Genesis The Podcast
Genesis the Podcast is a new way to connect with Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support and expand your thinking about domestic violence and related issues that affect women. GTP is also a trusted source of information if you are in an abusive relationship and need safety, shelter or support. Listen every week for fresh content related to domestic violence, to connect with world-renown professionals, participate in exclusive events and training opportunities, and take action against domestic violence.
Genesis The Podcast is hosted by Maria MacMullin, Chief Impact Officer of Genesis Women's Shelter & Support and the Host of the Podcast on Crimes Against Women.
About Genesis Women's Shelter & Support - Located in Dallas, Texas, Genesis provides safety, shelter and support for women who have experienced domestic violence, and raises awareness regarding its cause, prevalence and impact. Learn more at GenesisShelter.org
Genesis The Podcast
People Helping People: The critical role of advocacy for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors
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.
Advocacy plays a critical role in the support and empowerment of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. We take a closer look at that role of the advocate and its history within the anti-violence movement with Nora Mosby and Cara Jones from the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. I'm Maria McMullin and this is Genesis, the podcast podcast. Kara Jones joined the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence team in January 2023 as a member services specialist.
Speaker 1:Kara received her bachelor's in criminology, psychology and sociology from Drury University and went on to obtain her master's of arts in counseling, with an emphasis in couples, marriage, family and child counseling. Throughout her career, kara worked in case management, crisis intervention and utilized evidence-based interventions to help support and empower children and families. Nora Mosby has 20 years of experience working as an advocate on behalf of survivors of domestic and sexual violence. In 2003, she earned her BA in Women's Studies from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, washington, and since then she has worked as an advocate in courts, residential programs and healthcare settings. She also has a master's degree in public health from the University of Missouri. She currently works at the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence as a member services specialist. Nora Kara, welcome to the show, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited about this conversation today because we're talking all about advocacy To me. When I say advocacy, I think about the work we do at Genesis Women's Shelter and Support and I have a mental image of what that looks like right, helping people, set goals and connecting them to resources outside of the mission or the scope of what we do at Genesis, because we provide services strictly for domestic violence survivors. An example of a place that we might connect a survivor to might be a hospital to get a certain type of medical appointment that she needs or she needs for her child, or to a financial institution, or even to public transportation to acquire bus passes or even learn how to use public transportation if she's never done that before, and the examples are pretty much unlimited. There are so many ways that an advocate can help and there are so many forms of advocacy. I'd like to hear from both of you what advocacy kind of means to you and the work that you do at the Missouri Coalition and also within the context of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Speaker 1:Nora, we'll start with you.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate starting off with just an opportunity to explain what we're talking about when we're talking about advocacy within the 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 talking about when we're talking about advocacy within the domestic and sexual violence advocacy movement? Because even within, I think, our work in supporting survivors, there's many different levels of advocacy, but the first one that I think is really important to speak to is the role that advocates play in supporting people who have experienced harm, people who have experienced sexual violence. So that is really talking about the direct services that advocates provide within this movement, and the direct services are really in response to violence that has already happened. So that's one level of advocacy, and there's certainly many, many others.
Speaker 2:But when we think about the role of an advocate responding to people who have experienced domestic and sexual violence, it's about responding to that trauma, to the violence, but also the full range of other abusive tactics that we know occur in abusive relationships. So it's really a direct response to survivors who have experienced isolation, extreme isolation, and so an advocate can play a really critical role in breaking that isolation and ensuring that survivors are provided with connection and support and aren't having to move forward alone or without that kind of support. So I think that's one really critical role that advocates can play when it comes to direct services. Is there anything you would add to the direct services piece of it, kara.
Speaker 3:I think the other piece of that, and when we talk about the role of an advocate, I always think about this keynote video that Ellen Pence did for us at the coalition several years back and she specifically talks about. Even when we're looking at what the word advocate means, we could be talking about systems-based versus community-based advocacy, and we know that there are very stark differences between the two, and I think, at the end of the day, that is exactly what Nora said we are breaking the isolation for that survivor who has experienced violence and I think, regardless of what our title is or if we belong to the prosecutor-based victim advocate's office or a community-based advocate, ultimately we are providing community for a survivor who has been in isolation due to violence.
Speaker 1:That's a really important distinction. I appreciate you bringing that up. What is a community-based advocate?
Speaker 3: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 like community-based advocates would be those who work in your local nonprofits and your shelters. And then we have your systems base, who are embedded in, like the police departments or the prosecutor offices, law enforcement, military.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, it helps to have that kind of context around it. So if I were to translate that to Texas and to Genesis Women's Shelter and Support, I guess our advocates would be community-based advocates according to that definition, right?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't want to muddy the waters here, y'all oh muddy away.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. But the reality is that community-based advocates are working to provide direct services to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence, but they're often also working at additional levels where change can happen, where they can be a voice to say that violence and abuse must end. And so they're often working within their own organizations in order to increase their capacity to support victims and that would be beyond what they're doing just to support victims. And then they're also working within their communities in order to raise awareness about the issues and that violence should never happen, and to do prevention work and community education work. And then, working from our perspective 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 taking action at an even broader level to impact more survivors at the state level and to coordinate services, but also to bring together a collective force for change and positive support for survivors, and we know it's also happening at the federal level. So there's many different levels that advocates are taking action to support survivors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those again. I mean, you have some really important distinctions for us to learn from and kind of put the framework around the advocacy movement. How is this movement central to the anti-violence movement? Then? And Kara, we'll start with you.
Speaker 3:Well, I think they happen together. I mean, I don't think that one can happen without the other because we do know, with domestic violence, with sexual assault, it happens at the root of it is oppression, and so we need to work them tandemly together, and so I think that we can't address one without the other, and I think that's where we start with that.
Speaker 2:I love that point that you just made, kara, because you're really looking at some of the root causes of violence. And so, yes, you know, we certainly know that violence occurs between two people and is an interpersonal issue, but there's really large social drivers, systems of inequality, types of oppression that are causing violence to happen in the first place. An advocate's role in supporting victims is also taking a stand and saying violence is wrong. Taking a stand and saying violence is wrong and these social inequalities that are occurring are also wrong and we need to do what we can in order to rectify the situation, to bring about more justice, to bring about more social equality, so that people aren't even vulnerable to to violence in the first place so, historically, how has the advocacy movement and the role of the advocate evolved?
Speaker 1:because I'm very curious about where this all began and how it changed from being, say, someone who just stands up for someone else and says, you know, this isn't right and we need to change it to an actual profession.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad you asked this question, maria, because I do think it's really important to recognize the roots of our movement, where we came from, because when we have a good understanding of that, we can really be inspired to take action and continue working in order to affect even more positive change in the future. And so, when I think about the history of our movement, one thing I think it's really important to put out there is that as long as violence has existed, as long as domestic and sexual violence has existed, there have been efforts to support victims and there have been efforts to make sure it, you know, is prevented and doesn't ever happen again. Violence is inherently wrong, of course, and nobody ever deserves to be hurt, and so those efforts to support survivors have always been, I think, happening in formal and informal ways. I think, when we look at our current anti-violence movement, we really see some very strong connections and ties to the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s.
Speaker 2:You know, this was a time when women were organizing together, they were hosting consciousness-raising groups and they were really looking at what were the problems that women were facing at large scale and what could be done in order to challenge these problems and overcome these issues and to support people who are experiencing these problems. And so many issues were discussed and came about from that movement, and one really important thing that was identified was that not only was domestic and sexual violence happening, but it was happening a lot and it was very, very common.
Speaker 3:And so I think those are the roots of where we saw action really starting to take hold and what grew into our current advocacy movement and advocacy as we know it today because we started understanding that it wasn't just rapes that were happening, it was, you know, domestic violence, and it became more of an issue that we did talk about, and we understood that sexual assault was happening in the home, domestic violence was happening in the home, and so we needed to expand those services to not just include and only serve for the rape crisis, and it became apparent that those services were needed and also, I think it is becoming more talked about and that public health knowledge and that awareness is being shared, and so we can do more with that and make those services more known.
Speaker 1:So then the role of the advocate started out more or less in the rape crisis center, correct? And then now it's in all different places, as you mentioned a few minutes ago. It's community-based, it's systems-based, state-based, and so on. So what is that role specifically and we can talk about what is the role today?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the role of an advocate, I think, is to be a voice on behalf of survivors of domestic and sexual violence. And this is so important because I think before our current anti-violence movement, survivors' voices were often swept under the rug. You know these issues were seen as private family matters that shouldn't be spoken out loud about, and there certainly wasn't a community resource that survivors could access for assistance. They weren't even really talking about it within their own networks, much less in their community, you know, talking about it within their own networks, much less in their community, you know. And so I think the role of shining a light where there's historically been a lot of darkness is really critical for the anti-violence movement and for the role that advocates play.
Speaker 3:I think another role, and a huge role of an advocate, is just validating. Validating that survivor, that their experiences are like. Everything that they have been through is not okay, but they are. They deserve to be here, they do, they deserve to be safe and many in that, like all of their experiences, are true and they're real. And a lot of the times when you are working with a survivor, that could possibly be the first time that they've ever heard those words. And so just having a safe space that they can come to and just share their story and just be heard and just feel valued and I think that's a huge part of what an advocate's role is to the origins of our movement.
Speaker 2:The current movement, as I said, based in the women's liberation movement of the 60s and 70s, where they were really looking at issues of gender equality and the philosophy that violence is wrong, women shouldn't be abused as a matter of gender equality, which I think is still part of the advocate's philosophy and the role of an advocate that we see today, part of the advocate's philosophy and the role of an advocate that we see today.
Speaker 2:However, there became a need to kind of clarify some of those philosophical foundations.
Speaker 2:As time went on, and in the 1980s Kara already mentioned one of the icons of the anti-violence movement, ellen Pence got survivors together in the organization that she was working with, the Duluth Anti-Violence Project in Minnesota, and did focus groups that really put together people who are experiencing violence, those survivors of domestic violence, to look at what their experience was, to really capture what was going on in an abusive relationship, to understand what that experience was like.
Speaker 2:And that's where we developed this philosophy of power and control that at the root of domestic violence, at the root of all these different patterns of abuse that a partner is using, there is power and control, and they're doing it for power and control, and so then our role as an advocate in response to that power and control really became about empowerment. So if we understand domestic violence to be about a survivor having their power and control, their autonomy, their self-determination taken away from them, then our role as an advocate is to restore that power and control through an empowering approach, and that really became an essential approach to providing services to survivors. That continues today, but has also continued to evolve as things do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean this is a very concise history of like, the movement and the role of the advocate, but I think you raised some very important points 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 listen to you talk about the women's movement, the women's rights movement, and what it was based in, because it was based, as you said, in establishing equity and also shining a light on the violence that was occurring against women, primarily in this case, in the home this intimate partner violence, this marital rape, which you know. Those things have now become criminalized and it started as a movement to establish equity and what it's transformed into is that, plus all of these other things, to reestablish agency once you are a survivor and you're trying to get back to your life after an abusive relationship. It's also established legislation, a lot of legislation, around what is domestic violence and what can be criminalized, and it's not just about anymore how women are being abused, as it is about what can be done in response to it for survivors and how perpetrators need to be held accountable. So this is, if we look at it.
Speaker 1:You know, when you're in this work, day after day. You see all the tiny wins, right. But if you look at the movement across decades of work that we've all put into it and our mothers put into it and our grandmothers put into it, you see that there has been significant change that's been made and a lot of attention drawn to it. That does not, of course, deny the fact that it still occurs at a hideous rate in this country. And we're still, obviously we all still have these jobs right. So we're still working with a lot of survivors currently, presently, and past survivors as well. So we're all here for them and for whatever the future may hold. And I understand you're both advocates, correct? Yeah, so how are you Tell us about your roles? Tell us about your roles.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we don't do direct service anymore. So we're both member services specialists at the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. But we both came from direct service in previous positions. But I think once an advocate, always an advocate, and so I think that'll always remain there. And we do talk with survivors occasionally and provide referrals and you know active listening and you know there's, so there's always that. But, yeah, nora, anything you want to add, nora.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that when it comes to direct services, I think of our role as being advocates for advocates, like we're here to provide support, to talk about what you had for breakfast, to just provide training, keep an eye on emerging trends and help inform advocates about how to respond and support survivors around just new resources or new challenges that are emerging. And so I think of that as our role when it comes to direct services. But when it comes to policy change, we also play an important role in moving policy change forward as well and just providing alliance building opportunities that we know are so critical in movement making and building the movement to end violence making and building the movement to end violence. And so the role of the coalition 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 in different ways, but the same philosophy.
Speaker 1:And it's a huge mission because you're a statewide agency, correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, we sure are. Oh, and it's a very it's a it's a very diverse state with a lot of different personalities and character and just dynamics that exist within every region of the state. And so movement building in a state where there is so much diversity gives us strength, but it also can be a rocky road to go down and comes with its challenges and successes, of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would think that would be rather nuanced, because you need to have culturally sensitive services for all the different populations that you are working with, and so here in Texas we are also pretty diverse as well, and so at Genesis we do incorporate culturally sensitive services. You know, we make sure that our staff and our board reflect the community that we serve. About 50% or more of our clients are Spanish speaking. Thereby about 50% of our staff are also either from the Spanish speaking community and or bilingual Spanish, so that we can offer services in a client's primary language. And then, of course, we also use interpreters where we need to. I mean, we don't represent every single language that might be spoken by a client, and so we have interpreter services that we raise money for as well. So it is a very rich and diverse environment here in Texas, and one of you mentioned training a couple of minutes ago, and I'd like to understand how advocates are trained to work with survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of training on the fly. I think that happens and I think that's where you honestly get a lot of the best kind of kinds of training. There is standardized training. That happens anytime. You go to a program and start work as an advocate. You get the standard in Missouri and, as I'm told, it's kind of nationwide. But 40 hours would be the kind of starting point for training for advocates and then you would get, like the, on the job training as well.
Speaker 2:And one thing I really love about this field is that there is a true commitment to continuing education, and so, even after you've gotten that 40 hours of foundational training that you need in order to start providing direct services, there are so many fantastic opportunities to continue your education every single year that you're an advocate every single week, as the case is often. But I think we recognize that we are dealing with a dynamic issue, with diverse communities and the laws change and the resources change, and so we're really fortunate to be a part of a field where there are so many opportunities to continue that education in kind of structured ways through your own community, through your state coalition, through national TA providers, but then in less formal ways that are really important, such as through podcasts like this, but also books and documentaries. There's just such a wealth of information out there that we can access to continue our education and continue to provide services that meet the emerging needs that survivors are facing.
Speaker 1:So where does one actually start if they want to become an advocate?
Speaker 2:I think that's such a great question and there's definitely not one pathway to becoming an advocate.
Speaker 2:I have been an advocate for 20 years and I remember even before I knew what an advocate was, I wanted to be one.
Speaker 2:I remember telling, like a college professor, that I wanted to be a women's advocate and I was like, oh gosh, I really hope that works. I hope there's a job out there like that. But I think one really important way to start and I'd love to hear what you all think about this as well but one way to get the ball rolling on becoming an advocate is to connect with your local advocacy organization and volunteer. So, volunteering, you'll often get that 40 hours of training before you provide direct services, so you'll have a really good understanding of what it takes to be an advocate and the skills that you need to be an advocate, and then you can start practicing working with survivors as a volunteer, childcare volunteer, providing transportation. There's so many different things that you can do as a volunteer and see if it's, if the magic is there for you. Is it something that you just really love doing? And that's how I got started. Actually, I started volunteering for different organizations in different capacities and just loved it and haven't stopped since then.
Speaker 3:And that's exactly what I was going to say Start volunteering, because there are so many different services that you can like volunteer opportunities. You can volunteer with hospital advocacy in the children's program, and so just to kind of give yourself that exposure to all the opportunities available at a different program to see if it's something that you are up for and are interested in doing and making your full-time you know kind of profession, because a lot of us, you know, hear that we started this profession and then, you know, just never left and so making sure it's something that you want to continue doing and then just making sure that the program is the right fit for you and all the things are the right fit, and so that would probably be like the easiest route to go as well.
Speaker 1:I had this idea kind of in the back of my head while you're talking about this, about case management and how I know at Genesis we used to have case managers and now we have advocates. We don't and I don't know how the models are different, but I know that there is some type of synergy between those two types of jobs. Do you happen to know the distinction?
Speaker 3:I don't think there is a distinction. I think it's at least in Missouri the way I have heard it talked about is discussed as like if a survivor were to call our hotline, they're not specifically going to ask for case management, they're going, they want an advocate. And so in Missouri I think that's at least kind of the trend was to kind of remove that name case manager, and just go to survivor advocate or victim advocate, as some programs are still calling them. At least that was my understanding of that.
Speaker 1:The kid, as some programs are still calling them At least that was my understanding of that and to that point the advocacy role or profession is quite new. I mean, when we talked about the 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 the 90s it may seem like a really long time ago, but as a child of the 70s it was not that long ago. And so it's a rather young movement that has evolved very rapidly, as the idea of domestic violence being unlawful and unacceptable really has taken the stage. I mean, it is out there all the time now. Now, that's not to say that it isn't happening, but it is much more in the forefront than it ever was, but still very much in its infancy and we have quite a long way to go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree, and to that point I mean yes. And also we have done so much work. And to your earlier point, maria, of like, in the grand scheme of things, if you are an advocate, if you are a newer advocate, my biggest piece of advice would just be to look at the history and the evolution of advocacy, of the sexual violence and the domestic violence movement, because we have really come so far and, yes, we do have a long way to go. But that was really my pivotal moment where I really was able to kind of put myself in the space and time of where I am in this movement and really connect to the work that I'm doing and the lives that I'm touching in this large timeline of things that have happened. And it really is. If you can look at a timeline of all the things that have happened. And it really is. If you can look at a timeline of all the things that have happened, it is super cool to know that, like you're a little blip on this like movement timeline, yeah, and you are making change.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And one thing I'd like to speak to is, just when we think about the grassroots origin of our movement that really started out as people helping people, we can, I think, first of all, be inspired to do so much more, but also recognize the role that supporting survivors has in social change, and what we see is a lot of advocates, in fact, have experienced domestic and sexual violence and are taking action to help other survivors for a variety of different reasons, sometimes to be the help that they wish that they had had, but also there's so much positive healing that happens when you reach out and help another person in need who might be experiencing some of the same things that you experienced.
Speaker 2:There's a level of understanding there that I think is really important, and so this is not only a movement of social change, but it's a movement, in many ways, built by survivors for survivors, in order to create that change, which is just a really, I think, important point of people who are impacted by the problem taking direct action to make change and make sure it doesn't happen again, it's a very human response and you have given us the words just now, Nora.
Speaker 1:Whether you realize it or not, it's people helping people. That's what advocacy is, and I think that's a very succinct way of talking about it, and any one of us can hear those words people helping people and know what that means. It's extending a hand, you know it's just look for the helpers, right? Those are the ones that you need in a time of crisis. Let's talk just a little bit more deeply about the role of the advocate, Because what I do know you're the experts, right, I'm just the host of this show. Because what I do know you're the experts, right, I'm just the host of this show. But what I do know, I know a little bit.
Speaker 1:And advocates help clients who experience domestic violence with goal setting. So if you're trying to get your life back together and you want to have your like, you know you need 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 that process and how the role of the advocate is to help guide the, to empower her to do some goal setting and then be able to make some decisions on her own, to give herself that sense of agency that she can do that. All of that is to say to guide it, not control it. So how do you walk that fine line as an advocate to help set goals and encourage decision making, but not control both the decisions and the outcomes?
Speaker 3:I think that the easiest way that I would talk about it with advocates would be that we ultimately have this goal that survivors are going to leave our shelters, leave our programs and be independent, successful people.
Speaker 3:That is what we want for them, and so they will not have us by their sides for the rest of eternity. That's ultimately what we want, and so it will do us no good. It will do them no good to make these decisions for them, and also, you know, part of their healing journey is to regain this autonomy back that has been taken from them. You know, many survivors have not been able to have any kind of say in any of the decisions surrounding their lives, and so this is the first time that they are able to do that, and so, while they may need some guidance in how to make decisions or what their options are, we can often fall or, you know, we could fall into that power and control dynamic with them if we are not careful, because there is that power and control, just dynamic based on our positions, and we don't want to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when it comes to goal setting, that's where we really think about this incredible opportunity for transformation that does happen within advocacy services, and it's what so many advocates say that they really value about their work is that they get to support a survivor and starting from one place and potentially maybe ending up at another place, and maybe those wins and that transformation is significant.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's something big, like, you know, finishing an education or buying a house which we've certainly seen as advocates or maybe it's something as simple as being able to sleep through the night, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's really about celebrating these small and large goals. And I think, when it comes to what your role as an advocate is in goal setting, that's where it's really important to understand the boundaries the professional boundaries that you have and that these are not, as Kara was saying, these are not your decisions to make. Your role as an advocate is to seek to understand what would be helpful in a survivor situation, and goal setting can actually be a tool for survivors to understand and identify where it is that they want to go during their time in services, but can also be a really helpful tool for advocates to understand what resources would help survivors in getting to that place where they want to go, and so goal setting, I think, looks at a lot of different ways and can lead to a lot of different outcomes, but ultimately it's a tool for providing for understanding survivors and for providing relevant resources that meet the needs of where it is that they want to go with services.
Speaker 1:Yeah, completely understand and agree with everything you're saying, because I would think it would be a little scary to come out of an abusive relationship where I didn't have control over things as simple as what temperature the thermostat was going to be set on, or you know what we're going to watch on television or have for dinner, and so on and so forth, and then having to make my own decisions about what schools my children are going to go to and how I'm going to afford to buy this house, and so on and so forth, and then having to make my own decisions about what schools my children are going to go to and how I'm going to afford to buy this house, and so on and so forth, and so that I think could be frightening.
Speaker 1:And so an advocate can be a friend in a way to kind of put those fears at ease and help to instruct a survivor how to make decisions, but not actually tell them what the decisions need to be. Have you ever been in a scenario where you felt like a survivor was making a decision that was not the best choice for her, and how did you react to that?
Speaker 3:All the time Okay.
Speaker 3:All the time Okay, you know, because I think it's important to remember that survivors lives are not our lives, and everyone has their own lived experience, and that's okay, because they come with a whole lot of experience, a whole lot of trauma, and they I mean even before the incident that brought them to our services, and so their parenting is going to be different, their lifestyle is going to be different, whether they use substance or substances or not, it's going to be, it's all different.
Speaker 3:So even just their food choices could be different, and that's all okay. And so if they are making a decision that maybe I would not make for myself or my family, at the end of the day I get to go home to my family, I get to go home and I get to make my own decisions. And so you really just have to be able to reconcile that with yourself as an advocate, that you are providing them with as much information as you're able to about all of the survivor's options and choices and letting them make an informed decision. And then letting them make an informed decision.
Speaker 2:I think that's where the role of self-awareness comes in, is it's so important for advocates to be self-aware, to recognize that everybody has their own biases, everybody has their own perspectives, but we are there to support survivors and meet survivors where they're at, wherever they may be at, and so being aware of how our own biases and life experience and perspective impacts our interactions and maybe even our own judgment of survivors' decision making is really important. And to be able to recognize when our biases are impacting our advocacy and to minimize that as much as possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's very insightful, Clearly. I mean, you've been doing this work a very long time but you keep giving us the word. So self-awareness is a really important part of this role and it becomes a really important part for a survivor, I would think as well, to understand who she is, because you kind of lose your identity when you are a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault and it takes time to regain that and find out what you really even like. I mean, Dr Romney will tell you how do you know if you were living with a narcissist. Well, when I ask you what would you like to watch on TV and you say, oh well, whatever you want to watch is fine, I don't know, you know, it doesn't matter to me, Whatever you like is fine.
Speaker 1:That's how people react after they have been treated, after they have experienced narcissism. Right, which is just one example of domestic violence. But clearly we can't expect as advocates for a survivor to come in and know how to make all of these decisions on her own or not anticipate that she may be afraid of even doing so at the beginning. And I also I think that advocacy complements well with a lot of other domestic violence services, such as clinical counseling, which is how we provide those services at Genesis. We have a whole continuum of care that the survivor can take part in as she moves forward in her journey, you know, towards safety, and it's very, very supportive in a lot of different ways. So how do you see, or what other services do you see, that really complement advocacy well?
Speaker 2:advocacy? Well, I think that's a fantastic question, maria, and one thing I keep thinking about throughout this discussion is that this is a movement to support all survivors of violence, anyone that experiences violence, no matter what your background is, no matter where you came from, no matter what language you speak, and so I think one really critical piece of ensuring that anybody who experiences violence can access services is making sure that they are your services are inclusive, that they are doing no harm and that people can access them in a way that's culturally meaningful, and so you talked before about how Genesis provides interpreters. Language access is such an incredible part of advocacy. You have to have meaningful communication with survivors in order to be an advocate. Your role is really to seek to understand what has happened and what a survivor's priorities are, and so you must have language access in order to do that.
Speaker 2:But that goes as far as anything that you can do to make your services more inclusive. How can you provide services to male or trans survivors who've experienced violence? How can you be inclusive and maybe provide support groups to LGBTQ plus survivors of violence, and so anything that you could do? I think it's really important what you spoke to earlier about making sure the demographics of your staff and board represent the survivors that you're serving. So anything that can be done in order to ensure that, no matter where you're coming from in life, you feel welcome at an organization is really critical in terms of and I wouldn't say it's even like a compliment to advocacy services, but a necessary service that must happen with advocacy services.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the only things that I would add is we've heard some really innovative programs or programs doing really innovative things with like basic kind of maintenance or care, like daily life skills classes or trainings, because you know, we eventually know they're going to leave our services and some people have never been taught those kinds of things.
Speaker 3:So, just how to maintain a home. And then we know that, like economic justice and you know economics is a huge thing and so, or job training, and so I think that would be super complimentary to anything that you have, like all the services that are offered within a program, and so things like that, anything that can help them be as independent as possible when they leave services.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how many times I've heard that same discussion at Genesis about people who are clients, especially in the shelter or even in the transitional housing that we have, who they don't know the first thing about maintaining a home Nobody ever taught them. Actually teach those life skills of. Just as one example, you know how to properly clean the floor or clean the bathtub, or you know something of that nature or how to organize a drawer or a closet, because, while you might think that that could be like an innate thing that a woman would know, it isn't. It's typically something that each of us has been taught by someone in a life, in our life, and it also, I don't know. It's just, it's just taken for granted that people would know these things and clearly that doesn't happen for everyone.
Speaker 3:And it's so important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I'm glad you brought that up because I think that's really critical for people to understand.
Speaker 3:Or even like if they're renting an apartment and like going through that checklist of like what they need to clean and like what they need to check changing the air filters, things like that.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, homeownership and becoming a renter and so on are those are a whole other ballgame and so on are those are a whole other ball game and the things that you, you don't know what you don't know when it comes to living on your own or living independently. And so I know like in the United States we typically the idea is you will graduate high school and then you will go to a college where you take that baby step toward independent living and hopefully you have you're taking with you enough life skills to take that baby step and then you'll learn some more and then you'll keep taking a step toward full independence and employment and becoming a productive member of society as a fully functioning adult. And that's the dream, right. But it doesn't happen that way for every single person and not everybody has the same foundation when they leave home. And clearly this is true for the clients that we all serve who experience domestic violence, and what's more than that. Maybe they do have that foundation, but the experiences of domestic violence or sexual violence have caused a trauma or many traumas, and they're just not able to access their foundation or their life skills that they formerly had, or their life has changed so much, and the world as they knew it is completely different and none of it fits, and so there's no shame in some retraining and learning again or just beginning again with some of these skills.
Speaker 1:So it's important, as you said, that agencies that offer domestic violence services can give you that really robust holistic program that includes even things like occupational therapy. Genesis has one of the first occupational therapy programs in the country for domestic violence survivors, and it's completely free. Anyone listening who's interested. We'll be really happy to share it with you and teach you how to implement it at your agency, if that makes sense. So don't hesitate to call us or check our website at genesisshelterorg. Before I let you go, I want to talk about a few other things, and one of those is ethics. Is there a particular code of ethics that advocates need to follow, or that's prescribed for them?
Speaker 2:Certainly there are some advocates that have a code of ethics that's tied to their professional certifications, so social workers, for example. But if we're just looking at domestic violence advocates, it's not that there's necessarily a formal code of ethics, but I think there's a very defined set of guiding principles that advocates abide by as they are providing services. The first one that I think is very distinct but certainly notable anytime that you're working with an advocate is their philosophy that confidentiality is paramount and respecting survivors' confidentiality, really understanding that survivors need to have control over their identifying information as a way to keep themselves safe and that maintaining confidentiality is a way of protecting survivor safety. So that's kind of a distinct approach to any kind of services that's really different for domestic and sexual violence advocates.
Speaker 3:So some good rules to follow would be do no harm, be nice, be respectful and do the right thing. And those are, again, just best practices. I don't know that they're written anywhere. They're just kind of rules that we live by.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, there are really specific values that you need to hold if you're even going to take the role of an advocate seriously. So I think you've kind of summarized some of the important ones.
Speaker 2:Voluntary services is a really important kind of approach that is required by funders more recently, but just in the spirit of empowerment, in the spirit of restoring autonomy and self-determination, not putting requirements upon survivors in services as a condition of their stay or as a condition of receiving services, and so support groups are entirely optional, therapy is entirely optional. Even goal setting should be entirely optional, and so really just making sure that we're providing options but not enforcing requirements.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great point as well. I think that all agencies are different, of course, in the way they provide their services, but it's a good idea to think about how the information about that is, or even like the plan for each individual is delivered and approached with a survivor. Let's talk for a minute about the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights. How does that Bill of Rights support the role of advocacy and thereby empower survivors?
Speaker 2:The Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights is something that came out of the last couple of legislative sessions here in Missouri, and it's a clearly defined set of rights that survivors have who've experienced sexual assault when they present to hospitals, law enforcement officers, prosecutors' offices or the courts law enforcement officers, prosecutor's offices or the courts and it identifies just some basic things the right to an interpreter, the right to an advocate, which is really important the right to consult with an advocate, the right to a shower, to a change of fresh clothes.
Speaker 2:It identifies just a number of clear items that survivors are entitled to when they present at these different organizations. What I think is really important about the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights is that it sets a universal standards of what all victims of sexual assault can expect when they encounter different systems that there is just a basic level of. You know, these are my rights and so this is what I will be entitled to and this is what I can expect no matter what part of the state I'm seeking services in.
Speaker 1:So how does one know that those rights apply to them if they're a victim of sexual assault they enter through, let's say, the ER? Are they given a copy of that?
Speaker 2:That would be fantastic.
Speaker 1:Or does an advocate or social worker visit with them when they enter a medical facility and kind of inform them of what they're entitled to?
Speaker 3:Yes, they should be. I mean in a perfect world. Yes, an advocate will always be called. We are on the cusp of launching our Telesane program or Telesane, and so that will kind of initiate immediately an advocate being called and then that same nurse talking with them about all of their options and then kind of going forward from there and notifying them of their rights.
Speaker 1:Great, that sounds super important. I'd love to see that get implemented. And you're going to launch a TeleSane program. Is this for the state of Missouri? It is, oh, tell me about that.
Speaker 3:So if a survivor goes to a hospital that doesn't have a physical sexual assault nurse on site, they will have the option to do that forensic exam via video, and so the nurse bedside will be in consultation with a forensic nurse by video and they will be able to not have to drive, not have to go, you know, a million hours to the closest hospital just to be turned down because there's no forensic nurse available, and so that program will officially launch. Hospitals will have to be in compliance by the end of December.
Speaker 1:That's excellent. Congratulations on you know getting that put forward. I'm afraid we're out of time. This has been a really interesting conversation. I have learned so much and I'm not surprised because I think you both are doing amazing work. You have so much experience with advocacy and working with survivors. What's your last word to people listening if they have questions about advocacy or wonder about how advocacy services can benefit them about?
Speaker 2:how advocacy services can benefit them. So I would just say we know that the value of an advocate is significant. You know, looking back over time, we can see how, as advocacy programs have become more formal and more established, better funded, then the outcomes are much better for survivors. And in fact we are seeing now, because of the efforts of many advocates, there's less and less tolerance for abuse when it happens, and so we're seeing a world where potentially, domestic and sexual violence is on the pathway to being reduced. But I think what it's really important to state is that we can't continue to provide these transformative services that make all the difference in the world to survivors if we don't fund them, and so it's really important that we make funding for services a priority. Did you want to speak to that?
Speaker 1:Karen, you will get no argument from me on that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yes, I 100% echo, nora. There is the Crime Victims Stabilization Act and we can send you, maria, more information on that to provide for your listeners, and it is the greatest way an advocate can support the movement, support survivors and to get involved.
Speaker 1:Excellent. I would look forward to seeing that information and sharing it with our listeners. Nora Kara, thank you for being on the show. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Maria.
Speaker 1:Genesis Women's Shelter and Support exists to give women in abusive situations a way out. We are committed to our mission of providing safety, shelter and support for women and children who have experienced domestic violence and to raise awareness regarding its cause, prevalence and impact. Join us in creating a societal shift on how people think about domestic violence. You can learn more at GenesisShelterorg and when you follow us on social media on Facebook and Instagram at Genesis Women's Shelter, and on X at Genesis Shelter. The Genesis Helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by call or text at 214-946-HELP. 214-946-4357.