanced understanding of how traditional sexual assault response teams (SARTs) differ from coordinated community response teams (CCRTs)
  • Coordinators will learn three strategies for engaging marginalized communities (also known as equitable civic engagement) in their efforts to strengthen their SARTs and build a true partnership with these communities to develop more equitable and inclusive responses to sexual assault
  • Coordinators will identify members of their communities who are currently missing from the table
  • Coordinators will increase their knowledge around the structures of coordinated community response teams (CCRTs)

Title: PREA and Providing Victim Services

Presenter:

Melanie Barton, PREA Advocate Coordinator at the Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MSCASA)

Description:

This training will provide an overview for key PREA Standards providing access to outside support services for incarcerated survivors. The logistics are different for victims in confinement, but PREA provisions assist community-based advocates to provide services to this population. Establishing and building relationships with correction partners is vital in this process.

Learning Objectives/Outcomes:

  • PREA Overview
  • Advocacy & Victim Services
  • Partnerships with Correction Facilities

And that concludes the workshop sessions. Again, thank you for joining us at the National Institute. If you weren’t able to join, we hope that you find these recordings to be helpful. Feel free to reach out to us if you have questions regarding any of the material presented.

If you have additional questions or need training/technical assistance, please reach out to us at svji@mncasa.org.

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