Center Helps 'Restore Control' tp Survivors
Oct 30, 2011 by Mariana Heredia of the Red and Black
Center helps ‘restore control’ to survivors
By MARIANA HEREDIA on October 30, 2011
In the aftermath of a sexual assault, regaining control may be the most important step for the victim.
Gloria Varley, photo courtesy University of Georgia
“Interpersonal violence, sexual assault, stalking — those are all about power and control for the perpetrator, not about sex or sexual desire or uncontrollable desires,” said Sarah Chatfield, a mental health professional at the University’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services.
Chatfield said CAPS is part of a community network that helps sexual assault victims regain control.
“What we want to do as providers of the community on campus is to immediately restore control to the survivor,” she said. “So that means it’s very, very important to allow them to make the decisions that they feel they are best.”
Sally Sheppard, the executive director of The Cottage sexual assault center and children’s advocacy center, said her center works to explain the available options.
It is important for the victims to pick their own path when it comes to the healing process, she said.
“Mostly when we see college students it’s because of a recent rape,” she said. “If someone calls our hotline we let them know their options.”
Sheppard said The Cottage helps victims in coordinating sexual assault examinations, in which evidence is gathered from the victim’s body, offers support during the examinations and refers victims to the University’s Office of Violence Prevention.
Gloria Varley, associate director of health promotion at the University’s Health Center, said the OVP is now without a Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator.
She said Tara Misra, a former coordinator for health education and prevention at the University of New Mexico, would fill the role in January.
Until then, Varley is serving as a sort of interim coordinator.
She said she — along with CAPS, The Cottage and other services that make up “the network” — were all doing pieces of the work until Misra fills the position.
“I am doing faculty letters, CAPS is doing counseling and The Cottage is doing the referrals,” she said.
Varley said the role was mainly about prevention.
She said the coordinator will be available to talk about sexual assault prevention to classrooms while also acting as an advocate for students.
“They can send letters to faculty for someone who has been victimized and has been missing class, as it often happens, or upset, or maybe the perpetrator is somebody in the class,” she said.
Varley said campus police and the Women’s Clinic at the University were also part of the network.
She said the latter was usually an entry point for victims of sexual assault.
“So many of the sexual assault folks come through the women’s clinic,” she said. “So often it is through an annual exam and then ‘Oh by the way, this happened to me,’” she said.
Chatfield said the same conversation a lot of the times happens during therapy.
“It may be something we end up talking about, but it’s not why they initially came in,” she said. “Either way it doesn’t matter because again therapy provides a space to discuss these things and how they affect our lives.”
Sheppard also said the entry point did not matter.
She said it was more important for victims to simply get access to all of the support the network could offer.
“You don’t have to actually be a survivor of a recent sexual assault to receive our services,” she said. “You could also be a survivor of molestation as a child or sexual assault that happened in high school.”
WHO CAN HELP
The Cottage
Hotline: (706) 353-1912
northgeorgiacottage.org
Counseling and Psychiatric Services
(706) 542-2273
Crisis: (706) 542-2200
Tagged: red and black, uga health services, sarah chatfield, sally sheppard, the cottage