Recovery of Self

Intersectionality

Critical to this work is challenging the core beliefs and power structures that serve and protect the dominant class while keeping others in a one down, and often vulnerable position, with an increased risk for harm, traumatization and re-traumatization.  As a community, we must work to ensure effective support exists for every victim in every system, and abusive persons have no incentive or permission to continue to harm others. We must work to eradicate racial, gender and economic injustice and understand the additional vulnerabilities and challenges that come with intersectionality and domestic violence. While domestic violence does not discriminate based on race, gender, religion, class, ability or sexual orientation, society does not treat all abuse victims equally.  We cannot eradicate gender based violence without tending to the very conditions that disempower women, girls, people of color, immigrants,  LGBTQAI+, people with disabilities, or any other marginalized group.  And we must be able to see survivors as the courageous, resilient, resourceful, creative, and complex human beings that they truly are. This begins with a deep awareness of the dynamics and truths of the experience and impact of domestic violence, as well an awareness of ourselves, our own biases, our privilege, our culture and our role.

Care for the Caregiver

Organizations and individuals experience vicarious trauma as an inevitable result of being exposed to trauma in our work, compounded by trauma in our communities and our personal lives. As organizations, we must empower workers to take care of themselves. We must continually and regularly pay attention to the culture being created and shaped in our organization, and how our policies, procedures, communications and practices are, or are not, intentionally centered around Survivors’ needs and voices. We must challenge ourselves to be in continual reflection in order to recognize our strengths and limitations, as well as searching for and discovering ways to do our work better. As workers, we must take care of ourselves and take responsibility for our well being. We must stay in self-reflection and make choices, often difficult and painful, that help us stay in a healthy place so we can sustain the work. Sometimes this means letting go of the work for some time to get back to healthy.

Survivor-Centered

The Stages of Healing is a trauma-specific model and framework that helps organizations, individuals and systems anchor in daily practice, as well as in difficult, confusing times. It reflects the complexities of survivors’ experiences, while simplifying how we come to recognize what a survivor needs and understand core helping concepts throughout their journey. The framework and toolkit ultimately help us center every facet of our work around the Survivor.