Happy Monday everyone!
Despite majoring in criminal justice during my undergraduate studies, I didn’t know domestic violence victim advocates even existed.
I knew emergency shelters were a thing, and I assumed they had staff that were there to help. I just didn’t know that there were careers in the criminal justice field that centered around being the voice and guiding light for domestic violence victim-survivors.
That is, until my friend offered me a job as a part-time employee at the domestic violence shelter she worked as a case manager.
Shortly after starting at the shelter part-time, I moved into a full-time position as a certified victim advocate and held that position for 3 years.
Any time someone would ask what I do for work and I would say I’m a domestic violence victim advocate, they would follow up with a confused expression and ask, “and what does that entail?”
If people don’t know what domestic violence victim advocates do, or that they even exist, how can these advocates do their job to the fullest extent? How will victim-survivors know who to turn to for help?
What is a victim advocate?
There are two types of victim advocates: system-based advocates and community-based advocates.
System-based advocates are employees of an agency within the criminal justice system (hence the name “system-based”).
They work alongside police officers or prosecutors and provide support and assistance to victims of all types of crime.
System-based advocates only become involved with victims of crime after a police report has been filed.
Community-based advocates are similar to system-based advocates but they typically work for a non-profit agency.
The difference with community-based advocates is that they tend to only work with one type of crime victim (like domestic violence victims) and they can provide services to victims without a police report being filed.
What does a victim advocate do?
A domestic violence victim advocate wears many hats, but all of those hats revolve around making sure the needs of victim-survivors are met.
I’ve often heard victim advocates referred to as lighthouses, guiding victim-survivors through the choppy waters of both their situation and their case processing through the criminal justice system.
Here’s a quick breakdown into some of the responsibilities of a victim advocate:
Provide crisis intervention and support
Refer clients to counseling services
Serve as a liaison between the client and law enforcement and/or court officials
Help navigate assistance programs like SNAP (food stamps) or Medicaid
Housing and employment assistance
Educating clients on their legal rights
Educating the general public about domestic violence and resources for victims
Collaborating with other community organizations to create a unified front to fight against domestic violence
It’s not uncommon for victim advocates to be on call, having to drop everything in an instant to go help a client in need.
When I was working as an advocate, there were occasions where a client’s abuser would figure out the location of the shelter. This made the shelter unsafe for the client, but also for the other residents and the staff.
This meant that we immediately had to find that client a new place to stay and transportation to that new place. It usually ended up being the next closest domestic violence shelter, which was 45 minutes away.
If I was on call during one of these instances, I had to stop whatever I was doing and go to the shelter because getting our client to a safer location was more important than the movie night in with my boyfriend or the social gathering with friends.
Victim advocates will often go above and beyond to show their clients support and ensure they have everything they need in the moment they need it.
Sometimes that meant staying at the shelter for hours after our shift if one of our clients was in crisis or stopping in the middle of an administrative task like writing up a report to keep a new client’s children occupied so she could be a little more relaxed and focused while she completed the intake process.
What do victim advocates NOT do?
It’s important for victim-survivors to know that advocates are never going to tell them what they should do. The advocate will simply make sure they know all of their options and empower them to make their own decision even if it’s not the decision the advocate would make.
It’s not uncommon for clients to come to the shelter and leave a dozen times, going back to their abuser each time.
On average, it takes a victim-survivor 7 to 9 times to leave their abuser for good. This means that they may call the advocate in need of shelter only to leave a few days or weeks later and go back to their abuser.
While this is one of the more difficult aspects of being a victim advocate, it is not their job to tell the client they shouldn’t go back to their abuser.
It is their job to make sure the client knows that going back to their abuser could put them in even more danger and that they can always call the shelter again if they need services in the future.
It’s also not the job of a victim advocate to tell a client they should or need to file a police report1. Instead, an advocate has the duty to inform their clients of their options, and explain what may happen if they don’t file a police report and what may happen if they do.
Being a victim advocate is walking a fine line between empowering the client to make their own decisions and working to ensure they are safe.
Many people, like me before I became one, don’t know that domestic violence victim advocates exist and if they do, they aren’t really sure what the advocate’s job is.
Being a victim advocate is not an easy job, but it is one of the most important jobs in the world.
How do you become a victim advocate?
Victim advocacy is an emotionally demanding profession where an advocate’s actions can mean life or death for their client, so various training sessions are required before someone can become a certified advocate.
For more information on how to become a victim advocate, you can contact:
National nonprofit organizations like the National Network to End Domestic Violence or the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
State-level Coalitions Against Domestic Violence, a list of which can be found here
Local domestic violence organizations
While a college degree isn’t required to become a victim advocate in most areas, pursuing a degree in social services, criminal justice-related fields, or psychology can be greatly beneficial.
Until next week,
Rychelle 💜
All 50 states in the US have some form of mandated reporting laws for child abuse, so this would be the only time an advocate would be required to inform police of a client’s situation.
"On average, it takes a victim-survivor 7 to 9 times to leave their abuser for good." Wow. That's an amazing fact. It certainly says something about human psychology, but it's also transportable to anyone who wants to help someone they care about with anything, because one's help has to be patient, and the help given may well not stick the first time.