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Bridging the Systems To Empower Victims: Mental Health and Victim Services

NCJ Number
179217
Date Published
May 2000
Length
163 pages
Annotation
This manual presents guidelines, content, and materials for a 2-day training workshop designed to develop collaboration and cooperation between agencies and individuals who deal with victims of trauma through the development of community trauma teams and to ensure that trauma victims receive victim-centered, empowering responses.
Abstract
The training also aims to expand knowledge and competence in dealing with victims of trauma; to distinguish between mental illness and normal responses to trauma; and to develop the framework for teams to return to their communities and implement positive victim-centered change on individual, organizational, and systemic levels. The training is recommended for 8-10 teams of 5-8 people each. The training curriculum focuses on team-building exercises, the change process, psychological trauma, services for victims of specific crimes, scenarios in which mental health and victim services agencies might share the same client, victim-centered responses, care for caregivers, and development of action plans. The guidelines cover the schedule, format, materials needed, instructional techniques, content, exercises for participants, and handouts. Forms, checklists, handouts, background information, and student materials