FCASV Insight February 2019
Empowerment Masks SAAM Project
This Sexual Assault Awareness Month, FCASV is honoring the duality of the healing journey. Our certified sexual assault programs around the state are working with survivors to create Empowerment Masks. Through these masks, we are able to witness and hold space for survivors’ pain and injustice while also celebrating their strength and resilience. We've shared highlights of the Empowerment Masks creation process from two programs. Stay tuned for more information to find out where you'll be able to view the display in Tallahassee!
Shelter House
Living with the pain and secrecy of trauma is one of the more difficult aspects in a survivor’s healing journey. Many survivors have responsibilities that force them to put their healing process on hold and are unable to get involved in support services. Their outward appearance can disguise a wide array of emotions including sadness, anger, loneliness and fear. Our workshop’s purpose was to give survivors the opportunity to explore and express how they have developed ways to conceal their trauma so they could keep moving forward. Participants chose to decorate the inside and outside of each mask to contrast the emotions and thoughts they have experienced due to sexual violence. Survivors expressed that this activity has inspired them to reveal the pain they keep hidden and felt empowered to share their experiences with others in the future.
Betty Griffin Center
These women range in age from 21 to 77 years of age and all are survivors. Each mask represents their journey of survival and how they had to be two people in order to cope with their sexual violence. If you look closely, some used the color teal to represent sexual assault and some used the ribbon to represent the cage they were in. One survivor was so creative that she used a cracked eggshell for the eye and band aids to hold her brain together because she felt broken after her assault. Some participants used colors to represent how they were feeling – blue – sad, black – depressed, red – pain etc. They are amazing and the women really did a great job.
PREA Trainings to Assist Advocates in Supporting Incarcerated Survivors
By: Erica R. Gammill, Incarcerated Survivor Advocacy Program (ISAP) at the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault
Recent data released by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in their report Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011-12, indicates that an estimated 4% of state and federal prison inmates and 3.2% of jail inmates reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff in the past 12 months. Two of the prisons identified nationally with the highest rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization occurred in Florida (the Northwest Florida Reception Center which reported 9.8% and the Apalachee Correctional Institution which reported 7.3%). These statistics are especially alarming given that incarcerated survivors have the least amount of access to traditional emotional support services and are, arguably, in the greatest need of such services.
In an effort to ensure that all survivors of sexual violence are identified and supported, FCASV invited Erica R. Gammill with the Incarcerated Survivor Advocacy Program (ISAP) at the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) to provide training to Florida advocates on how to effectively deliver emotional support services to incarcerated survivors.
The trainings focus on:
• Understanding the requirements of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)
• Methods for gaining access to facilities to provide services
• How to develop and implement MOUs and other agreements between facilities and local rape crisis centers
• How to start providing or expand support services to incarcerated survivors
• How to troubleshoot issues that come up in service provision to incarcerated survivors
This all-day training includes time to discuss case studies as well as for targeted technical assistance to answer specific questions advocates may have based on experiences they have in the field. Helpful educational materials and resources will also be shared with attendees.
Your Voice and Perspective for Diverse Populations Training
In Florida we know that one size does not fit all—especially when it comes to providing services to sexual assault survivors. To help sexual assault program staff and volunteers provide survivors with culturally relevant services, the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence is creating an online training on working with diverse populations. This training shares the cultural knowledge and skills needed to help survivors from underserved communities.
As part of the training, we are creating a video collection that includes your ideas, wisdom, and cultural perspectives as members of one or more of the communities. We are also including perspectives of advocates/social service staff working with diverse populations. In Florida we have countless unique cultures and communities—this project focuses on five of them: LGBTQ+, Latinx, Haitian/Caribbean, Black and African American, and Persons with Disabilities.
Request
We need your help to make this training. We are asking our community partners across the state to take a question from the list and videotape your response. Visit fcasv.org for a full list of questions and a video release form.
Your voice makes this project strong.
Upcoming Events and Trainings
Regional Advocate Training: PREA
February 22, 2019
Tallahassee, FL
This advocacy training will focus on the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The goal of this training is to provide advocates with knowledge of the PREA requirements, methods for gaining access to facilities to provide services to incarcerated survivors as well as how to develop and implement MOUs between SAPs. Participants will also share tips for developing relationships with facilities to ensure incarcerated survivors are getting the services and support that is not only required by PREA but that every survivor deserves.
For more information about the training, visit fcasv.org.
40-Hour Adult/Adolescent SANE Training
February 25 - March 1, 2019
Tallahassee, FL
The 40-hour SANE training is geared toward APRNs, RNs, Physician Assistants and physicians and is an approved International Association of Forensic Nurses course which adheres to the National Training Standards for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examiners for adults and adolescents. Once the training is completed, the medical professional will have a clear understanding of the principles of care and evidence collection to provide medical forensic exams to adults and adolescents who experience a sexual assault.
For more information about the training, visit fcasv.org.
Sexual Violence Injunctions Webinar: Information for Certified Sexual Assault Program Advocates
March 18, 2019
This webinar is for advocates from Florida’s certified sexual assault programs and will focus on what they need to know about sexual violence injunctions in the state of Florida. Material for this presentation is based on feedback and questions received from advocates around the state as well as the experiences of FCASV attorneys.
For more information about the webinar, visit fcasv.org.
This project was supported by subgrant No. COHK4 awarded by the state administering office for the STOP Formula Grant Program. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the state or the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.