Community
and Prevention Education
The Community and
Prevention Education Programs offer prevention education and training
to youth, and the general public about the issues of sexual violence.
Professional training is also available for professionals who may come
in contact with sexual violence survivors, such as teachers, counselors,
health care workers, probation officers and social workers.
The public health
approach, which looks at the negative impact sexual violence has on
the health of individuals and communities, is our primary model. We
also incorporate other models, in particular a social norms model, in
which we encourage discussion about the messages surrounding sexual
violence, gender roles and sexuality that program participants receive
from the world around them and how they process those messages.
The Community and
Prevention Education Department presents to youth grades 6-12, throughout
Tucson, Pima County and in the schools of the Tohono O'odham Nation
and Pascua Yaqui Tribe, as well as to adults and professionals in Pima
County and other parts of Southern Arizona. The Sexual Violence Prevention
Education Program, the youth education component, includes targeted,
multi-modal educational sessions, containing a variety of instructional
methods designed to reach all types of learners at developmentally appropriate
levels.
The Center is committed
to:
- promoting awareness
of sexual assault, abuse, coercion, and harassment
- improving community
response to victims of sexual assault, abuse, coercion, and harassment
through education and training
- supporting other
efforts in Southern Arizona that contribute to the prevention of and
improved response to sexual assault, abuse, coercion, and harassment.
Crisis
Services
- Southern Arizona
Center Against Sexual Assault operates a 24-hour crisis line through
which callers receive immediate crisis intervention and assistance
from crisis staff and specially trained volunteer advocates. Callers
can also receive information about our other services for on-going
support as indicated by their need as well as referral sources if
necessary. The crisis line is accessible through a toll-free number
and a number dedicated for TTY/TDD response. The 24-hour crisis line
serves all of Southern Arizona. Bilingual services are available 24
hours a day - 7 days a week. Walk-in clients receive the same array
of services as do crisis line callers.
- As part of the
Sexual Assault Response Service (SARS), a partnership among Southern
Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault, Pima County Attorney's Office,
all 13 law enforcement agencies, Pima County Victim Witness, two crime
labs, and the community hospitals, our specially trained advocates
and forensic examiners respond to recent victims of sexual assault
in all area emergency departments. We currently collaborate with Northwest
Medical Center and Tucson Medical Center to provide crisis services,
specialized sexual assault medical forensic examinations and evidence
collection in each of these hospitals 24 hours a day - 7 days a week.
Mental
Health Services
The Mental Health
Services Program of the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault
provides mental health services and operates as an outpatient clinic
licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services. Individual, couple,
family, and group psychotherapy is provided for the female or male survivor
of the assault, significant others and family members.
The focus of treatment
is on the psychological, relational, behavioral, cognitive, physical,
and spiritual consequences of sexual violation and violence. Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) may also supplement therapy.
Services initiate and reinforce the healing process and hasten the client's
empowerment.
Master's level therapists
provide services. The clinical team, through its specialized training
of interns and adjunct therapists, is able to enhance the amount of
unique, specialized service available in our community. Clinical staff
is specially trained in the areas of trauma and sexual violence. Some
services offered are bi-lingual and bi-cultural. Services are offered
at two locations.
Su
Voz Vale -Your Voice Counts
Su Voz Vale is a
bilingual/bicultural program offering services to victims of sexual
violence from Tucson's south, west and southwest areas and the City
of South Tucson. Su Voz Vale offers a variety of services, all available
in English and/or Spanish. The program is located at the El Pueblo Neighborhood
Center.
Services Include:
- Crisis Services
- Community
and Prevention Education
- Mental Health
Services
Cafecitos
- Cafecitos are
informal and educational gatherings of women held at the Su Voz Vale
office once a month. One objective of the Cafecito is to educate those
present about the issues of sexual and relationship violence. Another
is for survivors present to hear that the violence they have experienced
is not their fault, and that help is available.
Amigas/os del
Pueblo
- The Amigas/os
del Pueblo are community volunteers who are trained to be first responders
and do outreach for the Su Voz Vale program. They are trained to be
empathetic to victims/survivors and to address sexual violence in
the community.
Battered Immigrant
Women
Su Voz Vale/Your Voice Counts participates in the Tri-County Battered
Immigrant Women's Taskforce. The three counties involved are Pima, Cochise
and Santa Cruz. The goal of the taskforce is to improve the access to
culturally appropriate services for battered immigrant women, thereby
ensuring their rights under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The
project's focus includes conducting a needs assessment of culturally
relevant and accessible services, education and training for professionals
in the criminal justice, medical and victims services systems on the
rights provided under VAWA for this community, the development of a
strategy to raise community awareness of this issue, and enhancement
of victim advocacy throughout rural Pima County.
The Taskforce operates
through a federal grant in partnership with the Governor's The Governor's
Office for Children, Youth and Families which coordinates this project.
Accessing
Safety - Promising Practices in Serving Crime Victims with
Disabilities
People with disabilities
are statistically 2 to 3 times more likely to become victims of sexual
violence than people in the general population.
The Center Against
Sexual Assault, while already serving people with disabilities, recognized
this disproportionate victimization rate and the special needs of the
disability communities and successfully pursued funding to address this
issue: a three-year grant from the Department of Justice/Office for
Victims of Crime (OVC) to provide services to people with disabilities.
The grant was awarded
through SafePlace, a sexual assault and domestic violence center in
Austin, TX which is contracted through OVC to administer the funding.
The Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault is one of ten sites
out of nearly 100 submitted proposals across the country chosen by SafePlace
to receive this funding. The project while no longer funded through
the grant still supports sexual violence survivors with disabilities
by:
- facilitating
a Southern Arizona Sexual Assault Disability Coalition;
- developing a
"Best Practice" model for working with sexual violence victims/survivors
with disabilities by conducting an internal needs assessment and an
external community-based needs assessment;
- expanding the
ability of crisis and psychotherapy services to meet the needs of
sexual violence victims/survivors with disabilities through a series
of trainings; and
- creating an outreach
plan to increase sexual violence services to the disability community
in southern Arizona.
- creating and
distributing a resource manual for people with disabilities
Getting Real:
Young Men Talk
This program targets
boys aged 11-18, temporarily residing at the Pima County Juvenile Residence
Hall through workshops designed to prevent the attitudes and behaviors
that lead to sexual violence, abuse, and harassment in this high-risk
population. Through interactive "conversations" and training
by our community educator, these young men will develop the skills to
avoid inappropriate social and "dating" behaviors and to model
healthy and respectful behavior for others. There will also be an opportunity
for leadership development and peer to peer education to sustain and
expand the program's reach.
