Supporting Survivor Reentrants Project Overview
These resources are for collaborators across North Carolina to support survivors of sexual violence who are reentering our communities. In it we lift up the work of the Orange County Local Reentry Council (OCLRC) and the Orange County Rape Crisis Center (OCRCC), share the tools we developed, and the lessons we learned together. We will look at the needs of reentrants who are also survivors of child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and/or sexual violence before, during, or post-incarceration.
While understanding the priority of meeting basic daily needs for those returning home, reentrants also bear the trauma, stigma, and shame of sexual abuse which are significant barriers to accessing support for sexual violence. We wanted to develop a resource that would give information about local services in a low impact way to reach and connect reentrant survivors to services.
It became apparent in the course of this project that service providers needed a better understanding of sexual abuse and resources, a shared language, and skills to engage with those who choose to disclose sexual violence. To develop these resources, we wanted to draw from the lived experiences of survivor reentrants. While there is information available from our national partners, we wanted local participants in the form of a focus group that reflected local needs and local resources.
To do this, we needed to build and draw on collaborative partnerships on the grassroots level. NCCASA collaborated with the Orange County Rape Crisis Center and the Orange County Local Reentry Council to develop resources and training that would reach survivor reentrants. As we talk about how this happened, we highlight roadblocks and resilience the team experienced during the process.
Besides the expected challenges of inequities and service gaps for survivors returning home, COVID, as we all know, changed the landscape for all of us in every area of our lives. Throughout the many months we worked together, we showed up for each other, as each team member experienced the heaviness, trauma, and loss of that season. And, as our LRC and RCC friends carried the burden and impact of COVID in their work as it further marginalized the already marginalized, more creative solutions emerged. We practiced flexibility and found ways to adapt to an ever-changing environment in such a way that the end result was much better than what we had originally imagined.
It is our sincere hope that this resource, Supporting Survivor Reentrants, will inspire you to create cultures of healing for ALL in your communities.
Additional Resources
Supporting Survivor Reentrants: Learning to Serve Those Returning Home Resource Manual
BLESS Supporting Survivor Reentrants Who Disclose Sexual Abuse is a resource for Local Reentry Council staff to reference when a survivor reentrant discloses previous or current experiences of sexual abuse.
Returning Home Resource and Guide provides information to individuals returning home who have experienced sexual abuse at any point in their lives, with ways to access local and national services. The Guide provides information to service providers with ways to use the RHR.