NOVA’s 49th Annual Training Event was July 31 – August 3, 2023 in New Orleans. The Virtual Annual Training Event is online September 18-22, 2023!

This year, our theme is the Power of Connection. NOVA’s premier in-person training event was attended by approximately 2,000 victim assistance professionals from around the world! By engaging with your colleagues and community during this event, you created connections that can motivated and inspired so many. Keep connecting & join us for our Virtual Training Event! 

NOVA’s 49th Annual Training Event has ended. Please consider joining us for NOVA’s 2023 Virtual Training Event.

NOVA's 2023 Virtual Training Event
Registration now CLOSED

What is it?

In an effort to remain accessible to the NOVA community, we are offering both an in-person and virtual conference this year!

NOVA’s 2023 Virtual Training Event will take place September 18-22, 2023. Our curated selection of popular workshops are provided live and online, and online registrants will enjoy the pre-recorded videos of the keynotes at NOVA’s (in-person) 49th Annual Training Event in New Orleans. Training topics include (subject to change):

  • “Are You In A Safe Place To Talk?” An Inside Look Into A Domestic Violence Crisis Hotline
  • Connecting with Teen Brains: Teens, Technology & Social Media
  • Completing the Victim Advocacy Puzzle: The Separate but Complementary Roles of System-Based and Community-Based Advocates
  • In Their Shoes: Understanding Survivor’s Cultural Barriers
  • When Self-Care Isn’t Enough
  • Navigating Ethical Dilemmas from a Leadership Perspective
  • Sin by Silence: Impact on Family Members of Domestic Violence
  • Advocating for LGBTQ+ Survivors

Watch live or enjoy the recordings on your own time (available for 90 days). And don’t worry! Our virtual conference offers the same number of CEUs (19!) as the in-person event.

VIRTUAL Training Event Registration Rates

View the planned schedule of events & workshop descriptions!

NOVA has partnered with Bravura Technologies to streamline your conference experience! From online registration (in-person, virtual, or both), to on-site check-in, to the conference app; everything is now in one place to ensure a smoother beginning-to-end process for you!

Before beginning your registration process, please read through the FAQs which will help answer your questions before beginning this year’s new process!

Quick Guide to all you need to know about NOVA’s 49th Annual Training Event in New Orleans and the 2023 Virtual Training Event online! ⇒

Webpage Quick Guide

Keynote Speakers

 
 
Aswad Thomas is the Vice President of the Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ), National Director of ASJ’s flagship project, Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice (CSSJ), and the author of a book titled, The Stars Represent You and Me.  
 
Workshop Description
Aswad will share his experience as a gunshot victim and the lack of assistance he received- a common experience among similarly situated black men. He will also talk about Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, a network of thousands of crime survivors, creates healing spaces for crime survivors and teaches these same individuals how to advocate for policies that increases crime survivors’ access to assistance.

After working in the domestic violence movement for over a decade, Rachel Ramirez created the Center on Partner-Inflicted Brain Injury. In her 14 years at the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, Rachel has been supporting domestic violence programs in implementing trauma-informed approaches.

 
 
Workshop Description
Most people associate concussions, or traumatic brain injuries, with such things as football, military service, or car accidents. But what about violence–particularly domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking? The crime victim services field has known for decades that people experience terrible and traumatic assaults–often directed at the head, neck, and face–through blows to the head or strangulation. We are just beginning to understand how that violence impacts the brain, and how we provide our services. We will discuss the journey to put partner-inflicted brain injury on the map–and how it has altered our work forever.

Paula D Walters is a child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence survivor, and in 2006, she was a victim of a domestic violence incident that involved near-fatal strangulation. She is committed to raising awareness and providing education on the dangers at the intersections of abuse and brain injury.

 
Survivor Testimony

Tamara Jackson-Snowden is a powerful force in the cultural and social justice spheres of New Orleans. As volunteer President of the Social Aid and Pleasure Club Task Force, Tamara has achieved reforms on behalf of all local parading social aid and pleasure clubs.

As a victim-survivor of violence, Tamara joined SilenceIsViolence in 2009 as a volunteer consultant addressing victim services. She took over management of the SilenceIsViolence Victim Allies Project in 2010 and was appointed Executive Director in 2011.

Knowing Tamara’s track record in the community, Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s Administration hand-selected her to serve as Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention from April 2021 until its dissolvement in December 2022. With over 17 years of victim services experience, Tamara continues to advocate for social and criminal justice.

Survivor Testimony

On June 3, 2005, Bill Mitchell’s daughter, Kristin, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in her apartment in Conshohocken, PA.Twenty days prior, the Mitchell family attended Kristin’s graduation from Saint Joseph’s University near Philadelphia. That day was the last time they ever saw her alive.

Since those dark times of 2005, Bill has powerfully spoken out on the need for awareness and education about the warning signs and potentially dangerous consequences of dating violence. He has delivered over 150 speeches before high schools, colleges, law enforcement professionals, domestic violence agency personnel, and private companies. He has been interviewed on national TV (including Good Morning America), radio programs, national podcasts, and educational webinars, and in 2020, Bill published his When Dating Hurts book. It is a memoir that details Kristin’s murder, and his family’s journey towards healing through helping others. 

Survivor Testimony

Mayra Guillen is President and Founder of the I am Vanessa Guillen Foundation.

Mayra is the older sister of the late SPC Vanessa Guillen. Mayra became an advocate after her sister’s murder in order to help silence victims of sexual misconduct and other injustices in the military, becoming the MeToo movement in the military. 

Mayra’s advocacy has been successful since the I am Vanessa Guillen Bill was passed in NDAA 2021, along with an executive order by POTUS establishing sexual harassment as a military offense, which will protect our service members, give justice and accountability to silenced victims, and ultimately help save our soldiers sanity and their lives. Mayra is also featured in a Netflix documentary that achieved global streams. The documentary follows her family’s fight for historic reform, a journey that takes them to the Oval Office with former President Trump.

Got Questions? We have answers!

If you enter your email address and nothing happens, please see the message just below on the page that reads:

Enter your email if you are a NOVA member or Tap here to start a new registration. If you are a NOVA member and your details do not appear, please contact NOVA (conference@trynova.org) before proceeding.

 Please tap that first link to begin your registration.

 

In both the in-person and virtual event, you can receive up to 19 CEUs.

If you purchase the bundle (in-person and virtual event), you can earn up to 32 CEUs)

NOVA will no longer be generating invoices because you are now able to do everything online in one place via the online portal!

The attendee, or cardholder, can begin the process by registering the attendee. After entering the attendee’s basic information and selecting which registration product(s) are available (in-person, virtual add-on; virtual and/or membership options), you will then hit the “Purchase” button. Once on the registration details page, you can add another ‘Registrant’ at that time or proceed to your payment method. Selecting “Pay by Check” will provide a detailed invoice of those to be registered. The registration invoice email will be sent to the original attendee but additional email addresses can be added to receive a confirmation email at the bottom of the page.

Once the invoice is approved by the organization, if a credit card payment would like to be made instead, the account is available for future access via sign-in on the online portal. If the organization would rather pay by check, mail a copy of the confirmation email to NOVA along with the check to:

NOVA
Attn: NOVA Conference Registration
510 King Street, Ste 220
Alexandria, VA 22314

If the staff member (attendee) has already registered for the event and has an online account, please have them provide you their log-in (sent in the confirmation email) to access their account. You will then be able to go to the “View Orders” page and pay the pending amount to finish their registration.

If the attendee has not yet gone online, you as the cardholder may go online and register the attendee completely by filling in their relevant information and completing the payment. On the final confirmation page, you will also be able to send the payment confirmation email to yourself.

The registration fee covers attendance of the 4-day event, to include access to over 120 different workshops, dynamic keynote sessions, an incredible Survivor Tribute as well as the Opening and Closing. Meals, transportation, and airfare are all separate from the registration fee.

Check out the schedule at-a-glance!

A group is 5 or more individuals registering at the same time in the online portal with payment made as a one-time bulk payment. The discount will be automatically applied to your online purchase order once all 5 individual attendees have been added at one time (going back into the account later to add more attendees will count as a new order; so, ensure you have all attendee’s information as it will need to be entered at the same time to qualify for the group purchase. Making multiple purchases of less than 5 will not qualify for the group discount and discounts will not be made retroactively). 

This rate is only intended for students under the age of 25 looking to enter the field of victim services who is not already employed with a victim service agency. You can email NOVA at: conference@trynova.org to confirm you meet NOVA’s student rate policy and be provided the code to complete your registration if you do.

NOVA does offer limited need-based scholarships that cover the conference registration fee and 4 nights at the hotel; the scholarship does not cover any other fees associated with attending the event. The scholarship window will be open February 15 through March 15, 2023 and requires a letter of support from your agency’s supervisor should you plan to attend the in-person conference. NOVA’s Scholarship Committee will meet in March to select the five scholarship recipients.  

NOVA does offer a discounted rate for NOVA members, but there is not a separate discounted rate for military attendees.

In-Person Event: For all paid registrations, a refund, less a $90 cancellation charge, is available if a cancellation request is received via mail, fax or email at the NOVA office by 5:00PM, ET June 15, 2023. No refunds are available, for any reason, after June 15, 2023, 5:00PM, ET.

NOVA is unable to refund only the virtual or in-person component of a bundled deal. Your total registration cost is subject to the same cancellation policy above.

Paid registrations for the in-person 49th Annual Training Event may not be transferred to NOVA’s 2023 Virtual Conference after June 15, 2023, 5:00PM ET.

Virtual Conference: For all paid registrations, a refund, less a $90 cancellation charge, is available if a cancellation request is received via mail, fax or email at the NOVA office by 5:00PM, ET August 15, 2023. No refunds are available, for any reason, after August 15, 2023, 5:00PM, ET.

NOVA is unable to refund only the virtual or in-person component of a bundled deal. Your total registration cost is subject to the same cancellation policy above.

Paid registrations for the in-person 49th Annual Training Event may not be transferred to NOVA’s 2023 Virtual Conference after June 15, 2023, 5:00PM ET.

Because of the varying needs and costs associated, NOVA is not able to provide continuing education (CEUs) for every discipline, however, NOVA is able to provide NACP and D-SAACP CEUs for the event. This does not mean that you may not be able to utilize the conference for CEUs for your discipline, however, you would need to contact your organization to find out how to use your CEU report to obtain the continuing education credit you are seeking. 

NOVA strongly encourages all attendees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and will continue to follow the CDC’s most up-to-date guidance for preventing the spread of COVID in large groups. This may include requiring attendees to provide proof of vaccination and/or take other preventative measures.

At this time, NOVA is not planning on a masked event. NOVA will continue to monitor CDC guidance issued for bringing a large group together and will send out an eblast immediately to all registered attendees should anything change in the guidance in order to safely bring together staff, volunteers, attendees and exhibitors.

NOVA no longer offers on-site registration. The deadline to register through the online portal and pay for the in-person event is July 15, 2023. The deadline to register and pay for the virtual event is September 8, 2023.

Marriott New Orleans off Canal Street valet parking fee is $50.71 and NOVA attendees will receive a 25% discount on in/out valet-parking. As the hotel is conveniently located in New Orleans and has extremely limited valet parking, NOVA encourages all attendees to consider ride-share, cabs, SuperShuttle type options to access the hotel and local area as once at the hotel, the area is very walking friendly. 

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Become a Sponsor

Is Your Organization/Company Searching for a Great Exposure Opportunity?

Register as an Exhibitor for NOVA’s Annual Training Event! With an expected attendance of more than 2,000 professionals and multifaceted opportunities for engagement, you are perfectly positioned to expand your marketing opportunities, brand awareness and connections.  To match your budget and marketing objectives, NOVA offers multiple exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities—all designed to maximize your exposure and enhance your marketing goals. 

Learn more: Email chris.greenslade@csgmmc.com

About Us

Founded in 1975, NOVA is the oldest national victim assistance organization of its type in the United States and is the recognized leader in victim advocacy, education and credentialing.

2023 Theme

The Power of Connection

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