February 25, 2021
Late last year, as part of the PPE distribution, the Idaho Coalition asked programs what their greatest COVID training needs were. We received great feedback from many programs. An overall theme became apparent; directors are deeply concerned about the well-being of advocates who are tirelessly providing care and support to survivors while holding all the new stressors that have come from COVID. Advocates hold the stories of the survivors they serve everyday and COVID has made us all feel a little heavier.
VAWNET has provided some tips from Francoise Mathieu’s “Transforming Compassion Fatigue into Compassion Satisfaction: Top 12 Self-Care Tips for Helpers” to help advocates care for themselves when they may be experiencing compassion fatigue.
For more detailed information about these tips visit https://vawnet.org/news/how-can-victim-advocates-find-balance-when-caring-themselves-and-supporting-victims-gender.
One last tip, don’t forget to breathe. We will get through this!
Kailey Carter-Zitterkopf
kailey@engagingvoices.org
Three Things to reach out to me for:
The Idaho Coalition has sent out all our materials for this campaign, so programs and other folks across the state should be receiving those soon!
Thank you to everyone who participated in activities this month and we look forward to hopefully joining together more in person next year to continue this work.
HB 220: We have an update on HB 220 (formerly HB 17) regarding public funds for abortion, more commonly known as the defund Planned Parenthood bill.
This legislation would withhold public funds (we believe VOCA and FVPSA funds are included in this) from any agency that may refer for abortion or provide counseling that includes abortion. This could potentially apply to options counseling—which would affect our programs and their ability to best serve survivors.
HB 220 passed out of the House State Affairs committee this morning.
S 1089: Spousal Rape; this bill will get rid of the spousal rape statute and will simply define rape as rape. It is currently in the 14th order.
S 1098: 12 Months Birth Control; this bill will allow people to receive up to 12 months of contraception. Currently, people can only access 1 – 3 months at a time. This will be especially beneficial for stalking survivors. It passed out of Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee and will be going to the Senate Floor.
Health, Healing and Relationships: Intimate Partner Violence, Trauma, and HIV: March 10th, 9AM PST/10AM MT
This virtual training from The National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence will address the critical intersections between HIV and gender based violence when trying enhance both violence and HIV prevention efforts, and to improve health outcomes for survivors. This training was designed for teams of HIV care providers and domestic and sexual violence advocates to learn the CUES intervention and get support implementing the approach in their communities.
Webinar Recording: What Victim Service Providers Need to Know About the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout for Survivors
The Domestic Violence Housing and Technical Assistance Consortium (DVHTAC) held a webinar on 1/27 to provide the latest COVID-19 updates as well as answers to questions about the vaccination rollout for survivors who are receiving services at VSPs. Many resources, including the slides from the presentation and sample policies, were shared following the webinar. Please reach out to me at lrolandi@nnedv.org if you’d like for me to pass along these resources! Webinar link here.
*** ALL material orders are currently on hold, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. ***
Reminder that shipping for all material orders made by Programs on the Idaho Coalition website store is FREE of cost, please use the below coupon for all orders.
Visit the online store to view current Idaho Coalition materials available for order. For store questions, please contact Lacey Sinn.
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