Promising Practices Newsletter

Winter 2005 PROMISING PRACTICES Number IV In Serving Crime Victims with Disabilities GGG eeettttttiiinnnggg TTThhhrrrooouuuggghhh ttthhheee DDD oooooorrr CCCrrriiisssiiisss SSSeeerrrvvviiiccceeesss FFFooorrrgggeee PPPaaarrrtttnnneeerrrssshhhiiipppsss wwwiiittthhh LLLaaawww EEEnnnfffooorrrccceeemmmeeennnttt BBByyy DDD iiiaaannnnnneee KKKiiinnnggg,,, SSSaaafffeeePPPlllaaaccceee For the last two years, SafePlaceås Cema planning and preparation. çIt was not just a M astroleo has worked to provide training to foot in the door, but it opened the door really law enforcement agencies across the state of wide,é said Cindy G reen. çW e have greater Texas on serving crime victims with credibility both with the line officers out in the disabilities. The difficulty has been in small towns and with the state police. W hatås convincing overworked and often reluctant remarkable is now they call us when they police and sheriffås officers, attorneys, have a question. Itås a paradigm shift.é prosecutors, and judges that they have In Louisiana, the Lafourche Parish Sheriffås something to gain from the training. O ffice is approaching the issue from the inside Last D ecember, across the country in out by developing a curriculum and video that M assachusetts, Safe Passage staff and their staff hope will be used to train law officers partners hosted an all-day training for 62 law across the state. enforcement officers and 12 court personnel W e asked Cema M astroleo and Cindy from a two-county area, the result ofmonths of G reen about what barriers they ran into in Getting Through the Door continued on Page 3 SSSaaammmeee TTTiiimmmeee NNNeeexxxttt YYYeeeaaarrr PPPrrrooommmiiisssiiinnnggg PPPrrraaaccctttiiiccceeesss PPPrrrooojjjeeeccctttsss FFFlllaaassshhh FFFooorrrwwwaaarrrddd OOO nnneee YYYeeeaaarrr � QQQ uuueeessstttiiiooonnn::: WWW hhhaaattt ccchhhaaannngggeeesss dddooo yyyooouuu hhhooopppeee tttooo ssseeeeee iiinnn from the attendees, there is a perception of yyyooouuurrr cccooommmmmmuuunnniiitttyyy iiinnn aaa yyyeeeaaarrr aaasss aaa disconnect between area agencies. There is rrreeesssuuulllttt ooofff yyyooouuurrr PPPrrrooommmiiisssiiinnnggg PPPrrraaaccctttiiiccceeesss limited knowledge of what services are offered ppprrrooojjjeeecccttt??? by which agencies, what protocols are in place, or even what legal recourse victims UUU lllsssttteeerrr CCCooouuunnntttyyy CCCrrriiimmmeee VVViiiccctttiiimmmsss AAAssssssiiissstttaaannnccceee PPPrrrooogggrrraaammm Sam e Tim e N ext Y ear continued on Page 8 KKKiiinnngggssstttooonnn,,, NNNeeewww YYYooorrrkkk As the second year ofour grant period draws to IIInnnsssiiidddeee ttthhhiiisss IIIssssssuuueee a close, we have begun to look at the year Forging PartnershipsÉ É É É É É É É É 1 ahead with an eye toward expanding inter- Flash Forward O ne Year É É É É É É .. 1 agency collaboration. D uring year two, we Healing and RecoveryÉ É É É É É É É . 2 conducted two information seminars focusing on D isability is NaturalÉ É É É É É É É É . 4 crime victims with disabilities: one for law D esigning Accessible W ebsites É É É É 6 enforcement agencies and one for human W eb Accessibility Resources É É É É É . 7 services agencies. As evidenced by feedback Recommended ReadingÉ É É É É É É .. 8 Page2 Prom ising Practices TTThhheee TTTrrraaauuummmaaa ooofff VVViiiooollleeennnttt CCCrrriiimmmeee HHHeeeaaallliiinnnggg aaannnddd RRReeecccooovvveeerrryyy fffooorrr PPPeeeooopppllleee wwwiiittthhh DDD iiisssaaabbbiiillliiitttiiieeesss By M ichael M andel, Southern Arizona Center relationship between client and the therapist is Against Sexual Assault (SACASA) extraordinarily complex. M any thoughts, & emotions, wishes, fantasies, and expectations Robin VanderLaan, are entrusted with the helping professional. It The Chadwick Center in San D iego is the obligation of the professional, through The trauma of a violent crime can impact a her or his own education, training, and survivorås physical, emotional, mental, and experience, to know how to respond optimally, spiritual health. People with disabilities are and maintain appropriate boundaries. W hen statistically more frequently targeted for certain having difficulty, the professional must possess types ofcrimes, but often have fewer resources the self-knowledge to seek consultation, available to help them cope with the trauma of supervision, or psychotherapy. This is a trust the criminal act. W hile crime victims with the public has every right to expect. disabilities share many of the same needs and concerns as all other crime victims, they also The therapist is not seen as a may have unique, disability-related issues. problem -solver or a savior, but as an Every individual works through trauma equal partner in the clientås path differently. It is not helpful to lump all crime toward healing. victims with disabilities into one monolithic For example, research shows that many group, because the needs and concerns of individuals with developmental disabilities face every individual crime victim will be dependent high rates of victimization, are less likely to on a number of factors, including her or his report, less likely to be considered credible if disability. they do, and are particularly vulnerable to This article was written to provide insight developing mental illnesses following exposure into the needs of people with disabilities as to traumatic events. U nfortunately, service they recover and heal from a violent or providers may attribute what is actually a traumatic experience through the normal behavioral response to trauma to the psychotherapeutic process. individualås disability or pre-existing mental illness. W hile people with developmental disabilities are just as likely to benefit from Abuse in any form, by psychotherapy as anyone else, a societal belief anyone, is traumatizing. lingers that people with developmental TTThhheee HHHeeeaaallliiinnnggg aaannnddd RRReeecccooovvveeerrryyy PPPrrroooccceeessssss disabilities cannot benefit from traditional, The basis of this articleås approach to verbally-orientated therapies. U ntil recently, healing and recovery is a collaborative there has been little training of mental health relationship between the therapist and client. professionals to provide trauma counseling to Together, the therapist and client process and children and adults with developmental integrate the trauma that was created or made disabilities. worse by the violent crime. Abuse in any form, by anyone, is The therapist is not seen as a problem- traumatizing. W hile trauma affects people solver or a savior, but as an equal partner in differently, psychological trauma is a shock the clientås path toward healing. The The Traum a of V iolent Crim e continued on Page 15 Prom ising Practices Page3 G etting Through the D oor TTTiiipppsss fffooorrr CCCoooooorrrdddiiinnnaaatttiiinnnggg TTTrrraaaiiinnniiinnngggsss wwwiiittthhh LLLaaawww EEEnnnfffooorrrccceeemmmeeennnttt � CCCooonnntttiiinnnuuueeeddd fffrrrooommm PPPaaagggeee 111 increases the message we are trying to get training law enforcement staff, and what across,é she said. approaches they recommend to others doing • D evelop training agreements. Area police the same work. Adding insights from the departments, sheriffås office, prosecutorås perspective of the law enforcement community office, and some judges provided letters of is D eputy Shirley Collins ofthe Lafourche Parish commitment to participate in training as Sheriffås O ffice. part of SafePlaceås Accessible Justice Project. Safe Passage developed a BBBaaarrrrrriiieeerrr::: Criminal justice staff may say: W e do M emorandum of U nderstanding with the our own trainings. W e donåt need an D istrict Attorney, one of their five project outsider to come and do trainings, partners. Invitations and correspondence particularly one who does not have about the trainings went out under the law enforcement background. D istrict Attorneyås letterhead, which netted them much greater response. AAApppppprrroooaaaccchhheeesss::: • O ffer to co-train with law enforcement staff, çPeople need to hear directly from folks or use a train-the-trainer model, so that with disabilities ê it increases the ultimately their own staff will do the direct message we are trying to get across.é training. D istrict attorney and police Cindy G reen, Safe Passage representatives helped develop the Safe • D evelop training that fulfills required Passage training, but planners didnåt stop professional training hours for both groups. there; a police chief, a survivor with a Texas judges need three hours a year of disability, and a prosecutor were all domestic violence training to maintain their training presenters. çHaving that human certifications. O ffer to customize training to interaction with the police in a situation the needs ofthe various departments. where we were both learners, because • Involve the trainees. At the beginning ofher there was someone else making a trainings, M astroleo asks attendees to talk presentation, put us on the same plane,é about any experience they have working said Cindy G reen. éThe more places you with crime victims with disabilities. This can do that, the better.é training approach engages the officers But the most effective voice at trainings from the beginning and has been much is probably not crisis service or law more effective than just telling them that enforcement: It is the voices of people with they are required to comply with the 1990 disabilities. Safe Passage continues to rely Americans with D isabilities Act. on individuals with disabilities

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