Supporting Survivor Reentrants: Learning to Serve Those Returning Home

I am so glad to finally share with you in an August 10, 2021 training the resources our Supporting Survivor Reentrants Team has developed This is the result of one and a half years of brilliant minds and passionate hearts working together to improve services for surivors of sexual violence and human trafficking who are returning home.

One impact of mass incarceration is mass reentry. North Carolina incarcerates 639 per 100,000 annually and each year 22,000 individuals are released from state prisons back into North Carolina communities. COVID-19 increased these numbers, and many who were released were elderly, those with COVID-19 needing immediate medical treatment, and many without a post-release plan in place to coordinate housing and other needs. Reentrants face enormous challenges to meet daily needs of housing, employment, transportation, and recovery services. Recidivism rates are high because of these unmet needs. Trauma from sexual violence experienced prior to, during, or post release compounds these challenges. Additionally, the culture of silence and shame of sexual abuse among justice-involved individuals coupled with the “cost of disclosure” creates even greater barriers to healing.

Through funding from the NC Governor’s Crime Commission, NCCASA collaborated with member program Orange County Rape Crisis Center and the Orange County Local Reentry Council to develop the Supporting Survivor Reentrants Resource to address this service gap in a local community. We are pleased to introduce this resource and hope that you will join with us in reducing sexual violence among the justice-involved while strengthening responses to sexual violence on a national, statewide and community level.

In this two-hour workshop Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist and Project Lead, Courtney Dunkerton, will facilitate a panel of the Project Team representing Orange County Rape Crisis Center, Orange County Local Reentry Council, and national partner, Just Detention International, in which they will discuss challenges, successes, and lessons learned. They will also highlight the needs and barriers to services for survivor reentrants, discuss the work of NC Local Reentry Councils, and share evaluation findings and recommendations.

You will also have access to two resource tools: The BLESS Tool Booklet and the Returning Home Resource and Guide for Service Providers. The workshop will provide training on how to use these tools.

It is our sincere hope that this resource, Supporting Survivor Reentrants, will inspire you to create cultures of healing for ALL in your own communities. 

You can register for this training here. Hope to see you!

 

– Blog post by Courtney Dunkerton, Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist