Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors
Program Overview and Goals
The National Organization for Victim Advocacy (NOVA) is proud to serve as the Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Provider for the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors Project. In this role, the project team provides TTA to community advocates, civilian criminal justice, and allied professionals responding to military-connected survivors (active duty members, National Guard/Reserve, Veterans, and Family members) of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (DVSAS).
“As a community DV/SA advocate, I really appreciate the 3-full days of great discussions, resources and learning tools that I received on how to work with military-connected survivors. I now have the tools to support military survivors.”
– OVW Grantee
The Military-Connected Survivors Project covers a wide variety of training and technical assistance. Our available topics of interest, include but are not limited to:
- Coordinating, educating, and supporting victim centered military-civilian response protocols designed to reduce barriers to seeking assistance and reporting.
- Military culture and dynamics of victimization
- Victims’ rights within civilian and military justice systems
- Lethality assessments and safety planning with military-connected survivors
- Ethics, confidentiality, and reporting options
- Military Protective Orders (MPOs) and Civilian Protective Orders (CPOs)
- Financial Remedies for Military-Connected Victims
- Outreach and advocacy to historically marginalized and underserved military-connected victims
- Building and Sustaining Military-Civilian Coordinated Community Response (CCR) Programs
- Developing Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with military partners
- Best practices and Military-Civilian Coordinated Community Response Teams
Our Training and Technical Assistance programming includes:
- Monthly training, webinars, and/or brown bag discussions that are focused on supporting community professionals develop and enhance outreach and advocacy services for military-connected survivors of DVSAS.
- Customized training tailored to states, U.S. territories, tribal jurisdictions, and communities invested in developing civilian-military CCR teams, partnerships, and trauma-informed response systems.
- Individualized support to include one-on-one consultations, site visits (virtual and in-person available), CCR Team support and guidance, digital toolkit and tip sheets, and virtual and in-person training as requested.
Upcoming Training & Events
NOVA invites all civilian advocates, criminal justice personnel, allied professionals, and OVW grantees working with military-connected survivors of DVSAS to attend it’s training and events.
Coming soon!
Recordings of Past Training
CEUs are not provided for watching recordings.
“Exploring New Connections to Prevent & Respond to IPV in the Military & Veteran Populations”
“Connecting: Suicide, Interpersonal Violence, and the Military Community”
“Identifying and Responding to Stalking in Military Communities”
This project is supported by Award No. 15JOVW-22-GK-04039-MUMU, awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication, conference agenda, or product, are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Department of Justice.
Frequently asked questions!
Although our training and technical assistance is designed to support civilian practitioners, we welcome all professionals who want to gain more knowledge on working with military-connected survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and/or stalking to attend trainings and events.
We recommend Department of Defense (DoD) Advocates to visit Department of Defense Sexual Assault Advocate Certification Program (D-SAACP) to receive more information on training requirements.
To request customized training or support, contact NOVA’s Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors Project Team. Our experienced NOVA team, along with our nationally-recognized Subject Matter Expert Project Partners; including NCVLI and Soteria Solutions, will work to tailor TTA support to your community’s individual needs.
As an OVW technical assistance provider, most of our training and technical assistance is provided free of charge to OVW grantees and prospective grantees.
The NOVA Military TTA Project Team encourages you to view and download our educational materials, to include the Toolkit for Advocating for Military-Connected Victims, Communities of Practice, Bilingual Tip Sheets, and Coordinated Community Response Assessment. For access to these or any other materials, please contact [email protected]
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