Many victim advocates have increasingly recognized the benefits of working more closely with sex offender treatment and management professionals, and those systems, in turn, are working to become more victim-centered in their approaches. In 2012, the Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM) was awarded an Office on Violence Against Women Technical Assistance grant to develop resources related to this type of collaboration. CSOM partnered with the Resource Sharing Project, the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, and NSVRC, over the next few years to develop resources and trainings. The first phase of this process involved surveying victim advocates, sex offender treatment providers, and management officers to identify the current level of cross-disciplinary collaboration occurring in communities. All three groups, interestingly, indicated a strong desire for more collaboration with their local counterparts; however very little meaningful collaboration was actually occurring at the time. The surveys further identified some of the common barriers being lack of understanding of one another’s roles and responsibilities; differing language and philosophies; and not knowing how to get started. The four collaborative partners worked together to create resources and tools to begin to address some of these common barriers, and to facilitate stronger collaborations.
"Promoting Collaboration Between Victim Advocates and Sex Offender Management Professionals: A Resource Package" is the first tool produced by this collaboration.
Publish Date
October 2016