Throughout this online training curriculum, we emphasize how important it is for professionals within a community to work cooperatively across disciplines. A fundamental requirement for this type of collaboration is for professionals to understand each other’s roles, yet all too often this is not the case. This module is designed to help address this problem, by clarifying the role of victim advocates particularly as it pertains to working with the criminal justice system. This module is designed primarily for advocates themselves, but it will also be useful for other professionals who respond to sexual assault. Training content begins with a discussion of the general role of victim advocates and then explores how this role differs between community-based and system-based advocates. The module then goes on to provide specific strategies that advocates can use to successfully work on behalf of sexual assault victims within the criminal justice system.
PLEASE NOTE: This module is a more in-depth version of Breaking Barriers: The Role of Community-Based and System-Based Advocates. This course is recommended for victim advocates, but other professionals are more than welcome to take this course as well. The course material is essentially the same in both EVAWI 12 and EVAWI 13, so we suggest completing one or the other and not both.
Estimated time for completion: 14 hours