December 16, 2024 • 53 mins
Unlock the transformative power of advocacy as we sit down with Nora Mosby and Cara Jones from the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence. Guided by a commitment to supporting survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, we uncover the vital role advocates play in connecting individuals to essential resources, from medical care to public transportation. The journey of advocacy is traced back to its roots in the women’s liberation movement, highlighting its evolution into a crucial profession that addresses the isolation and trauma faced by survivors.
Together, we examine the distinct roles of community-based and systems-based advocates, each contributing uniquely to the fight against domestic and sexual violence. From grassroots efforts to structured professional networks, we discuss the importance of addressing the root causes of violence, such as oppression and inequality. Nora and Cara share their insights on culturally sensitive services and the necessity of continuous training to adapt to evolving laws and community needs. We emphasize the shared mission of empowering survivors and fostering social equality through informed advocacy.
Don’t miss our exploration of the pathways to becoming an advocate, as we share personal stories and the significant progress made since the 1970s. Learn about initiatives like the Telesane program, designed to expand access to critical care for sexual assault survivors, and discover how the Crime Victims Stabilization Act is making strides in the movement against violence. By highlighting both advancements and challenges, we celebrate the collective efforts that drive meaningful societal change, encouraging you to engage with this impactful cause.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Advocacy plays a critical role in the support and
empowerment of survivors ofsexual assault and domestic
violence.
We take a closer look at thatrole of the advocate and its
history within the anti-violencemovement with Nora Mosby and
Cara Jones from the MissouriCoalition Against Domestic and
Sexual Violence.
I'm Maria McMullin and this isGenesis, the podcast podcast.
(00:30):
Kara Jones joined the MissouriCoalition Against Domestic and
Sexual Violence team in January2023 as a member services
specialist.
Kara received her bachelor's incriminology, psychology and
sociology from Drury Universityand went on to obtain her
master's of arts in counseling,with an emphasis in couples,
marriage, family and childcounseling.
Throughout her career, karaworked in case management,
crisis intervention and utilizedevidence-based interventions to
(00:53):
help support and empowerchildren and families.
Nora Mosby has 20 years ofexperience working as an
advocate on behalf of survivorsof domestic and sexual violence.
In 2003, she earned her BA inWomen's Studies from the
Evergreen State College inOlympia, washington, and since
then she has worked as anadvocate in courts, residential
programs and healthcare settings.
(01:14):
She also has a master's degreein public health from the
University of Missouri.
She currently works at theMissouri Coalition Against
Domestic and Sexual Violence asa member services specialist.
Nora Kara, welcome to the show,thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm glad you're here.
I'm really excited about thisconversation today because we're
talking all about advocacy Tome.
When I say advocacy, I thinkabout the work we do at Genesis
Women's Shelter and Support andI have a mental image of what
that looks like right, helpingpeople, set goals and connecting
them to resources outside ofthe mission or the scope of what
(01:51):
we do at Genesis, because weprovide services strictly for
domestic violence survivors.
An example of a place that wemight connect a survivor to
might be a hospital to get acertain type of medical
appointment that she needs orshe needs for her child, or to a
financial institution, or evento public transportation to
(02:14):
acquire bus passes or even learnhow to use public
transportation if she's neverdone that before, and the
examples are pretty muchunlimited.
There are so many ways that anadvocate can help and there are
so many forms of advocacy.
I'd like to hear from both ofyou what advocacy kind of means
to you and the work that you doat the Missouri Coalition and
(02:36):
also within the context ofsexual assault and domestic
violence.
Nora, we'll start with you.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I really appreciate starting off with just an
opportunity to explain whatwe're talking about when we're
talking about advocacy withinthe anti-violence movement,
because, you're absolutely right, there are so many different
forms of advocacy that exist,and so it helps to talk about.
What is it that we're talkingabout when we're talking about
(03:03):
advocacy within the domestic andsexual violence advocacy
movement?
Because even within, I think,our work in supporting survivors
, there's many different levelsof advocacy, but the first one
that I think is really importantto speak to is the role that
advocates play in supportingpeople who have experienced harm
(03:23):
, people who have experiencedsexual violence.
So that is really talking aboutthe direct services that
advocates provide within thismovement, and the direct
services are really in responseto violence that has already
happened.
So that's one level of advocacy, and there's certainly many,
many others.
(03:44):
But when we think about the roleof an advocate responding to
people who have experienceddomestic and sexual violence,
it's about responding to thattrauma, to the violence, but
also the full range of otherabusive tactics that we know
occur in abusive relationships.
So it's really a directresponse to survivors who have
(04:06):
experienced isolation, extremeisolation, and so an advocate
can play a really critical rolein breaking that isolation and
ensuring that survivors areprovided with connection and
support and aren't having tomove forward alone or without
that kind of support.
(04:27):
So I think that's one reallycritical role that advocates can
play when it comes to directservices.
Is there anything you would addto the direct services piece of
it, kara.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I think the other piece of that, and when we talk
about the role of an advocate, Ialways think about this keynote
video that Ellen Pence did forus at the coalition several
years back and she specificallytalks about.
Even when we're looking at whatthe word advocate means, we
could be talking aboutsystems-based versus
community-based advocacy, and weknow that there are very stark
(05:00):
differences between the two, andI think, at the end of the day,
that is exactly what Nora saidwe are breaking the isolation
for that survivor who hasexperienced violence and I think
, regardless of what our titleis or if we belong to the
prosecutor-based victimadvocate's office or a
community-based advocate,ultimately we are providing
(05:24):
community for a survivor who hasbeen in isolation due to
violence.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That's a really important distinction.
I appreciate you bringing thatup.
What is a community-basedadvocate?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So that would be somebody who is working, at
least how we do it in Missouri,how we kind of talk about the
distinction in Missouri is likecommunity-based advocates would
be those who work in your localnonprofits and your shelters.
And then we have your systemsbase, who are embedded in, like
the police departments or theprosecutor offices, law
enforcement, military.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, okay, it helps to have that kind of context
around it.
So if I were to translate thatto Texas and to Genesis Women's
Shelter and Support, I guess ouradvocates would be
community-based advocatesaccording to that definition,
right?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, and I don't want to muddy the waters here,
y'all oh muddy away.
Go ahead.
But the reality is thatcommunity-based advocates are
working to provide directservices to support survivors of
domestic and sexual violence,but they're often also working
at additional levels wherechange can happen, where they
(06:32):
can be a voice to say thatviolence and abuse must end.
And so they're often workingwithin their own organizations
in order to increase theircapacity to support victims and
that would be beyond whatthey're doing just to support
victims.
And then they're also workingwithin their communities in
order to raise awareness aboutthe issues and that violence
(06:55):
should never happen, and to doprevention work and community
education work.
And then, working from ourperspective of working as a
statewide coalition, then,working from our perspective of
working as a statewide coalition, we see advocates working at
the state level and takingaction at an even broader level
to impact more survivors at thestate level and to coordinate
(07:15):
services, but also to bringtogether a collective force for
change and positive support forsurvivors, and we know it's also
happening at the federal level.
So there's many differentlevels that advocates are taking
action to support survivors.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah, those again.
I mean, you have some reallyimportant distinctions for us to
learn from and kind of put theframework around the advocacy
movement.
How is this movement central tothe anti-violence movement?
Then?
And Kara, we'll start with you.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, I think they happen together.
I mean, I don't think that onecan happen without the other
because we do know, withdomestic violence, with sexual
assault, it happens at the rootof it is oppression, and so we
need to work them tandemlytogether, and so I think that we
can't address one without theother, and I think that's where
(08:09):
we start with that.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I love that point that you just made, kara,
because you're really looking atsome of the root causes of
violence.
And so, yes, you know, wecertainly know that violence
occurs between two people and isan interpersonal issue, but
there's really large socialdrivers, systems of inequality,
(08:31):
types of oppression that arecausing violence to happen in
the first place.
An advocate's role insupporting victims is also
taking a stand and sayingviolence is wrong.
Taking a stand and sayingviolence is wrong and these
social inequalities that areoccurring are also wrong and we
need to do what we can in orderto rectify the situation, to
bring about more justice, tobring about more social equality
(08:53):
, so that people aren't evenvulnerable to to violence in the
first place so, historically,how has the advocacy movement
and the role of the advocateevolved?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
because I'm very curious about where this all
began and how it changed frombeing, say, someone who just
stands up for someone else andsays, you know, this isn't right
and we need to change it to anactual profession.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'm so glad you asked this question, maria, because I
do think it's really importantto recognize the roots of our
movement, where we came from,because when we have a good
understanding of that, we canreally be inspired to take
action and continue working inorder to affect even more
positive change in the future.
And so, when I think about thehistory of our movement, one
(09:41):
thing I think it's reallyimportant to put out there is
that as long as violence hasexisted, as long as domestic and
sexual violence has existed,there have been efforts to
support victims and there havebeen efforts to make sure it,
you know, is prevented anddoesn't ever happen again.
Violence is inherently wrong,of course, and nobody ever
(10:03):
deserves to be hurt, and sothose efforts to support
survivors have always been, Ithink, happening in formal and
informal ways.
I think, when we look at ourcurrent anti-violence movement,
we really see some very strongconnections and ties to the
women's liberation movement ofthe 1960s and 70s.
(10:24):
You know, this was a time whenwomen were organizing together,
they were hostingconsciousness-raising groups and
they were really looking atwhat were the problems that
women were facing at large scaleand what could be done in order
to challenge these problems andovercome these issues and to
support people who areexperiencing these problems.
(10:45):
And so many issues werediscussed and came about from
that movement, and one reallyimportant thing that was
identified was that not only wasdomestic and sexual violence
happening, but it was happeninga lot and it was very, very
common.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And so I think those are the roots of where we saw
action really starting to takehold and what grew into our
current advocacy movement andadvocacy as we know it today
because we started understandingthat it wasn't just rapes that
(11:27):
were happening, it was, you know, domestic violence, and it
became more of an issue that wedid talk about, and we
understood that sexual assaultwas happening in the home,
domestic violence was happeningin the home, and so we needed to
expand those services to notjust include and only serve for
the rape crisis, and it becameapparent that those services
(11:51):
were needed and also, I think itis becoming more talked about
and that public health knowledgeand that awareness is being
shared, and so we can do morewith that and make those
services more known.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So then the role of the advocate started out more or
less in the rape crisis center,correct?
And then now it's in alldifferent places, as you
mentioned a few minutes ago.
It's community-based, it'ssystems-based, state-based, and
so on.
So what is that rolespecifically and we can talk
about what is the role today?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah.
So the role of an advocate, Ithink, is to be a voice on
behalf of survivors of domesticand sexual violence.
And this is so importantbecause I think before our
current anti-violence movement,survivors' voices were often
swept under the rug.
You know these issues were seenas private family matters that
(12:50):
shouldn't be spoken out loudabout, and there certainly
wasn't a community resource thatsurvivors could access for
assistance.
They weren't even reallytalking about it within their
own networks, much less in theircommunity, you know, talking
about it within their ownnetworks, much less in their
community, you know.
And so I think the role ofshining a light where there's
historically been a lot ofdarkness is really critical for
(13:14):
the anti-violence movement andfor the role that advocates play
.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I think another role, and a huge role of an advocate,
is just validating.
Validating that survivor, thattheir experiences are like.
Everything that they have beenthrough is not okay, but they
are.
They deserve to be here, theydo, they deserve to be safe and
many in that, like all of theirexperiences, are true and
(13:39):
they're real.
And a lot of the times when youare working with a survivor,
that could possibly be the firsttime that they've ever heard
those words.
And so just having a safe spacethat they can come to and just
share their story and just beheard and just feel valued and I
think that's a huge part ofwhat an advocate's role is to
(14:06):
the origins of our movement.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The current movement, as I said, based in the women's
liberation movement of the 60sand 70s, where they were really
looking at issues of genderequality and the philosophy that
violence is wrong, womenshouldn't be abused as a matter
of gender equality, which Ithink is still part of the
advocate's philosophy and therole of an advocate that we see
today, part of the advocate'sphilosophy and the role of an
(14:27):
advocate that we see today.
However, there became a need tokind of clarify some of those
philosophical foundations.
As time went on, and in the1980s Kara already mentioned one
of the icons of theanti-violence movement, ellen
Pence got survivors together inthe organization that she was
working with, the DuluthAnti-Violence Project in
(14:48):
Minnesota, and did focus groupsthat really put together people
who are experiencing violence,those survivors of domestic
violence, to look at what theirexperience was, to really
capture what was going on in anabusive relationship, to
understand what that experiencewas like.
And that's where we developedthis philosophy of power and
control that at the root ofdomestic violence, at the root
(15:10):
of all these different patternsof abuse that a partner is using
, there is power and control,and they're doing it for power
and control, and so then ourrole as an advocate in response
to that power and control reallybecame about empowerment.
So if we understand domesticviolence to be about a survivor
having their power and control,their autonomy, their
(15:31):
self-determination taken awayfrom them, then our role as an
advocate is to restore thatpower and control through an
empowering approach, and thatreally became an essential
approach to providing servicesto survivors.
That continues today, but hasalso continued to evolve as
things do.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I mean this is a very concise history of like,
the movement and the role of theadvocate, but I think you
raised some very importantpoints and gave us some key
words that we can point back to,like empowerment, power and
control and so forth.
And it's interesting to listento you talk about the women's
movement, the women's rightsmovement, and what it was based
in, because it was based, as yousaid, in establishing equity
(16:11):
and also shining a light on theviolence that was occurring
against women, primarily in thiscase, in the home this intimate
partner violence, this maritalrape, which you know.
Those things have now becomecriminalized and it started as a
movement to establish equityand what it's transformed into
(16:32):
is that, plus all of these otherthings, to reestablish agency
once you are a survivor andyou're trying to get back to
your life after an abusiverelationship.
It's also establishedlegislation, a lot of
legislation, around what isdomestic violence and what can
(16:54):
be criminalized, and it's notjust about anymore how women are
being abused, as it is aboutwhat can be done in response to
it for survivors and howperpetrators need to be held
accountable.
So this is, if we look at it.
You know, when you're in thiswork, day after day.
(17:16):
You see all the tiny wins,right.
But if you look at the movementacross decades of work that
we've all put into it and ourmothers put into it and our
grandmothers put into it, yousee that there has been
significant change that's beenmade and a lot of attention
drawn to it.
That does not, of course, denythe fact that it still occurs at
(17:37):
a hideous rate in this country.
And we're still, obviously weall still have these jobs right.
So we're still working with alot of survivors currently,
presently, and past survivors aswell.
So we're all here for them andfor whatever the future may hold
.
And I understand you're bothadvocates, correct?
(17:57):
Yeah, so how are you Tell usabout your roles?
Tell us about your roles.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, so we don't do direct service anymore.
So we're both member servicesspecialists at the Missouri
Coalition Against Domestic andSexual Violence.
But we both came from directservice in previous positions.
But I think once an advocate,always an advocate, and so I
(18:28):
think that'll always remainthere.
And we do talk with survivorsoccasionally and provide
referrals and you know activelistening and you know there's,
so there's always that.
But, yeah, nora, anything youwant to add, nora.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, I think that when it comes to direct services
, I think of our role as beingadvocates for advocates, like
we're here to provide support,to talk about what you had for
breakfast, to just providetraining, keep an eye on
emerging trends and help informadvocates about how to respond
and support survivors aroundjust new resources or new
(19:00):
challenges that are emerging.
And so I think of that as ourrole when it comes to direct
services.
But when it comes to policychange, we also play an
important role in moving policychange forward as well and just
providing alliance buildingopportunities that we know are
so critical in movement makingand building the movement to end
(19:22):
violence making and buildingthe movement to end violence.
And so the role of thecoalition is still about lifting
up the voices of survivors,being a voice to say that rape
and abuse must end.
But we just do it, I think indifferent ways, but the same
philosophy.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And it's a huge mission because you're a
statewide agency, correct?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, yes, we sure are .
Oh, and it's a very it's a it'sa very diverse state with a lot
of different personalities andcharacter and just dynamics that
exist within every region ofthe state.
And so movement building in astate where there is so much
diversity gives us strength, butit also can be a rocky road to
(20:02):
go down and comes with itschallenges and successes, of
course.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, I would think that would be rather nuanced,
because you need to haveculturally sensitive services
for all the differentpopulations that you are working
with, and so here in Texas weare also pretty diverse as well,
and so at Genesis we doincorporate culturally sensitive
(20:27):
services.
You know, we make sure that ourstaff and our board reflect the
community that we serve.
About 50% or more of ourclients are Spanish speaking.
Thereby about 50% of our staffare also either from the Spanish
speaking community and orbilingual Spanish, so that we
(20:47):
can offer services in a client'sprimary language.
And then, of course, we alsouse interpreters where we need
to.
I mean, we don't representevery single language that might
be spoken by a client, and sowe have interpreter services
that we raise money for as well.
So it is a very rich anddiverse environment here in
(21:09):
Texas, and one of you mentionedtraining a couple of minutes ago
, and I'd like to understand howadvocates are trained to work
with survivors of sexual assaultand domestic violence.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So there's a lot of training on the fly.
I think that happens and Ithink that's where you honestly
get a lot of the best kind ofkinds of training.
There is standardized training.
That happens anytime.
You go to a program and startwork as an advocate.
You get the standard inMissouri and, as I'm told, it's
(21:45):
kind of nationwide.
But 40 hours would be the kindof starting point for training
for advocates and then you wouldget, like the, on the job
training as well.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
And one thing I really love about this field is
that there is a true commitmentto continuing education, and so,
even after you've gotten that40 hours of foundational
training that you need in orderto start providing direct
services, there are so manyfantastic opportunities to
(22:16):
continue your education everysingle year that you're an
advocate every single week, asthe case is often.
But I think we recognize thatwe are dealing with a dynamic
issue, with diverse communitiesand the laws change and the
resources change, and so we'rereally fortunate to be a part of
(22:38):
a field where there are so manyopportunities to continue that
education in kind of structuredways through your own community,
through your state coalition,through national TA providers,
but then in less formal waysthat are really important, such
as through podcasts like this,but also books and documentaries
(23:01):
.
There's just such a wealth ofinformation out there that we
can access to continue oureducation and continue to
provide services that meet theemerging needs that survivors
are facing.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So where does one actually start if they want to
become an advocate?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I think that's such a great question and there's
definitely not one pathway tobecoming an advocate.
I have been an advocate for 20years and I remember even before
I knew what an advocate was, Iwanted to be one.
I remember telling, like acollege professor, that I wanted
to be a women's advocate and Iwas like, oh gosh, I really hope
that works.
I hope there's a job out therelike that.
(23:39):
But I think one reallyimportant way to start and I'd
love to hear what you all thinkabout this as well but one way
to get the ball rolling onbecoming an advocate is to
connect with your local advocacyorganization and volunteer.
So, volunteering, you'll oftenget that 40 hours of training
(23:59):
before you provide directservices, so you'll have a
really good understanding ofwhat it takes to be an advocate
and the skills that you need tobe an advocate, and then you can
start practicing working withsurvivors as a volunteer,
childcare volunteer, providingtransportation.
There's so many differentthings that you can do as a
volunteer and see if it's, ifthe magic is there for you.
(24:21):
Is it something that you justreally love doing?
And that's how I got started.
Actually, I startedvolunteering for different
organizations in differentcapacities and just loved it and
haven't stopped since then.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
And that's exactly what I was going to say Start
volunteering, because there areso many different services that
you can like volunteeropportunities.
You can volunteer with hospitaladvocacy in the children's
program, and so just to kind ofgive yourself that exposure to
all the opportunities availableat a different program to see if
it's something that you are upfor and are interested in doing
(24:55):
and making your full-time youknow kind of profession, because
a lot of us, you know, hearthat we started this profession
and then, you know, just neverleft and so making sure it's
something that you want tocontinue doing and then just
making sure that the program isthe right fit for you and all
the things are the right fit,and so that would probably be
(25:16):
like the easiest route to go aswell.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I had this idea kind of in the back of my head while
you're talking about this, aboutcase management and how I know
at Genesis we used to have casemanagers and now we have
advocates.
We don't and I don't know howthe models are different, but I
know that there is some type ofsynergy between those two types
of jobs.
Do you happen to know thedistinction?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I don't think there is a distinction.
I think it's at least inMissouri the way I have heard it
talked about is discussed aslike if a survivor were to call
our hotline, they're notspecifically going to ask for
case management, they're going,they want an advocate.
And so in Missouri I thinkthat's at least kind of the
trend was to kind of remove thatname case manager, and just go
(25:59):
to survivor advocate or victimadvocate, as some programs are
still calling them.
At least that was myunderstanding of that.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
The kid, as some programs are still calling them
At least that was myunderstanding of that and to
that point the advocacy role orprofession is quite new.
I mean, when we talked aboutthe history of this movement and
the idea of it as an actual job, we only went back to the 70s,
which isn't really that long ago.
I mean, if you were born in the90s it may seem like a really
(26:26):
long time ago, but as a child ofthe 70s it was not that long
ago.
And so it's a rather youngmovement that has evolved very
rapidly, as the idea of domesticviolence being unlawful and
unacceptable really has takenthe stage.
I mean, it is out there all thetime now.
(26:48):
Now, that's not to say that itisn't happening, but it is much
more in the forefront than itever was, but still very much in
its infancy and we have quite along way to go.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, I agree, and to that point I mean yes.
And also we have done so muchwork.
And to your earlier point,maria, of like, in the grand
scheme of things, if you are anadvocate, if you are a newer
advocate, my biggest piece ofadvice would just be to look at
the history and the evolution ofadvocacy, of the sexual
violence and the domesticviolence movement, because we
(27:19):
have really come so far and, yes, we do have a long way to go.
But that was really my pivotalmoment where I really was able
to kind of put myself in thespace and time of where I am in
this movement and really connectto the work that I'm doing and
the lives that I'm touching inthis large timeline of things
(27:43):
that have happened.
And it really is.
If you can look at a timelineof all the things that have
happened.
And it really is.
If you can look at a timelineof all the things that have
happened, it is super cool toknow that, like you're a little
blip on this like movementtimeline, yeah, and you are
making change.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
And one thing I'd like to speak to is, just when
we think about the grassrootsorigin of our movement that
really started out as peoplehelping people, we can, I think,
first of all, be inspired to doso much more, but also
recognize the role thatsupporting survivors has in
(28:18):
social change, and what we seeis a lot of advocates, in fact,
have experienced domestic andsexual violence and are taking
action to help other survivorsfor a variety of different
reasons, sometimes to be thehelp that they wish that they
had had, but also there's somuch positive healing that
(28:38):
happens when you reach out andhelp another person in need who
might be experiencing some ofthe same things that you
experienced.
There's a level of understandingthere that I think is really
important, and so this is notonly a movement of social change
, but it's a movement, in manyways, built by survivors for
survivors, in order to createthat change, which is just a
(29:01):
really, I think, important pointof people who are impacted by
the problem taking direct actionto make change and make sure it
doesn't happen again, it's avery human response and you have
given us the words just now,Nora.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Whether you realize it or not, it's people helping
people.
That's what advocacy is, and Ithink that's a very succinct way
of talking about it, and anyone of us can hear those words
people helping people and knowwhat that means.
It's extending a hand, you knowit's just look for the helpers,
right?
Those are the ones that youneed in a time of crisis.
(29:38):
Let's talk just a little bitmore deeply about the role of
the advocate, Because what I doknow you're the experts, right,
I'm just the host of this show.
Because what I do know you'rethe experts, right, I'm just the
host of this show.
But what I do know, I know alittle bit.
And advocates help clients whoexperience domestic violence
with goal setting.
So if you're trying to get yourlife back together and you want
(30:01):
to have your like, you know youneed to establish yourself
financially, get an apartment,put the kids in a different
school district and so on.
You have to set some goals,because you can't do everything
all at once.
So let's talk about thatprocess and how the role of the
(30:22):
advocate is to help guide the,to empower her to do some goal
setting and then be able to makesome decisions on her own, to
give herself that sense ofagency that she can do that.
All of that is to say to guideit, not control it.
So how do you walk that fineline as an advocate to help set
goals and encourage decisionmaking, but not control both the
(30:45):
decisions and the outcomes?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I think that the easiest way that I would talk
about it with advocates would bethat we ultimately have this
goal that survivors are going toleave our shelters, leave our
programs and be independent,successful people.
That is what we want for them,and so they will not have us by
(31:12):
their sides for the rest ofeternity.
That's ultimately what we want,and so it will do us no good.
It will do them no good to makethese decisions for them, and
also, you know, part of theirhealing journey is to regain
this autonomy back that has beentaken from them.
(31:33):
You know, many survivors havenot been able to have any kind
of say in any of the decisionssurrounding their lives, and so
this is the first time that theyare able to do that, and so,
while they may need someguidance in how to make
decisions or what their optionsare, we can often fall or, you
know, we could fall into thatpower and control dynamic with
(31:56):
them if we are not careful,because there is that power and
control, just dynamic based onour positions, and we don't want
to do that.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yeah, I think when it comes to goal setting, that's
where we really think about thisincredible opportunity for
transformation that does happenwithin advocacy services, and
it's what so many advocates saythat they really value about
their work is that they get tosupport a survivor and starting
(32:26):
from one place and potentiallymaybe ending up at another place
, and maybe those wins and thattransformation is significant.
Maybe it's something big, like,you know, finishing an education
or buying a house which we'vecertainly seen as advocates or
maybe it's something as simpleas being able to sleep through
the night, you know.
(32:47):
So it's really about celebratingthese small and large goals.
And I think, when it comes towhat your role as an advocate is
in goal setting, that's whereit's really important to
understand the boundaries theprofessional boundaries that you
have and that these are not, asKara was saying, these are not
your decisions to make.
(33:07):
Your role as an advocate is toseek to understand what would be
helpful in a survivor situation, and goal setting can actually
be a tool for survivors tounderstand and identify where it
is that they want to go duringtheir time in services, but can
also be a really helpful toolfor advocates to understand what
resources would help survivorsin getting to that place where
(33:30):
they want to go, and so goalsetting, I think, looks at a lot
of different ways and can leadto a lot of different outcomes,
but ultimately it's a tool forproviding for understanding
survivors and for providingrelevant resources that meet the
needs of where it is that theywant to go with services.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, completely understand and agree with
everything you're saying,because I would think it would
be a little scary to come out ofan abusive relationship where I
didn't have control over thingsas simple as what temperature
the thermostat was going to beset on, or you know what we're
going to watch on television orhave for dinner, and so on and
so forth, and then having tomake my own decisions about what
(34:13):
schools my children are goingto go to and how I'm going to
afford to buy this house, and soon and so forth, and then
having to make my own decisionsabout what schools my children
are going to go to and how I'mgoing to afford to buy this
house, and so on and so forth,and so that I think could be
frightening.
And so an advocate can be afriend in a way to kind of put
those fears at ease and help toinstruct a survivor how to make
(34:35):
decisions, but not actually tellthem what the decisions need to
be.
Have you ever been in ascenario where you felt like a
survivor was making a decisionthat was not the best choice for
her, and how did you react tothat?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
All the time Okay.
All the time Okay, you know,because I think it's important
to remember that survivors livesare not our lives, and everyone
has their own lived experience,and that's okay, because they
come with a whole lot ofexperience, a whole lot of
(35:14):
trauma, and they I mean evenbefore the incident that brought
them to our services, and sotheir parenting is going to be
different, their lifestyle isgoing to be different, whether
they use substance or substancesor not, it's going to be, it's
all different.
So even just their food choicescould be different, and that's
(35:36):
all okay.
And so if they are making adecision that maybe I would not
make for myself or my family, atthe end of the day I get to go
home to my family, I get to gohome and I get to make my own
decisions.
And so you really just have tobe able to reconcile that with
yourself as an advocate, thatyou are providing them with as
(36:01):
much information as you're ableto about all of the survivor's
options and choices and lettingthem make an informed decision.
And then letting them make aninformed decision.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I think that's where the role of self-awareness comes
in, is it's so important foradvocates to be self-aware, to
recognize that everybody hastheir own biases, everybody has
their own perspectives, but weare there to support survivors
and meet survivors where they'reat, wherever they may be at,
and so being aware of how ourown biases and life experience
(36:37):
and perspective impacts ourinteractions and maybe even our
own judgment of survivors'decision making is really
important.
And to be able to recognizewhen our biases are impacting
our advocacy and to minimizethat as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, well, that's very insightful, Clearly.
I mean, you've been doing thiswork a very long time but you
keep giving us the word.
So self-awareness is a reallyimportant part of this role and
it becomes a really importantpart for a survivor, I would
think as well, to understand whoshe is, because you kind of
lose your identity when you area victim of domestic violence or
(37:17):
sexual assault and it takestime to regain that and find out
what you really even like.
I mean, Dr Romney will tell youhow do you know if you were
living with a narcissist.
Well, when I ask you what wouldyou like to watch on TV and you
say, oh well, whatever you wantto watch is fine, I don't know,
you know, it doesn't matter tome, Whatever you like is fine.
That's how people react afterthey have been treated, after
(37:40):
they have experienced narcissism.
Right, which is just oneexample of domestic violence.
But clearly we can't expect asadvocates for a survivor to come
in and know how to make all ofthese decisions on her own or
not anticipate that she may beafraid of even doing so at the
(38:00):
beginning.
And I also I think thatadvocacy complements well with a
lot of other domestic violenceservices, such as clinical
counseling, which is how weprovide those services at
Genesis.
We have a whole continuum ofcare that the survivor can take
part in as she moves forward inher journey, you know, towards
(38:21):
safety, and it's very, verysupportive in a lot of different
ways.
So how do you see, or whatother services do you see, that
really complement advocacy well?
Speaker 2 (38:37):
advocacy?
Well, I think that's afantastic question, maria, and
one thing I keep thinking aboutthroughout this discussion is
that this is a movement tosupport all survivors of
violence, anyone thatexperiences violence, no matter
what your background is, nomatter where you came from, no
matter what language you speak,and so I think one really
critical piece of ensuring thatanybody who experiences violence
(38:58):
can access services is makingsure that they are your services
are inclusive, that they aredoing no harm and that people
can access them in a way that'sculturally meaningful, and so
you talked before about howGenesis provides interpreters.
Language access is such anincredible part of advocacy.
(39:20):
You have to have meaningfulcommunication with survivors in
order to be an advocate.
Your role is really to seek tounderstand what has happened and
what a survivor's prioritiesare, and so you must have
language access in order to dothat.
But that goes as far as anythingthat you can do to make your
services more inclusive.
How can you provide services tomale or trans survivors who've
(39:45):
experienced violence?
How can you be inclusive andmaybe provide support groups to
LGBTQ plus survivors of violence, and so anything that you could
do?
I think it's really importantwhat you spoke to earlier about
making sure the demographics ofyour staff and board represent
the survivors that you'reserving.
So anything that can be done inorder to ensure that, no matter
(40:08):
where you're coming from inlife, you feel welcome at an
organization is really criticalin terms of and I wouldn't say
it's even like a compliment toadvocacy services, but a
necessary service that musthappen with advocacy services.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, I think the only things that I would add is
we've heard some reallyinnovative programs or programs
doing really innovative thingswith like basic kind of
maintenance or care, like dailylife skills classes or trainings
, because you know, weeventually know they're going to
leave our services and somepeople have never been taught
those kinds of things.
(40:46):
So, just how to maintain a home.
And then we know that, likeeconomic justice and you know
economics is a huge thing and so, or job training, and so I
think that would be supercomplimentary to anything that
you have, like all the servicesthat are offered within a
program, and so things like that, anything that can help them be
(41:07):
as independent as possible whenthey leave services.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
I can't tell you how many times I've heard that same
discussion at Genesis aboutpeople who are clients,
especially in the shelter oreven in the transitional housing
that we have, who they don'tknow the first thing about
maintaining a home Nobody evertaught them.
Actually teach those lifeskills of.
(41:33):
Just as one example, you knowhow to properly clean the floor
or clean the bathtub, or youknow something of that nature or
how to organize a drawer or acloset, because, while you might
think that that could be likean innate thing that a woman
would know, it isn't.
It's typically something thateach of us has been taught by
(41:55):
someone in a life, in our life,and it also, I don't know.
It's just, it's just taken forgranted that people would know
these things and clearly thatdoesn't happen for everyone.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
And it's so important .
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, I mean I'm glad you brought that up because I
think that's really critical forpeople to understand.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Or even like if they're renting an apartment and
like going through thatchecklist of like what they need
to clean and like what theyneed to check changing the air
filters, things like that.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Well, yeah, homeownership and becoming a
renter and so on are those are awhole other ballgame and so on
are those are a whole other ballgame and the things that you,
you don't know what you don'tknow when it comes to living on
your own or living independently.
And so I know like in theUnited States we typically the
idea is you will graduate highschool and then you will go to a
(42:50):
college where you take thatbaby step toward independent
living and hopefully you haveyou're taking with you enough
life skills to take that babystep and then you'll learn some
more and then you'll keep takinga step toward full independence
and employment and becoming aproductive member of society as
(43:11):
a fully functioning adult.
And that's the dream, right.
But it doesn't happen that wayfor every single person and not
everybody has the samefoundation when they leave home.
And clearly this is true forthe clients that we all serve
who experience domestic violence, and what's more than that.
(43:32):
Maybe they do have thatfoundation, but the experiences
of domestic violence or sexualviolence have caused a trauma or
many traumas, and they're justnot able to access their
foundation or their life skillsthat they formerly had, or their
life has changed so much, andthe world as they knew it is
(43:54):
completely different and none ofit fits, and so there's no
shame in some retraining andlearning again or just beginning
again with some of these skills.
So it's important, as you said,that agencies that offer
domestic violence services cangive you that really robust
holistic program that includeseven things like occupational
(44:19):
therapy.
Genesis has one of the firstoccupational therapy programs in
the country for domesticviolence survivors, and it's
completely free.
Anyone listening who'sinterested.
We'll be really happy to shareit with you and teach you how to
implement it at your agency, ifthat makes sense.
So don't hesitate to call us orcheck our website at
(44:42):
genesisshelterorg.
Before I let you go, I want totalk about a few other things,
and one of those is ethics.
Is there a particular code ofethics that advocates need to
follow, or that's prescribed forthem?
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Certainly there are some advocates that have a code
of ethics that's tied to theirprofessional certifications, so
social workers, for example.
But if we're just looking atdomestic violence advocates,
it's not that there'snecessarily a formal code of
ethics, but I think there's avery defined set of guiding
(45:18):
principles that advocates abideby as they are providing
services.
The first one that I think isvery distinct but certainly
notable anytime that you'reworking with an advocate is
their philosophy thatconfidentiality is paramount and
respecting survivors'confidentiality, really
(45:40):
understanding that survivorsneed to have control over their
identifying information as a wayto keep themselves safe and
that maintaining confidentialityis a way of protecting survivor
safety.
So that's kind of a distinctapproach to any kind of services
that's really different fordomestic and sexual violence
(46:00):
advocates.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
So some good rules to follow would be do no harm, be
nice, be respectful and do theright thing.
And those are, again, just bestpractices.
I don't know that they'rewritten anywhere.
They're just kind of rules thatwe live by.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Yeah, I mean, there are really specific values that
you need to hold if you're evengoing to take the role of an
advocate seriously.
So I think you've kind ofsummarized some of the important
ones.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Voluntary services is a really important kind of
approach that is required byfunders more recently, but just
in the spirit of empowerment, inthe spirit of restoring
autonomy and self-determination,not putting requirements upon
survivors in services as acondition of their stay or as a
(46:51):
condition of receiving services,and so support groups are
entirely optional, therapy isentirely optional.
Even goal setting should beentirely optional, and so really
just making sure that we'reproviding options but not
enforcing requirements.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
Yeah, that's a great point as well.
I think that all agencies aredifferent, of course, in the way
they provide their services,but it's a good idea to think
about how the information aboutthat is, or even like the plan
for each individual is deliveredand approached with a survivor.
Let's talk for a minute aboutthe Sexual Assault Survivors
(47:27):
Bill of Rights.
How does that Bill of Rightssupport the role of advocacy and
thereby empower survivors?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
The Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights is
something that came out of thelast couple of legislative
sessions here in Missouri, andit's a clearly defined set of
rights that survivors havewho've experienced sexual
assault when they present tohospitals, law enforcement
officers, prosecutors' officesor the courts law enforcement
(47:54):
officers, prosecutor's officesor the courts and it identifies
just some basic things the rightto an interpreter, the right to
an advocate, which is reallyimportant the right to consult
with an advocate, the right to ashower, to a change of fresh
clothes.
It identifies just a number ofclear items that survivors are
(48:16):
entitled to when they present atthese different organizations.
What I think is reallyimportant about the Sexual
Assault Survivors Bill of Rightsis that it sets a universal
standards of what all victims ofsexual assault can expect when
they encounter different systemsthat there is just a basic
level of.
(48:36):
You know, these are my rightsand so this is what I will be
entitled to and this is what Ican expect no matter what part
of the state I'm seekingservices in.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
So how does one know that those rights apply to them
if they're a victim of sexualassault they enter through,
let's say, the ER?
Are they given a copy of that?
Speaker 2 (48:56):
That would be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Or does an advocate or social worker visit with them
when they enter a medicalfacility and kind of inform them
of what they're entitled to?
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Yes, they should be.
I mean in a perfect world.
Yes, an advocate will always becalled.
We are on the cusp of launchingour Telesane program or
Telesane, and so that will kindof initiate immediately an
advocate being called and thenthat same nurse talking with
(49:29):
them about all of their optionsand then kind of going forward
from there and notifying them oftheir rights.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Great, that sounds super important.
I'd love to see that getimplemented.
And you're going to launch aTeleSane program.
Is this for the state ofMissouri?
It is, oh, tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
So if a survivor goes to a hospital that doesn't have
a physical sexual assault nurseon site, they will have the
option to do that forensic examvia video, and so the nurse
bedside will be in consultationwith a forensic nurse by video
(50:08):
and they will be able to nothave to drive, not have to go,
you know, a million hours to theclosest hospital just to be
turned down because there's noforensic nurse available, and so
that program will officiallylaunch.
Hospitals will have to be incompliance by the end of
December.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
That's excellent.
Congratulations on you knowgetting that put forward.
I'm afraid we're out of time.
This has been a reallyinteresting conversation.
I have learned so much and I'mnot surprised because I think
you both are doing amazing work.
You have so much experiencewith advocacy and working with
survivors.
What's your last word to peoplelistening if they have
(50:48):
questions about advocacy orwonder about how advocacy
services can benefit them about?
Speaker 2 (50:55):
how advocacy services can benefit them.
So I would just say we knowthat the value of an advocate is
significant.
You know, looking back overtime, we can see how, as
advocacy programs have becomemore formal and more established
, better funded, then theoutcomes are much better for
(51:18):
survivors.
And in fact we are seeing now,because of the efforts of many
advocates, there's less and lesstolerance for abuse when it
happens, and so we're seeing aworld where potentially,
domestic and sexual violence ison the pathway to being reduced.
But I think what it's reallyimportant to state is that we
(51:41):
can't continue to provide thesetransformative services that
make all the difference in theworld to survivors if we don't
fund them, and so it's reallyimportant that we make funding
for services a priority.
Did you want to speak to that?
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Karen, you will get no argument from me on that.
Speaker 3 (52:00):
Yeah, yeah, yes, I 100% echo, nora.
There is the Crime VictimsStabilization Act and we can
send you, maria, moreinformation on that to provide
for your listeners, and it isthe greatest way an advocate can
support the movement, supportsurvivors and to get involved.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Excellent.
I would look forward to seeingthat information and sharing it
with our listeners.
Nora Kara, thank you for beingon the show.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
Thank you, Maria.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
Genesis Women's Shelter and Support exists to
give women in abusive situationsa way out.
We are committed to our missionof providing safety, shelter
and support for women andchildren who have experienced
domestic violence and to raiseawareness regarding its cause,
prevalence and impact.
Join us in creating a societalshift on how people think about
(52:51):
domestic violence.
You can learn more atGenesisShelterorg and when you
follow us on social media onFacebook and Instagram at
Genesis Women's Shelter, and onX at Genesis Shelter.
The Genesis Helpline isavailable 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, by call or text at214-946-HELP.
(53:11):
214-946-4357.
Advocacy plays a critical role in the support and
empowerment of survivors ofsexual assault and domestic
violence.
We take a closer look at thatrole of the advocate and its
history within the anti-violencemovement with Nora Mosby and
Cara Jones from the MissouriCoalition Against Domestic and
Sexual Violence.
I'm Maria McMullin and this isGenesis, the podcast podcast.
(00:30):
Kara Jones joined the MissouriCoalition Against Domestic and
Sexual Violence team in January2023 as a member services
specialist.
Kara received her bachelor's incriminology, psychology and
sociology from Drury Universityand went on to obtain her
master's of arts in counseling,with an emphasis in couples,
marriage, family and childcounseling.
Throughout her career, karaworked in case management,
crisis intervention and utilizedevidence-based interventions to
(00:53):
help support and empowerchildren and families.
Nora Mosby has 20 years ofexperience working as an
advocate on behalf of survivorsof domestic and sexual violence.
In 2003, she earned her BA inWomen's Studies from the
Evergreen State College inOlympia, washington, and since
then she has worked as anadvocate in courts, residential
programs and healthcare settings.
(01:14):
She also has a master's degreein public health from the
University of Missouri.
She currently works at theMissouri Coalition Against
Domestic and Sexual Violence asa member services specialist.
Nora Kara, welcome to the show,thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm glad you're here.
I'm really excited about thisconversation today because we're
talking all about advocacy Tome.
When I say advocacy, I thinkabout the work we do at Genesis
Women's Shelter and Support andI have a mental image of what
that looks like right, helpingpeople, set goals and connecting
them to resources outside ofthe mission or the scope of what
(01:51):
we do at Genesis, because weprovide services strictly for
domestic violence survivors.
An example of a place that wemight connect a survivor to
might be a hospital to get acertain type of medical
appointment that she needs orshe needs for her child, or to a
financial institution, or evento public transportation to
(02:14):
acquire bus passes or even learnhow to use public
transportation if she's neverdone that before, and the
examples are pretty muchunlimited.
There are so many ways that anadvocate can help and there are
so many forms of advocacy.
I'd like to hear from both ofyou what advocacy kind of means
to you and the work that you doat the Missouri Coalition and
(02:36):
also within the context ofsexual assault and domestic
violence.
Nora, we'll start with you.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I really appreciate starting off with just an
opportunity to explain whatwe're talking about when we're
talking about advocacy withinthe anti-violence movement,
because, you're absolutely right, there are so many different
forms of advocacy that exist,and so it helps to talk about.
What is it that we're talkingabout when we're talking about
(03:03):
advocacy within the domestic andsexual violence advocacy
movement?
Because even within, I think,our work in supporting survivors
, there's many different levelsof advocacy, but the first one
that I think is really importantto speak to is the role that
advocates play in supportingpeople who have experienced harm
(03:23):
, people who have experiencedsexual violence.
So that is really talking aboutthe direct services that
advocates provide within thismovement, and the direct
services are really in responseto violence that has already
happened.
So that's one level of advocacy, and there's certainly many,
many others.
(03:44):
But when we think about the roleof an advocate responding to
people who have experienceddomestic and sexual violence,
it's about responding to thattrauma, to the violence, but
also the full range of otherabusive tactics that we know
occur in abusive relationships.
So it's really a directresponse to survivors who have
(04:06):
experienced isolation, extremeisolation, and so an advocate
can play a really critical rolein breaking that isolation and
ensuring that survivors areprovided with connection and
support and aren't having tomove forward alone or without
that kind of support.
(04:27):
So I think that's one reallycritical role that advocates can
play when it comes to directservices.
Is there anything you would addto the direct services piece of
it, kara.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I think the other piece of that, and when we talk
about the role of an advocate, Ialways think about this keynote
video that Ellen Pence did forus at the coalition several
years back and she specificallytalks about.
Even when we're looking at whatthe word advocate means, we
could be talking aboutsystems-based versus
community-based advocacy, and weknow that there are very stark
(05:00):
differences between the two, andI think, at the end of the day,
that is exactly what Nora saidwe are breaking the isolation
for that survivor who hasexperienced violence and I think
, regardless of what our titleis or if we belong to the
prosecutor-based victimadvocate's office or a
community-based advocate,ultimately we are providing
(05:24):
community for a survivor who hasbeen in isolation due to
violence.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That's a really important distinction.
I appreciate you bringing thatup.
What is a community-basedadvocate?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So that would be somebody who is working, at
least how we do it in Missouri,how we kind of talk about the
distinction in Missouri is likecommunity-based advocates would
be those who work in your localnonprofits and your shelters.
And then we have your systemsbase, who are embedded in, like
the police departments or theprosecutor offices, law
enforcement, military.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, okay, it helps to have that kind of context
around it.
So if I were to translate thatto Texas and to Genesis Women's
Shelter and Support, I guess ouradvocates would be
community-based advocatesaccording to that definition,
right?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, and I don't want to muddy the waters here,
y'all oh muddy away.
Go ahead.
But the reality is thatcommunity-based advocates are
working to provide directservices to support survivors of
domestic and sexual violence,but they're often also working
at additional levels wherechange can happen, where they
(06:32):
can be a voice to say thatviolence and abuse must end.
And so they're often workingwithin their own organizations
in order to increase theircapacity to support victims and
that would be beyond whatthey're doing just to support
victims.
And then they're also workingwithin their communities in
order to raise awareness aboutthe issues and that violence
(06:55):
should never happen, and to doprevention work and community
education work.
And then, working from ourperspective of working as a
statewide coalition, then,working from our perspective of
working as a statewide coalition, we see advocates working at
the state level and takingaction at an even broader level
to impact more survivors at thestate level and to coordinate
(07:15):
services, but also to bringtogether a collective force for
change and positive support forsurvivors, and we know it's also
happening at the federal level.
So there's many differentlevels that advocates are taking
action to support survivors.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah, those again.
I mean, you have some reallyimportant distinctions for us to
learn from and kind of put theframework around the advocacy
movement.
How is this movement central tothe anti-violence movement?
Then?
And Kara, we'll start with you.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, I think they happen together.
I mean, I don't think that onecan happen without the other
because we do know, withdomestic violence, with sexual
assault, it happens at the rootof it is oppression, and so we
need to work them tandemlytogether, and so I think that we
can't address one without theother, and I think that's where
(08:09):
we start with that.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I love that point that you just made, kara,
because you're really looking atsome of the root causes of
violence.
And so, yes, you know, wecertainly know that violence
occurs between two people and isan interpersonal issue, but
there's really large socialdrivers, systems of inequality,
(08:31):
types of oppression that arecausing violence to happen in
the first place.
An advocate's role insupporting victims is also
taking a stand and sayingviolence is wrong.
Taking a stand and sayingviolence is wrong and these
social inequalities that areoccurring are also wrong and we
need to do what we can in orderto rectify the situation, to
bring about more justice, tobring about more social equality
(08:53):
, so that people aren't evenvulnerable to to violence in the
first place so, historically,how has the advocacy movement
and the role of the advocateevolved?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
because I'm very curious about where this all
began and how it changed frombeing, say, someone who just
stands up for someone else andsays, you know, this isn't right
and we need to change it to anactual profession.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'm so glad you asked this question, maria, because I
do think it's really importantto recognize the roots of our
movement, where we came from,because when we have a good
understanding of that, we canreally be inspired to take
action and continue working inorder to affect even more
positive change in the future.
And so, when I think about thehistory of our movement, one
(09:41):
thing I think it's reallyimportant to put out there is
that as long as violence hasexisted, as long as domestic and
sexual violence has existed,there have been efforts to
support victims and there havebeen efforts to make sure it,
you know, is prevented anddoesn't ever happen again.
Violence is inherently wrong,of course, and nobody ever
(10:03):
deserves to be hurt, and sothose efforts to support
survivors have always been, Ithink, happening in formal and
informal ways.
I think, when we look at ourcurrent anti-violence movement,
we really see some very strongconnections and ties to the
women's liberation movement ofthe 1960s and 70s.
(10:24):
You know, this was a time whenwomen were organizing together,
they were hostingconsciousness-raising groups and
they were really looking atwhat were the problems that
women were facing at large scaleand what could be done in order
to challenge these problems andovercome these issues and to
support people who areexperiencing these problems.
(10:45):
And so many issues werediscussed and came about from
that movement, and one reallyimportant thing that was
identified was that not only wasdomestic and sexual violence
happening, but it was happeninga lot and it was very, very
common.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And so I think those are the roots of where we saw
action really starting to takehold and what grew into our
current advocacy movement andadvocacy as we know it today
because we started understandingthat it wasn't just rapes that
(11:27):
were happening, it was, you know, domestic violence, and it
became more of an issue that wedid talk about, and we
understood that sexual assaultwas happening in the home,
domestic violence was happeningin the home, and so we needed to
expand those services to notjust include and only serve for
the rape crisis, and it becameapparent that those services
(11:51):
were needed and also, I think itis becoming more talked about
and that public health knowledgeand that awareness is being
shared, and so we can do morewith that and make those
services more known.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So then the role of the advocate started out more or
less in the rape crisis center,correct?
And then now it's in alldifferent places, as you
mentioned a few minutes ago.
It's community-based, it'ssystems-based, state-based, and
so on.
So what is that rolespecifically and we can talk
about what is the role today?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah.
So the role of an advocate, Ithink, is to be a voice on
behalf of survivors of domesticand sexual violence.
And this is so importantbecause I think before our
current anti-violence movement,survivors' voices were often
swept under the rug.
You know these issues were seenas private family matters that
(12:50):
shouldn't be spoken out loudabout, and there certainly
wasn't a community resource thatsurvivors could access for
assistance.
They weren't even reallytalking about it within their
own networks, much less in theircommunity, you know, talking
about it within their ownnetworks, much less in their
community, you know.
And so I think the role ofshining a light where there's
historically been a lot ofdarkness is really critical for
(13:14):
the anti-violence movement andfor the role that advocates play
.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I think another role, and a huge role of an advocate,
is just validating.
Validating that survivor, thattheir experiences are like.
Everything that they have beenthrough is not okay, but they
are.
They deserve to be here, theydo, they deserve to be safe and
many in that, like all of theirexperiences, are true and
(13:39):
they're real.
And a lot of the times when youare working with a survivor,
that could possibly be the firsttime that they've ever heard
those words.
And so just having a safe spacethat they can come to and just
share their story and just beheard and just feel valued and I
think that's a huge part ofwhat an advocate's role is to
(14:06):
the origins of our movement.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The current movement, as I said, based in the women's
liberation movement of the 60sand 70s, where they were really
looking at issues of genderequality and the philosophy that
violence is wrong, womenshouldn't be abused as a matter
of gender equality, which Ithink is still part of the
advocate's philosophy and therole of an advocate that we see
today, part of the advocate'sphilosophy and the role of an
(14:27):
advocate that we see today.
However, there became a need tokind of clarify some of those
philosophical foundations.
As time went on, and in the1980s Kara already mentioned one
of the icons of theanti-violence movement, ellen
Pence got survivors together inthe organization that she was
working with, the DuluthAnti-Violence Project in
(14:48):
Minnesota, and did focus groupsthat really put together people
who are experiencing violence,those survivors of domestic
violence, to look at what theirexperience was, to really
capture what was going on in anabusive relationship, to
understand what that experiencewas like.
And that's where we developedthis philosophy of power and
control that at the root ofdomestic violence, at the root
(15:10):
of all these different patternsof abuse that a partner is using
, there is power and control,and they're doing it for power
and control, and so then ourrole as an advocate in response
to that power and control reallybecame about empowerment.
So if we understand domesticviolence to be about a survivor
having their power and control,their autonomy, their
(15:31):
self-determination taken awayfrom them, then our role as an
advocate is to restore thatpower and control through an
empowering approach, and thatreally became an essential
approach to providing servicesto survivors.
That continues today, but hasalso continued to evolve as
things do.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I mean this is a very concise history of like,
the movement and the role of theadvocate, but I think you
raised some very importantpoints and gave us some key
words that we can point back to,like empowerment, power and
control and so forth.
And it's interesting to listento you talk about the women's
movement, the women's rightsmovement, and what it was based
in, because it was based, as yousaid, in establishing equity
(16:11):
and also shining a light on theviolence that was occurring
against women, primarily in thiscase, in the home this intimate
partner violence, this maritalrape, which you know.
Those things have now becomecriminalized and it started as a
movement to establish equityand what it's transformed into
(16:32):
is that, plus all of these otherthings, to reestablish agency
once you are a survivor andyou're trying to get back to
your life after an abusiverelationship.
It's also establishedlegislation, a lot of
legislation, around what isdomestic violence and what can
(16:54):
be criminalized, and it's notjust about anymore how women are
being abused, as it is aboutwhat can be done in response to
it for survivors and howperpetrators need to be held
accountable.
So this is, if we look at it.
You know, when you're in thiswork, day after day.
(17:16):
You see all the tiny wins,right.
But if you look at the movementacross decades of work that
we've all put into it and ourmothers put into it and our
grandmothers put into it, yousee that there has been
significant change that's beenmade and a lot of attention
drawn to it.
That does not, of course, denythe fact that it still occurs at
(17:37):
a hideous rate in this country.
And we're still, obviously weall still have these jobs right.
So we're still working with alot of survivors currently,
presently, and past survivors aswell.
So we're all here for them andfor whatever the future may hold
.
And I understand you're bothadvocates, correct?
(17:57):
Yeah, so how are you Tell usabout your roles?
Tell us about your roles.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, so we don't do direct service anymore.
So we're both member servicesspecialists at the Missouri
Coalition Against Domestic andSexual Violence.
But we both came from directservice in previous positions.
But I think once an advocate,always an advocate, and so I
(18:28):
think that'll always remainthere.
And we do talk with survivorsoccasionally and provide
referrals and you know activelistening and you know there's,
so there's always that.
But, yeah, nora, anything youwant to add, nora.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, I think that when it comes to direct services
, I think of our role as beingadvocates for advocates, like
we're here to provide support,to talk about what you had for
breakfast, to just providetraining, keep an eye on
emerging trends and help informadvocates about how to respond
and support survivors aroundjust new resources or new
(19:00):
challenges that are emerging.
And so I think of that as ourrole when it comes to direct
services.
But when it comes to policychange, we also play an
important role in moving policychange forward as well and just
providing alliance buildingopportunities that we know are
so critical in movement makingand building the movement to end
(19:22):
violence making and buildingthe movement to end violence.
And so the role of thecoalition is still about lifting
up the voices of survivors,being a voice to say that rape
and abuse must end.
But we just do it, I think indifferent ways, but the same
philosophy.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And it's a huge mission because you're a
statewide agency, correct?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, yes, we sure are .
Oh, and it's a very it's a it'sa very diverse state with a lot
of different personalities andcharacter and just dynamics that
exist within every region ofthe state.
And so movement building in astate where there is so much
diversity gives us strength, butit also can be a rocky road to
(20:02):
go down and comes with itschallenges and successes, of
course.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, I would think that would be rather nuanced,
because you need to haveculturally sensitive services
for all the differentpopulations that you are working
with, and so here in Texas weare also pretty diverse as well,
and so at Genesis we doincorporate culturally sensitive
(20:27):
services.
You know, we make sure that ourstaff and our board reflect the
community that we serve.
About 50% or more of ourclients are Spanish speaking.
Thereby about 50% of our staffare also either from the Spanish
speaking community and orbilingual Spanish, so that we
(20:47):
can offer services in a client'sprimary language.
And then, of course, we alsouse interpreters where we need
to.
I mean, we don't representevery single language that might
be spoken by a client, and sowe have interpreter services
that we raise money for as well.
So it is a very rich anddiverse environment here in
(21:09):
Texas, and one of you mentionedtraining a couple of minutes ago
, and I'd like to understand howadvocates are trained to work
with survivors of sexual assaultand domestic violence.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So there's a lot of training on the fly.
I think that happens and Ithink that's where you honestly
get a lot of the best kind ofkinds of training.
There is standardized training.
That happens anytime.
You go to a program and startwork as an advocate.
You get the standard inMissouri and, as I'm told, it's
(21:45):
kind of nationwide.
But 40 hours would be the kindof starting point for training
for advocates and then you wouldget, like the, on the job
training as well.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
And one thing I really love about this field is
that there is a true commitmentto continuing education, and so,
even after you've gotten that40 hours of foundational
training that you need in orderto start providing direct
services, there are so manyfantastic opportunities to
(22:16):
continue your education everysingle year that you're an
advocate every single week, asthe case is often.
But I think we recognize thatwe are dealing with a dynamic
issue, with diverse communitiesand the laws change and the
resources change, and so we'rereally fortunate to be a part of
(22:38):
a field where there are so manyopportunities to continue that
education in kind of structuredways through your own community,
through your state coalition,through national TA providers,
but then in less formal waysthat are really important, such
as through podcasts like this,but also books and documentaries
(23:01):
.
There's just such a wealth ofinformation out there that we
can access to continue oureducation and continue to
provide services that meet theemerging needs that survivors
are facing.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So where does one actually start if they want to
become an advocate?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I think that's such a great question and there's
definitely not one pathway tobecoming an advocate.
I have been an advocate for 20years and I remember even before
I knew what an advocate was, Iwanted to be one.
I remember telling, like acollege professor, that I wanted
to be a women's advocate and Iwas like, oh gosh, I really hope
that works.
I hope there's a job out therelike that.
(23:39):
But I think one reallyimportant way to start and I'd
love to hear what you all thinkabout this as well but one way
to get the ball rolling onbecoming an advocate is to
connect with your local advocacyorganization and volunteer.
So, volunteering, you'll oftenget that 40 hours of training
(23:59):
before you provide directservices, so you'll have a
really good understanding ofwhat it takes to be an advocate
and the skills that you need tobe an advocate, and then you can
start practicing working withsurvivors as a volunteer,
childcare volunteer, providingtransportation.
There's so many differentthings that you can do as a
volunteer and see if it's, ifthe magic is there for you.
(24:21):
Is it something that you justreally love doing?
And that's how I got started.
Actually, I startedvolunteering for different
organizations in differentcapacities and just loved it and
haven't stopped since then.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
And that's exactly what I was going to say Start
volunteering, because there areso many different services that
you can like volunteeropportunities.
You can volunteer with hospitaladvocacy in the children's
program, and so just to kind ofgive yourself that exposure to
all the opportunities availableat a different program to see if
it's something that you are upfor and are interested in doing
(24:55):
and making your full-time youknow kind of profession, because
a lot of us, you know, hearthat we started this profession
and then, you know, just neverleft and so making sure it's
something that you want tocontinue doing and then just
making sure that the program isthe right fit for you and all
the things are the right fit,and so that would probably be
(25:16):
like the easiest route to go aswell.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I had this idea kind of in the back of my head while
you're talking about this, aboutcase management and how I know
at Genesis we used to have casemanagers and now we have
advocates.
We don't and I don't know howthe models are different, but I
know that there is some type ofsynergy between those two types
of jobs.
Do you happen to know thedistinction?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I don't think there is a distinction.
I think it's at least inMissouri the way I have heard it
talked about is discussed aslike if a survivor were to call
our hotline, they're notspecifically going to ask for
case management, they're going,they want an advocate.
And so in Missouri I thinkthat's at least kind of the
trend was to kind of remove thatname case manager, and just go
(25:59):
to survivor advocate or victimadvocate, as some programs are
still calling them.
At least that was myunderstanding of that.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
The kid, as some programs are still calling them
At least that was myunderstanding of that and to
that point the advocacy role orprofession is quite new.
I mean, when we talked aboutthe history of this movement and
the idea of it as an actual job, we only went back to the 70s,
which isn't really that long ago.
I mean, if you were born in the90s it may seem like a really
(26:26):
long time ago, but as a child ofthe 70s it was not that long
ago.
And so it's a rather youngmovement that has evolved very
rapidly, as the idea of domesticviolence being unlawful and
unacceptable really has takenthe stage.
I mean, it is out there all thetime now.
(26:48):
Now, that's not to say that itisn't happening, but it is much
more in the forefront than itever was, but still very much in
its infancy and we have quite along way to go.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, I agree, and to that point I mean yes.
And also we have done so muchwork.
And to your earlier point,maria, of like, in the grand
scheme of things, if you are anadvocate, if you are a newer
advocate, my biggest piece ofadvice would just be to look at
the history and the evolution ofadvocacy, of the sexual
violence and the domesticviolence movement, because we
(27:19):
have really come so far and, yes, we do have a long way to go.
But that was really my pivotalmoment where I really was able
to kind of put myself in thespace and time of where I am in
this movement and really connectto the work that I'm doing and
the lives that I'm touching inthis large timeline of things
(27:43):
that have happened.
And it really is.
If you can look at a timelineof all the things that have
happened.
And it really is.
If you can look at a timelineof all the things that have
happened, it is super cool toknow that, like you're a little
blip on this like movementtimeline, yeah, and you are
making change.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
And one thing I'd like to speak to is, just when
we think about the grassrootsorigin of our movement that
really started out as peoplehelping people, we can, I think,
first of all, be inspired to doso much more, but also
recognize the role thatsupporting survivors has in
(28:18):
social change, and what we seeis a lot of advocates, in fact,
have experienced domestic andsexual violence and are taking
action to help other survivorsfor a variety of different
reasons, sometimes to be thehelp that they wish that they
had had, but also there's somuch positive healing that
(28:38):
happens when you reach out andhelp another person in need who
might be experiencing some ofthe same things that you
experienced.
There's a level of understandingthere that I think is really
important, and so this is notonly a movement of social change
, but it's a movement, in manyways, built by survivors for
survivors, in order to createthat change, which is just a
(29:01):
really, I think, important pointof people who are impacted by
the problem taking direct actionto make change and make sure it
doesn't happen again, it's avery human response and you have
given us the words just now,Nora.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Whether you realize it or not, it's people helping
people.
That's what advocacy is, and Ithink that's a very succinct way
of talking about it, and anyone of us can hear those words
people helping people and knowwhat that means.
It's extending a hand, you knowit's just look for the helpers,
right?
Those are the ones that youneed in a time of crisis.
(29:38):
Let's talk just a little bitmore deeply about the role of
the advocate, Because what I doknow you're the experts, right,
I'm just the host of this show.
Because what I do know you'rethe experts, right, I'm just the
host of this show.
But what I do know, I know alittle bit.
And advocates help clients whoexperience domestic violence
with goal setting.
So if you're trying to get yourlife back together and you want
(30:01):
to have your like, you know youneed to establish yourself
financially, get an apartment,put the kids in a different
school district and so on.
You have to set some goals,because you can't do everything
all at once.
So let's talk about thatprocess and how the role of the
(30:22):
advocate is to help guide the,to empower her to do some goal
setting and then be able to makesome decisions on her own, to
give herself that sense ofagency that she can do that.
All of that is to say to guideit, not control it.
So how do you walk that fineline as an advocate to help set
goals and encourage decisionmaking, but not control both the
(30:45):
decisions and the outcomes?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I think that the easiest way that I would talk
about it with advocates would bethat we ultimately have this
goal that survivors are going toleave our shelters, leave our
programs and be independent,successful people.
That is what we want for them,and so they will not have us by
(31:12):
their sides for the rest ofeternity.
That's ultimately what we want,and so it will do us no good.
It will do them no good to makethese decisions for them, and
also, you know, part of theirhealing journey is to regain
this autonomy back that has beentaken from them.
(31:33):
You know, many survivors havenot been able to have any kind
of say in any of the decisionssurrounding their lives, and so
this is the first time that theyare able to do that, and so,
while they may need someguidance in how to make
decisions or what their optionsare, we can often fall or, you
know, we could fall into thatpower and control dynamic with
(31:56):
them if we are not careful,because there is that power and
control, just dynamic based onour positions, and we don't want
to do that.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yeah, I think when it comes to goal setting, that's
where we really think about thisincredible opportunity for
transformation that does happenwithin advocacy services, and
it's what so many advocates saythat they really value about
their work is that they get tosupport a survivor and starting
(32:26):
from one place and potentiallymaybe ending up at another place
, and maybe those wins and thattransformation is significant.
Maybe it's something big, like,you know, finishing an education
or buying a house which we'vecertainly seen as advocates or
maybe it's something as simpleas being able to sleep through
the night, you know.
(32:47):
So it's really about celebratingthese small and large goals.
And I think, when it comes towhat your role as an advocate is
in goal setting, that's whereit's really important to
understand the boundaries theprofessional boundaries that you
have and that these are not, asKara was saying, these are not
your decisions to make.
(33:07):
Your role as an advocate is toseek to understand what would be
helpful in a survivor situation, and goal setting can actually
be a tool for survivors tounderstand and identify where it
is that they want to go duringtheir time in services, but can
also be a really helpful toolfor advocates to understand what
resources would help survivorsin getting to that place where
(33:30):
they want to go, and so goalsetting, I think, looks at a lot
of different ways and can leadto a lot of different outcomes,
but ultimately it's a tool forproviding for understanding
survivors and for providingrelevant resources that meet the
needs of where it is that theywant to go with services.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, completely understand and agree with
everything you're saying,because I would think it would
be a little scary to come out ofan abusive relationship where I
didn't have control over thingsas simple as what temperature
the thermostat was going to beset on, or you know what we're
going to watch on television orhave for dinner, and so on and
so forth, and then having tomake my own decisions about what
(34:13):
schools my children are goingto go to and how I'm going to
afford to buy this house, and soon and so forth, and then
having to make my own decisionsabout what schools my children
are going to go to and how I'mgoing to afford to buy this
house, and so on and so forth,and so that I think could be
frightening.
And so an advocate can be afriend in a way to kind of put
those fears at ease and help toinstruct a survivor how to make
(34:35):
decisions, but not actually tellthem what the decisions need to
be.
Have you ever been in ascenario where you felt like a
survivor was making a decisionthat was not the best choice for
her, and how did you react tothat?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
All the time Okay.
All the time Okay, you know,because I think it's important
to remember that survivors livesare not our lives, and everyone
has their own lived experience,and that's okay, because they
come with a whole lot ofexperience, a whole lot of
(35:14):
trauma, and they I mean evenbefore the incident that brought
them to our services, and sotheir parenting is going to be
different, their lifestyle isgoing to be different, whether
they use substance or substancesor not, it's going to be, it's
all different.
So even just their food choicescould be different, and that's
(35:36):
all okay.
And so if they are making adecision that maybe I would not
make for myself or my family, atthe end of the day I get to go
home to my family, I get to gohome and I get to make my own
decisions.
And so you really just have tobe able to reconcile that with
yourself as an advocate, thatyou are providing them with as
(36:01):
much information as you're ableto about all of the survivor's
options and choices and lettingthem make an informed decision.
And then letting them make aninformed decision.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I think that's where the role of self-awareness comes
in, is it's so important foradvocates to be self-aware, to
recognize that everybody hastheir own biases, everybody has
their own perspectives, but weare there to support survivors
and meet survivors where they'reat, wherever they may be at,
and so being aware of how ourown biases and life experience
(36:37):
and perspective impacts ourinteractions and maybe even our
own judgment of survivors'decision making is really
important.
And to be able to recognizewhen our biases are impacting
our advocacy and to minimizethat as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, well, that's very insightful, Clearly.
I mean, you've been doing thiswork a very long time but you
keep giving us the word.
So self-awareness is a reallyimportant part of this role and
it becomes a really importantpart for a survivor, I would
think as well, to understand whoshe is, because you kind of
lose your identity when you area victim of domestic violence or
(37:17):
sexual assault and it takestime to regain that and find out
what you really even like.
I mean, Dr Romney will tell youhow do you know if you were
living with a narcissist.
Well, when I ask you what wouldyou like to watch on TV and you
say, oh well, whatever you wantto watch is fine, I don't know,
you know, it doesn't matter tome, Whatever you like is fine.
That's how people react afterthey have been treated, after
(37:40):
they have experienced narcissism.
Right, which is just oneexample of domestic violence.
But clearly we can't expect asadvocates for a survivor to come
in and know how to make all ofthese decisions on her own or
not anticipate that she may beafraid of even doing so at the
(38:00):
beginning.
And I also I think thatadvocacy complements well with a
lot of other domestic violenceservices, such as clinical
counseling, which is how weprovide those services at
Genesis.
We have a whole continuum ofcare that the survivor can take
part in as she moves forward inher journey, you know, towards
(38:21):
safety, and it's very, verysupportive in a lot of different
ways.
So how do you see, or whatother services do you see, that
really complement advocacy well?
Speaker 2 (38:37):
advocacy?
Well, I think that's afantastic question, maria, and
one thing I keep thinking aboutthroughout this discussion is
that this is a movement tosupport all survivors of
violence, anyone thatexperiences violence, no matter
what your background is, nomatter where you came from, no
matter what language you speak,and so I think one really
critical piece of ensuring thatanybody who experiences violence
(38:58):
can access services is makingsure that they are your services
are inclusive, that they aredoing no harm and that people
can access them in a way that'sculturally meaningful, and so
you talked before about howGenesis provides interpreters.
Language access is such anincredible part of advocacy.
(39:20):
You have to have meaningfulcommunication with survivors in
order to be an advocate.
Your role is really to seek tounderstand what has happened and
what a survivor's prioritiesare, and so you must have
language access in order to dothat.
But that goes as far as anythingthat you can do to make your
services more inclusive.
How can you provide services tomale or trans survivors who've
(39:45):
experienced violence?
How can you be inclusive andmaybe provide support groups to
LGBTQ plus survivors of violence, and so anything that you could
do?
I think it's really importantwhat you spoke to earlier about
making sure the demographics ofyour staff and board represent
the survivors that you'reserving.
So anything that can be done inorder to ensure that, no matter
(40:08):
where you're coming from inlife, you feel welcome at an
organization is really criticalin terms of and I wouldn't say
it's even like a compliment toadvocacy services, but a
necessary service that musthappen with advocacy services.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, I think the only things that I would add is
we've heard some reallyinnovative programs or programs
doing really innovative thingswith like basic kind of
maintenance or care, like dailylife skills classes or trainings
, because you know, weeventually know they're going to
leave our services and somepeople have never been taught
those kinds of things.
(40:46):
So, just how to maintain a home.
And then we know that, likeeconomic justice and you know
economics is a huge thing and so, or job training, and so I
think that would be supercomplimentary to anything that
you have, like all the servicesthat are offered within a
program, and so things like that, anything that can help them be
(41:07):
as independent as possible whenthey leave services.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
I can't tell you how many times I've heard that same
discussion at Genesis aboutpeople who are clients,
especially in the shelter oreven in the transitional housing
that we have, who they don'tknow the first thing about
maintaining a home Nobody evertaught them.
Actually teach those lifeskills of.
(41:33):
Just as one example, you knowhow to properly clean the floor
or clean the bathtub, or youknow something of that nature or
how to organize a drawer or acloset, because, while you might
think that that could be likean innate thing that a woman
would know, it isn't.
It's typically something thateach of us has been taught by
(41:55):
someone in a life, in our life,and it also, I don't know.
It's just, it's just taken forgranted that people would know
these things and clearly thatdoesn't happen for everyone.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
And it's so important .
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, I mean I'm glad you brought that up because I
think that's really critical forpeople to understand.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Or even like if they're renting an apartment and
like going through thatchecklist of like what they need
to clean and like what theyneed to check changing the air
filters, things like that.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
Well, yeah, homeownership and becoming a
renter and so on are those are awhole other ballgame and so on
are those are a whole other ballgame and the things that you,
you don't know what you don'tknow when it comes to living on
your own or living independently.
And so I know like in theUnited States we typically the
idea is you will graduate highschool and then you will go to a
(42:50):
college where you take thatbaby step toward independent
living and hopefully you haveyou're taking with you enough
life skills to take that babystep and then you'll learn some
more and then you'll keep takinga step toward full independence
and employment and becoming aproductive member of society as
(43:11):
a fully functioning adult.
And that's the dream, right.
But it doesn't happen that wayfor every single person and not
everybody has the samefoundation when they leave home.
And clearly this is true forthe clients that we all serve
who experience domestic violence, and what's more than that.
(43:32):
Maybe they do have thatfoundation, but the experiences
of domestic violence or sexualviolence have caused a trauma or
many traumas, and they're justnot able to access their
foundation or their life skillsthat they formerly had, or their
life has changed so much, andthe world as they knew it is
(43:54):
completely different and none ofit fits, and so there's no
shame in some retraining andlearning again or just beginning
again with some of these skills.
So it's important, as you said,that agencies that offer
domestic violence services cangive you that really robust
holistic program that includeseven things like occupational
(44:19):
therapy.
Genesis has one of the firstoccupational therapy programs in
the country for domesticviolence survivors, and it's
completely free.
Anyone listening who'sinterested.
We'll be really happy to shareit with you and teach you how to
implement it at your agency, ifthat makes sense.
So don't hesitate to call us orcheck our website at
(44:42):
genesisshelterorg.
Before I let you go, I want totalk about a few other things,
and one of those is ethics.
Is there a particular code ofethics that advocates need to
follow, or that's prescribed forthem?
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Certainly there are some advocates that have a code
of ethics that's tied to theirprofessional certifications, so
social workers, for example.
But if we're just looking atdomestic violence advocates,
it's not that there'snecessarily a formal code of
ethics, but I think there's avery defined set of guiding
(45:18):
principles that advocates abideby as they are providing
services.
The first one that I think isvery distinct but certainly
notable anytime that you'reworking with an advocate is
their philosophy thatconfidentiality is paramount and
respecting survivors'confidentiality, really
(45:40):
understanding that survivorsneed to have control over their
identifying information as a wayto keep themselves safe and
that maintaining confidentialityis a way of protecting survivor
safety.
So that's kind of a distinctapproach to any kind of services
that's really different fordomestic and sexual violence
(46:00):
advocates.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
So some good rules to follow would be do no harm, be
nice, be respectful and do theright thing.
And those are, again, just bestpractices.
I don't know that they'rewritten anywhere.
They're just kind of rules thatwe live by.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Yeah, I mean, there are really specific values that
you need to hold if you're evengoing to take the role of an
advocate seriously.
So I think you've kind ofsummarized some of the important
ones.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Voluntary services is a really important kind of
approach that is required byfunders more recently, but just
in the spirit of empowerment, inthe spirit of restoring
autonomy and self-determination,not putting requirements upon
survivors in services as acondition of their stay or as a
(46:51):
condition of receiving services,and so support groups are
entirely optional, therapy isentirely optional.
Even goal setting should beentirely optional, and so really
just making sure that we'reproviding options but not
enforcing requirements.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
Yeah, that's a great point as well.
I think that all agencies aredifferent, of course, in the way
they provide their services,but it's a good idea to think
about how the information aboutthat is, or even like the plan
for each individual is deliveredand approached with a survivor.
Let's talk for a minute aboutthe Sexual Assault Survivors
(47:27):
Bill of Rights.
How does that Bill of Rightssupport the role of advocacy and
thereby empower survivors?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
The Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights is
something that came out of thelast couple of legislative
sessions here in Missouri, andit's a clearly defined set of
rights that survivors havewho've experienced sexual
assault when they present tohospitals, law enforcement
officers, prosecutors' officesor the courts law enforcement
(47:54):
officers, prosecutor's officesor the courts and it identifies
just some basic things the rightto an interpreter, the right to
an advocate, which is reallyimportant the right to consult
with an advocate, the right to ashower, to a change of fresh
clothes.
It identifies just a number ofclear items that survivors are
(48:16):
entitled to when they present atthese different organizations.
What I think is reallyimportant about the Sexual
Assault Survivors Bill of Rightsis that it sets a universal
standards of what all victims ofsexual assault can expect when
they encounter different systemsthat there is just a basic
level of.
(48:36):
You know, these are my rightsand so this is what I will be
entitled to and this is what Ican expect no matter what part
of the state I'm seekingservices in.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
So how does one know that those rights apply to them
if they're a victim of sexualassault they enter through,
let's say, the ER?
Are they given a copy of that?
Speaker 2 (48:56):
That would be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Or does an advocate or social worker visit with them
when they enter a medicalfacility and kind of inform them
of what they're entitled to?
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Yes, they should be.
I mean in a perfect world.
Yes, an advocate will always becalled.
We are on the cusp of launchingour Telesane program or
Telesane, and so that will kindof initiate immediately an
advocate being called and thenthat same nurse talking with
(49:29):
them about all of their optionsand then kind of going forward
from there and notifying them oftheir rights.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Great, that sounds super important.
I'd love to see that getimplemented.
And you're going to launch aTeleSane program.
Is this for the state ofMissouri?
It is, oh, tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
So if a survivor goes to a hospital that doesn't have
a physical sexual assault nurseon site, they will have the
option to do that forensic examvia video, and so the nurse
bedside will be in consultationwith a forensic nurse by video
(50:08):
and they will be able to nothave to drive, not have to go,
you know, a million hours to theclosest hospital just to be
turned down because there's noforensic nurse available, and so
that program will officiallylaunch.
Hospitals will have to be incompliance by the end of
December.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
That's excellent.
Congratulations on you knowgetting that put forward.
I'm afraid we're out of time.
This has been a reallyinteresting conversation.
I have learned so much and I'mnot surprised because I think
you both are doing amazing work.
You have so much experiencewith advocacy and working with
survivors.
What's your last word to peoplelistening if they have
(50:48):
questions about advocacy orwonder about how advocacy
services can benefit them about?
Speaker 2 (50:55):
how advocacy services can benefit them.
So I would just say we knowthat the value of an advocate is
significant.
You know, looking back overtime, we can see how, as
advocacy programs have becomemore formal and more established
, better funded, then theoutcomes are much better for
(51:18):
survivors.
And in fact we are seeing now,because of the efforts of many
advocates, there's less and lesstolerance for abuse when it
happens, and so we're seeing aworld where potentially,
domestic and sexual violence ison the pathway to being reduced.
But I think what it's reallyimportant to state is that we
(51:41):
can't continue to provide thesetransformative services that
make all the difference in theworld to survivors if we don't
fund them, and so it's reallyimportant that we make funding
for services a priority.
Did you want to speak to that?
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Karen, you will get no argument from me on that.
Speaker 3 (52:00):
Yeah, yeah, yes, I 100% echo, nora.
There is the Crime VictimsStabilization Act and we can
send you, maria, moreinformation on that to provide
for your listeners, and it isthe greatest way an advocate can
support the movement, supportsurvivors and to get involved.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Excellent.
I would look forward to seeingthat information and sharing it
with our listeners.
Nora Kara, thank you for beingon the show.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
Thank you, Maria.
Speaker 1 (52:31):
Genesis Women's Shelter and Support exists to
give women in abusive situationsa way out.
We are committed to our missionof providing safety, shelter
and support for women andchildren who have experienced
domestic violence and to raiseawareness regarding its cause,
prevalence and impact.
Join us in creating a societalshift on how people think about
(52:51):
domestic violence.
You can learn more atGenesisShelterorg and when you
follow us on social media onFacebook and Instagram at
Genesis Women's Shelter, and onX at Genesis Shelter.
The Genesis Helpline isavailable 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, by call or text at214-946-HELP.
(53:11):
214-946-4357.
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