Preparing to Serve Victims:

NWC Basic Volunteer

Training

Module 1
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Introduction
 PROGRAM GOALS

At the completion of this program, participants will be able to:

 Respond, appropriately, to the practical, physical, intellectual, emotional,
relational, financial, and spiritual crisis reactions of a crime victim.
 Apply effective communication skills, such as active listening, telephone crisis
intervention skills, and helpful phrases when providing assistance to victims of
crime.
 Respond, appropriately, to the spiritual needs and questions of the crime victim.
 Match crime victim needs with the appropriate community and referral
resources.
 Recruit and engage personal network of friends, family and associates to support
and assist the process.
 Follow appropriate reporting and record keeping protocol when assisting crime
victims and NWC's documentation of cases.

MICAH 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

PSALM 82:3
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted
and the destitute.

MATTHEW 22:37–40
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
 Modules 1&2

Module Objectives

At the completion of this module, the participant will be able to:

 Identify facts about violence in America.

 List the phases of crisis.

 List aspects of a victim's life that can be impacted by crime.

 List short-term and delayed crisis reactions.

 Identify behaviors that can cause secondary victimization.

Key Topics

 Violence in America

 Phases of Crisis

• Secondary Victimization

 The Impact of Crime

 Reactions to Victimization

• Short-Term
• Delayed
 Human Scavenger Hunt

INSTRUCTIONS: When your instructor gives the cue, move about the room and
find other participants who match the statements below. Do not use the
same person for more than one statement. When you find a match, write his
or her first name next to the statement.

Find someone who...

Has the same middle initial as yours…

Was born in the same month as you were…

Has the same favorite color as you…

Dislikes the same vegetable as you do (e.g., Broccoli or Brussel

sprouts) …

Has the same favorite song, movie, or book as you do…

 Violence in America
According to the research by the U.S. Department of Justice published in 2018:

 One property crime is committed every 4.1 seconds in this country.

 One burglary occurs every 22.6 seconds.
 One robbery is committed every 1.7 minutes.
 One aggravated assault is committed every 39 seconds.
 A rape is committed every 3.9 minutes.
 One murder is committed every 30.5 minutes in America.

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According to an earlier study, of victims of crime who are injured:

 51% require some type of medical treatment.

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 19% will receive treatment at a hospital.
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 4% require hospitalization for at least one night.
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 "Why Did This Happen to Me?"
(This is an excerpt from an article published in Psychology Today, Published, 1985.)

“After Being the Target of

Crime, the Victim Must
Rebuild Their Distorted View
of the World and
Themselves.”

By Steven Berglas

This year three out of every 100 Americans older than 12 will be victims of
violent crime. Besides suffering from material loss and physical harm, the victims
of rape, robbery, assault and other crimes must also cope with emotional and
psychological wounds that often cause even more damage. In a study done by
the American Friends Service Committee in 1971, victims rated "emotional
suffering" as a more serious problem than lost property, time and income.

Victims experience a complete violation of their rules of social order. Their

understanding of how they "fit" into society is shattered. By contradicting the
idea that the world is a just and/air place, victimization can destroy trust, the
safety of home or community, as well as the capacity to trust others.
Psychological problems often arise when victims draw negative conclusions
about themselves based on their failure to cope.

Being a crime victim can be as psychologically upsetting as suffering through a

disaster or a war, according to psychiatrist Gerald Caplan of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. What sets it apart is the personal nature of the
relationship between the victim and the criminal. Victims usually suffer
psychological damage in direct proportion to the amount of personal violation
that occurs. Property lost as a result of a burglary causes some psychological
stress because one's home and possessions are a symbolic extension of one's
self. Crimes involving force, such as muggings and armed robberies, cause even
greater stress as people lose their sense of personal safety. Assaults- especially
sexual assaults, the severest of violations of a person's sense of self imaginable
- are usually the most psychologically damaging.

These "invisible wounds," the psychological aftermath of victimization, need to

be understood and remedied, but they are too often ignored.
In dealing with the psychological problems of crime victims, crisis-intervention
and stress- management programs focus attention on two concerns: teaching
the victim to trust society again and restoring the victim's shattered sense of
self.

Downplaying the significance of the crime or failing to show sympathy for the
victim's devastation can be detrimental. Well-intentioned statements from
caregivers, such as "Cheer up, it's not as bad as it seems," or "Things could be
worse," can permanently rupture lines of communication between victims and
caregivers.

All victims ask "Why me?" after a crime, and their answers help determine how
well they reestablish a positive concept of themselves. Victims of a personal
crime often blame their trauma on their own present or past character. Rape
victims, for example, amplify minor moral transgressions to account for why
they were brutalized, and victims of incest frequently believe that if they had
been "better" people, their relatives would not have violated them.

Both the government and the mental-health community are beginning to

address the special needs of victims. Several states are developing victim' s
rights legislation that would require criminals to pay restitution to their victims.
Minnesota has a law encouraging people to be "Good Samaritans:" Citizens
who witness anyone in grave physical danger must provide them with some aid
(at a minimum, calling the police) or face misdemeanor charges and a $200
fine. On the therapeutic side, clinical services for victims of personal crime are
being established, and many existing social services have begun to integrate the
mental-health needs of victims into their programs.

Steve Berglas is a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital - Harvard Medical School,

where he is a specialist of corporate executive stress.
Reprinted with permission.
PHASES OF CRISIS
Morton Bard, in The Crime Victims Book, identifies three phases of crisis:
1. Impact
2. Recoil
3. Reorganization

IMPACT
Victims often experience a fight or flight response where adrenaline is released
into the system. The heart rate increases; people may hyperventilate; the body
may relieve itself of excess materials.

The impact phase is usually accompanied by symptoms of shock, euphoria over

survival, disorganization, anger, denial, and a range of emotional experiences.

The victim may become more dependent and childlike.

The person may also feel abandoned by God and may feel a lack of trust, both in
God and in others.
RECOIL
In the recoil phase, the victim is in a crisis state because the violent incident is
beyond the normal range of experience.

The victim fluctuates back and forth as he/she struggles to understand and cope.

Victims often replay the crime over and over in their minds. Victims work to face
and feel their emotions.

The victim tries to adapt to the situation and must deal with feelings of fear, anger,
alienation, self-blame, helplessness, and denial and feelings of isolation.

The sense of loss and grief can be prominent at this time.

The spiritual response may be characterized by questioning - "Why did this

happen, what is the purpose, what is the future, what is the reason for the crisis,
and what is the meaning of the event?"

This stage usually occurs one day to six weeks after the crime has occurred.

In this stage, the victim may experience "secondary" injuries from those who are
supposed to be assisting the victim, such as the criminal justice system, his/her
church, the community, family or friends.
SECONDARY VICTIMIZATION

In the book, I Can't Get Over It: A Handbook for Survivors, Secondary Victimization
occurs when individuals or "systems" respond to victims of trauma in the
following ways:

 Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization is the tendency for non-survivors to interpret most of the
survivor’s emotions and behaviors as connected to the event.
For example, a family member may claim that every emotional reaction and
stress response from a victim is related to the criminal events.

 Stigmatization
Stigmatization is judgment made by others concerning the psychological
consequences of a traumatic event. For example, a friend may tell a victim
that he is using his stress reactions, such as insomnia and uncontrollable
crying, as a way to gain attention and sympathy.

 Trivializing the event

Disbelief and denial occurs when the general description or specific details of
the traumatic event are not believed or are drastically minimized.
Discounting happens to many victims when the magnitude of the event and
its results are poorly understood.

 Denial of assistance
Necessary services that the victim truly needs after the traumatic event may
be denied because they are perceived as undeserved or unwarranted by the
systems providing the service.
REORGANIZATION
When the victim enters the third stage, the reorganization phase, he/she
works to put things into perspective and to reach a new equilibrium. In
other words - to put the pieces back together.

In this stage, crisis intervention will help the victim to reconstruct his or
her life. At this time, victims may appear " normal" again, but we must not
overlook the fact that the victim will never be the "same" as before the
incident.

In the reorganization stage, victims will come in contact with many people.
They will build new relationships, and find a new purpose in forgiving.

As time passes, the physical and emotional wounds will heal, but the scars
- both overt and hidden - will remain. There may still be some setbacks,
especially around the anniversary of the crime or when something
triggers a recollection of the event.

The more serious the crisis, the longer this stage will take. Experiencing a
crime can bring about some positive changes.

"The victim who receives appropriate help from family and friends, for
example, will come out of the crisis with a heightened appreciation for
them and a greater ability to seek their help again. Weathering a crisis can
be a strengthening experience for victims and those who love them." (The
Crime Victim's Book, p. 49)