1-Day: Empowering Victim Advocates: Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities

Victim advocates play a critical role in ensuring survivors of crime receive compassionate, accessible, and effective support. Individuals with disabilities experience violence and victimization at disproportionately high rates and often face significant barriers when seeking services, reporting crimes, or navigating systems of support.

During this one-Day training victim advocates will gain practical strategies to support survivors with disabilities using trauma-informed and survivor-centered approaches. Participants will explore barriers individuals with disabilities often face when seeking services, examine how trauma may impact survivors with diverse needs, and identify ways to create more inclusive and accessible services. The training will also discuss strategies for supporting caregivers and family members and highlight the advocate’s role as a liaison between survivors, caregivers, investigators, and multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) to help facilitate communication and keep survivor needs central throughout the investigative and service process.