2008 Woodie Awards
Helping Survivors Regain Their Voice
Valley Trauma Center helps victims of assault.
Maggie Ownbey
Issue date: 5/25/05 Section: News
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"[We make it as] non-traumatic as possible under extreme circumstances," said Jae Weiss, Valley College alumna and Director of Prevention Education at the Valley Trauma Center in Van Nuys. "[We] honor their humanity, [at a time when] they have been stripped of their personhood."
The center, which opened in 1986, offers the only crisis hotlines serving the 1.8 million people of the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. It is funded through donations, grants (including one from Homeland Security) and events like the April 23 "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" fundraiser, at which more than 200 men slipped into high heels of every shape and height and walked down Ventura Boulevard.
"It's a three-fold opportunity," said Frank Baird, founder of the fundraiser and clinical supervisor at the center. "Increase public awareness of the need for the center, invite men to join in the efforts to stop rape, and raise money to support the center's efforts and services."
When the center's hotline gets a call from a forensic nurse, Valley Trauma sends a rape crisis advocate to a hospital designated for sexual assault response teams to be at the side of a rape victim. The advocate is not there as a part of the exam process, but to bring support and to believe and care about the survivor and the family.
Valley student Jonathan Vickburg was inspired to volunteer at the center after Weiss spoke to his sociology class. Becoming a rape crisis advocate will help earn him an A in the course, but the lesson goes beyond a grade.
