April is sexual assault awareness month

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Harrison Withrow
  • 434 ARW Public Affairs
April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, and at Grissom the spotlight is on volunteer victim advocates trained to support those in need if a situation occurs.

Volunteer victim advocates are a key part of Grissom’s efforts to prevent and respond to sexual assault and provide support to victims of sexual assault along with promoting awareness in the community.

Grissom's VVAs are tasked with providing non-judgmental, supportive and empathetic regard, said Amy Little, 434th Air Refueling Wing sexual assault response coordinator. They must uphold impeccable personal standards as well as the standards of the Air Force when providing essential support.

“Advocates are there to be agents of change, both in their installations and the local community,” said Little. These are individuals who uphold their values every day and have chosen advocacy as an additional duty.”

Their responsibilities include crisis intervention, referral and on-going non-clinical care to victims until advocacy is no longer needed. Every VVA must adhere to a professional code of ethics and treat all information, restricted or not, as sensitive personal information.

VVAs are a part of the community response and Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, often assigned immediately after a restricted or unrestricted report is made to the SARC with the victim’s permission. They are steady supports and present various options but ultimately allow victims to decide what course of action to take.

“All of our VVAs are thoroughly trained and understand the confidentiality requirements for communication between victims and advocates,” said Little.

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. The Citizen Airmen from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.

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