A New Approach

Intervention: Expanding Doors of Access

It is well established that there is a dramatic under-utilization of intervention services by victims of power-based personal violence, including sexual violence, partner violence and stalking. This fact ensures that opening a center, like VIP, to provide services and support to victims of this kind of violence benefits only the tiny fraction who ever enter the system to begin with by reporting to traditionally defined direct service providers

Our intervention strategy is built on the following premises:

1. In order to provide support services, an individual must first report to someone that they have been a victim violence.
2. Currently, direct service access has been inadequate as evidenced by the underreporting
3. To increase reporting and help-seeking behaviors, doors of access must be expanded and redefined to better overcome the real and perceived obstacles victims face when making the decision to report or not.

Therefore, our strategy focuses on expanding access points for victims in three primary ways: (1) Redefining and expanding the methods of outreach currently implemented by traditional direct service providers, and (2) Expanding access into the system by broadening the scope of who might be defined as a point of entry, and providing training to these additional ancillary providers, and (3) Using research from communications, persuasion theory and marketing to “re-brand” intervention services in a way that will surmount the real and perceived obstacles faced by victims of violence.

Though it is accepted as a matter of fact that few victims of power-based personal violence seek services or report, there have been few substantive changes to the service delivery system in the past several decades to address that deficit. Though quantity of services have been expanded as funding has increased from state and federal sources, an actual shift in how victims can access these services has remained largely unchanged, despite the fact that we have significant research documenting the rationale of victims for choosing not to report or seek services. Some of the most often cited reasons for making the choice not to report include: shame and embarrassment, humiliation, fear it will be viewed as their fault, not wanting anyone to know, lack of trust in the system, and not even sure a crime had occurred (Du Mont, J., K.L. Miller, and T.L. Myhr, 2003; Fisher, B.S., Daigle, L.E., Cullen, F.T., & Turner, M.G., 2003; Thompson, M., Sitterle, D., Clay, G., & Kingree, J., 2007). Despite this knowledge, little has been done to modify existing access structures to overcome these obstacles.

For example:

1. Despite the fact that victims do not want anyone to know they have been assaulted, we invite them to “come and tell us you have been assaulted.”
2. Despite the fact that people are so ashamed they have been raped that they do not even call it rape in their own head, we often house our services in “Rape Crisis Centers.”
3. Despite the fact that they are not even sure if a crime has occurred, access to services is often predicated upon self-identifying that a crime has occurred.

Our Values

To address some of these historical challenges, we espouse and manifest the following values:

We believe that everyone has a connection, direct or indirect, to power-based personal violence and that it is our responsibility to create a space that allows each person to fully explore that connection in a way that is both safe and supported.

We believe that each individual knows his/her own journey best. Some will find what they need sitting in an office with an advocate; some will feel more comfortable joining a writing group or performing a song; some will move forward simply by spending time in a space that allows them to talk-freely and without judgment about their connection to the issue of violence.

Growth, healing, and empowerment can happen regardless of the label one adopts. Whether someone self-identifies as a “victim” or a “friend of someone who was hurt” or “a student doing an assignment” or “a diversion student” or “a volunteer” – each will find in VIP an opportunity to move forward, both individually and as a campus community.