(Posted August 2024)
Crisis Response Services Is the Emergency Room of Domestic and Sexual Violence Services
Domestic and Sexual Violence Services’ Crisis Response Services team is best compared to a triage unit. The team handles many of the division’s essential core services, including the hotlines, the hospital accompaniment program, and on-call services. We chatted with Andréa Nunes-Gardner, CRS program manager, about what this looks like, and this is what she said:
CRS used to be known as Community Engagement Services. What changed and why?
Andréa Nunes-Gardner: We made the change so Crisis Response Services can focus on doing what we do best: crisis intervention—that’s hotline, the lethality assessment protocol (LAP), hospital accompaniment, and our after-hours and on-call services.
Community Engagement Services included prevention, which is really important, but we wanted to give that the attention it needs. So, it made sense to move prevention to the Prevention, Education, and Coordination team so it would have the appropriate focus. We’re not trying to do crisis intervention and prevention.
What’s the most important thing CRS does?
ANG: That is so unfair! I can’t pick one. The Domestic and Sexual Violence 24-Hour hotline, LAP, and hospital accompaniment are core services. They are often the first interaction a survivor has with Domestic and Sexual Violence Services. If someone calls the police, they won’t be connected with an advocate and receive services. We do a crucial thing, which is safety planning. We try to plan for the next 24 hours. At least, survivors will have that space to take a deep breath and think about their safety for the next 24 hours. When people call the hotline, they sometimes don’t even know what they are looking for. They’ll say, “This is my situation, and I just need to talk to someone.” We’ll do a lethality assessment to gauge their risk.
With hospital accompaniment, if someone is going to the [Inova] FACT department after interpersonal violence or sexual assault, they might not be expecting to have someone provide emotional support, safety planning, and follow up. So, I can’t choose one. It’s like asking me which kid I like most.
What else should we know about CRS?
ANG: We are a very small team of nine people. We couldn’t do the work we do without engagement and commitment of all DSVS staff. It’s very unique in that we get to work with everyone in the division. Our on-call and after-hours services get to be part of CRS. So, for instance, we might have someone from Counseling providing support to victims.
We also can’t do this without our volunteers. They are essential to the work we do. We have volunteers that support us on hotline, with hospital accompaniment. And we are in the process of using volunteers for LAP. Our volunteers are extremely important to CRS.
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