First, Do No Harm: Facilitating a Trauma-Informed Response

December 17, 2021 from 2 PM ET to 3:30 PM ET
Presented by Jane Anderson, AEquitas Attorney Advisor, and Vicki Ybanez, Executive Director of Red Wind Consulting, Inc.

Trauma is a direct result of the abuse and exploitation that offenders inflict on victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. This acute trauma, often compounded with historical trauma, impacts survivor’s ability to fully participate in the criminal justice process. As a result, a collaborative, trauma-informed response that takes historical context into consideration is essential to ensuring survivor access to justice while improving community safety.

This presentation will describe various forms of trauma that victims may experience throughout their lives and as a result of an offender’s victimization. Presenters will define cultural humility as a key element of a successful trauma-informed response that improves our individual, collective, and systematic responses to survivors. Additionally, the presenters will provide strategies to identify, document, and introduce evidence of trauma to improve case outcomes and community safety by holding offenders accountable.