The goal of Advocacy Services is to increase survivor safety through enhanced knowledge and understanding of available options and to provide support to survivors while they are accessing appropriate resources.
Advocates meet with survivors of domestic violence, interpersonal violence, sexual violence, stalking, human trafficking and elder abuse to offer information regarding resources and options that will help keep survivors safe. Survivors are always ensured autonomy with the decisions for which they choose. The advocate’s role is to make sure the survivor has the information they need to feel comfortable with any decisions they make about the services in which they choose to engage.
“The county offers a wealth of services and some services can be new, confusing or otherwise unknown to the average community member,” said Kevin Ochs, Advocacy Services supervisor. “The most important service victim advocates provide is safety planning with victims/survivors. Physical safety is the number one priority for the victim advocate. Some of the common assessment tools utilized when addressing safety include the Lethality Assessment Protocol and the Danger Assessment. Both tools are evidence-based measures of risk for lethality or harm to the survivor.”
Advocates must offer information and assist survivors with navigating available services. They provide:
- crisis intervention.
- accompaniment to protective order hearings.
- information and assistance with civil and criminal court processes.
- information regarding the impact on children exposed to domestic violence.
- information about housing and economic options.
- assistance scheduling forensic exams.
“All services are provided with a client-centered approach, meaning clients decide what they want to do, when they want to engage,” Ochs said. “Advocacy services are never imposed upon a survivor.”
All services are survivor-centered and based on the survivor’s assessment of their needs and what they require to feel safe. “Advocates are adept at tracking down services, sharing information about the desired service and easily connecting their client to the service, while also maintaining strict client confidentiality—guided by the Violence Against Women Act federal standard,” Ochs said.
All Advocacy Services are free, and staff speak multiple languages, including Dari, Farsi, Urdu, English, Korean, Spanish, Pashto and Arabic. Assistance for all other languages is available using the language line.
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