Community Solutions event raises awareness of sexual assault
On April 1, staff members and volunteers from Community
Solutions held their annual
”
Time to Stop Rape
”
event in which they highlight how frequently rape is committed
in the United States by raising flags on the lawn in front of the
Briggs Building.
Community Solutions event raises awareness of sexual assault
On April 1, staff members and volunteers from Community Solutions held their annual “Time to Stop Rape” event in which they highlight how frequently rape is committed in the United States by raising flags on the lawn in front of the Briggs Building.
According to the most recent statistics available, a rape is committed every 1.9 minutes in the United States, based on numbers from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2008.
The annual event is meant to increase awareness of the crimes during April, Sexual Assault Awareness month, but also to let survivors know what resources are out there to help them. Community Solutions had a table set up at the event with pamphlets about their programs and advice for residents. Other organizations to participate in the event included Emmaus House, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and the California Highway Patrol.
“People aren’t always going to report it,” said Debbie Ruiz, a case manager for Solutions to Violence at Community Solutions, of sexual assault. “They are afraid. They think, ‘It must have been my fault. I should have known … I shouldn’t have been drinking or I shouldn’t have been out late.’ But it’s never too late and it’s never your fault.”
Nevertheless, the number of clients who have used Community Solutions services in San Benito for 2008-09, the most recent figures available, doubled from the year before. Ruiz went out on in-person responses, where she responds at the request of a law enforcement officer, 47 times and received 19 crisis calls to the office (see numbers box below).
Stigma in a small community
Ruiz said in a small community, it can be even harder for a victim to come forward, especially if their abuser is someone with status in the county.
Community Solutions offers counseling for people who have been the victim of rape or other sexual assault as well as support for those who decided to report the crime to law enforcement officials.
She said the hardest part for many victims is the stigma, feelings of shame and embarrassment.
The thing they need most is “just for you to listen. Not say anything. Listen and believe them,” Ruiz said.
Toni Lamps, who has been volunteering at Community Solutions for a year, agreed that clients are just looking for someone to hear them.
“You need to be a good listener and be able to identify the needs and solutions in the community,” Lamps said.
The agency will also be hosting V-Men, a free workshop to engage men in a dialogue about ending violence against women. The workshops will be a chance to create a script entitled “10 Ways to Be a Man” that will be presented on VDay 2010, April 15, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Mars Hill Coffeehouse in Hollister. It is part of a global effort to stop violence against women and girls.
Ruiz said most of the time sexual assault is committed by someone the victim knows.
“The reality is it is often someone they know, an acquaintance, a co-worker,” she said. “It can be harder (to report) when it is someone you don’t think is bad. There can be denial that they can’t believe it happened. They wonder, ‘What did I do wrong?'”
Community Solutions staff members offer 10 visits to victims of sexual assault and they can refer people out for counseling to other agencies in the community. They also work closely with law enforcement officials and have had police officers come to their offices so victims can report a crime in a safe environment. Staff members and volunteers also work with people who are going through a trial, explaining the steps of it and what their role will be.
“When they come in, they are scared and not sure what will happen,” Ruiz said. “I let them know everything they discuss is confidential. If they are under 18, I am a mandatory reporter, but we ask, ‘What is it you need?’ We want to make them feel safe and give them choices. It makes them feel empowered when someone has just stripped them of a lot of things.”
Community Solutions offers a variety of services
In addition, Community Solutions offers self-defense classes; a six-week support group for survivors of sexual assault; and the Safe, Strong and Free Child Abuse Prevention Program.
Ruiz said they can go out to schools to give the program, or if a group of parents is interested, they can arrange to have the program for a public group.
“We go into schools and talk about child abuse,” she said, “We talk about good touches and bad touches and strangers.”
She said one of the key things they teach children is that they can’t tell the difference between a good stranger and a bad stranger based on how a person looks.
“We need to empower kids to say no to an adult,” she said.
She said the program also discusses bullying and, with the younger kids, she talks about the “uh-oh” feeling, the feeling they might get in the pit of their stomach when they are in an uncomfortable situation.
Fostering partnerships
Ruiz said one of the biggest changes last year was the opening of a sexual assault response team location in south Santa Clara County. Prior to that, victims of rape had to go as far as San Jose for a medical exam in criminal cases. She said the South County SART location came from a partnership with local law enforcement agencies in San Benito, Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
Ruiz said her staff also works closely with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which has an office on Seventh Street, in Hollister.
“They don’t know if they have an STD and everything is confidential (at Planned Parenthood),” Ruiz said.
Alondra Betancourt and Mayra Cortez, volunteers at Planned Parenthood said the staff work with clients to make them comfortable, even going as far as letting them come in through a backdoor of the clinic.
“We go above and beyond to accommodate them,” Betancourt said. “We can refer them to counseling if they don’t know what to do. The clinicians are helpful.”
Cortez said sometimes it takes a few visits for a client to admit to a sexual assault.
“Maybe the first time they don’t say anything, but as they build confidence they open up,” she said.
Global crimes hit home
One of the newer issues Community Solutions has been dealing with in San Benito and south Santa Clara counties is victims of human trafficking.
“This is a rural area,” Ruiz said, adding that some of the victims have worked as farm laborers, house servants or in restaurants.
One woman from Oaxaca, in Mexico, was 14 when someone arranged for her to marry an acquaintance, a common age for marriage in the culture. She had actually been sold to a middle-aged man for 100,000 pesos and was forced to live with the man in Georgia, where he abused her. She returned home, but was still afraid her captor might recapture her. She eventually moved to California, where she found help at Community Solutions.
Ruiz said while all the cases are confidential, those cases are especially precarious since the victims have often been threatened that their families back home will be hurt if they report the crime.
“These are more difficult because of language and safety,” she said.
Ruiz reiterated that the services at Community Solutions are free and confidential.
“It is important for the community to know so we can be an asset,” Ruiz said.
By the Numbers
2008-09 Community Solutions services
47 – in-person response
19 – crisis calls
54 – clients who came in for follow-up counseling within 24 hours
46 – clients who used peer counseling services
17 – clients who used accompaniment services
16 – clients who used advocacy services
14 – number of presentations or events conducted by Community Solutions
177 – number of people to attend presentations or events
Resources:
Community Solutions
310 Fourth St., in Hollister
637-1094. Online at www.communitysolutions.org
Community Solutions
Rape Crisis Lines
637-7233 or 800-656-4673
Domestic Violence
Crisis Lines
637-7233 or 800-799-7233
Planned Parenthood Facts of Life Line
800-711-9848
Trevor Hotline (for gay youth)
800-850-8078
Planned Parenthood
390 Seventh St., 634-1880. www.ppmarmonte.org
