Women Shining Magazine Women Shining Spring 2018 | Page 19

Interviewer: I must say that it is wonderful to
hear that you work with all ages, yet disturbing
to think about as young as 3. Can you tell us how
it works when you attend a recent assault?
Charlene: If it is brand new and in crisis, we
will provide grounding and safety planning.
Sometimes with clients that is as far as we get.
Having said that there may be other things they
have to deal with such as housing, addictions,
and mental illness components which are
outside of our scope - in that case we refer to
other resources. One of our key pieces is that
we ensure they are connected to our community
resources and members.
I think there is a myth in the non profit
world that organizations are the support and
comm unity. So if our clients see us as their
community, then that is not a good thing.
They need to have a much broader community,
so one of our goals is to make sure they are
connected to community.
Interviewer: I understand that you and your
staff work 8:30am until 4:30pm. What happens
after 4:30pm to victims of sexual violence?
Charlene: We have SART (Sexual Assault
Response Team).
I am a firm believer that we are a resource
provider; we are not a community. We are a
small chunk of somebody’s story. We are a
part of their support and we actually do a
disservice to our clients if we don’t find
ways to help get them connected to people
outside of us.
Interviewer: So after you see them through the
first few hours after the trauma, where do you
refer or where do you send them or how do you
help them?
Charlene: With historical abuse or sexual assault
we create safety plans and grounding, but
typically we start doing more intense trauma
work rather quickly because, usually, when people
show up here after a long hiatus from when it
happened, it is because stuff is starting to come
up for them and they really want to do that work.
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