The GAO released a report yesterday detailing their review of forensic nursing training, funding and availability availability in the US. It’s a fascinating read, and the findings are none too surprising. Take the time to go through this one. Click through for highlights:
The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault has an upcoming webinar: Language Matters from Reporting to Healing. The session will be held April 26th from 10-11:30 am CT. Click through for details:
In 2010 the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (a project of Polaris) published tools to assist clinicians in assessing human trafficking victims. In February of this year, they updated these resources. Aside from the algorithm, there are also several other docs that should prove to be helpful. A good focus for future staff or multidisciplinary team meetings, no?
We were focused on the social this weekend–catching up with friends and planning a get-together for Tuesday evening (not to mention planning the menu for our first Seder later this month). Yesterday had its lazy moments, though, and for the first time in a long time, we sat in front of our fireplace (because it’s *snowed* this weekend) and read the NYT cover to cover. Divine. Plenty of good reads, so here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:
New from the Joyful Heart Foundation—Navigating Notification: A Guide to Re-engaging Sexual Assault Survivors Affected by the Untested Rape Kit Backlog (PDF). It’s the latest in a string of docs and webinars focused on this topic. Worth checking out.
Time once again for Articles of Note, your (almost) monthly guide to what’s new in the peer-reviewed literature. Keep in mind this is an overview of what’s piqued my interest, not a comprehensive list of everything relevant, so I encourage you to check out what else is available. Click through for the Word doc with active links, and the more printer-friendly PDF. As always, I ask that you properly attribute the doc if you use it or share.
After a lovely week in the mountains with my kid, I am back at home for a startling 3 weeks(ish), finding all of the travel scheduled for this month either postponed or otherwise resolved. No complaints because it is full-on spring in DC, one of the loveliest times of the year here. I spent *a lot* of time hanging out in airports on Saturday, so plenty of time to peruse my social media streams. Here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:
OVC TTAC has a webinar coming up on April 4th from 1:30-3pm ET. The session, Title IX and Clery Act Intersections, will review how the two federal laws influencing campus prevention and response to sexual assault intersect regarding requirements, resources, and options available to campus survivors. Register here.
SAFEta has one other webinar this spring: Privacy Considerations in Sexual Assault. The session will be an update of the popular webinar offered in 2010. The webinar will be held May 11th at 1pm ET. Jessica Mindlin from the Victim Rights Law Center will be the featured speaker. Register here.
I’m in Colorado this week, my happy place, so I can’t guarantee that I will be posting every day. But the lovely thing about vacation is that there’s ample time to surf the interwebs. Plenty caught my attention–here are the highlights since last we spoke:
Vera Institute has a new online guide, Partnering with Community Sexual Assault Response Teams: A Guide for Community Confinement and Juvenile Detention Facilities. The guide has 4 phases: gathering information and planning; working with the community SART; incorporating a SART approach into facility policy; and training facility staff. This is a good resource for those of you in corrections, as well as those of you whose communities have the aforementioned facilities (what a great opportunity for expanding collaboration). You can download the full guide if you’d prefer (PDF). I haven’t worked my way through the whole thing yet, so I can’t provide much feedback, but one way or another, it’s worth a look.
If you haven’t yet seen Samantha Bee’s spectacular (and definitely NSFW) take on kit backlogs and the obstacles to getting them tested, please–enjoy. And if you aren’t somewhere where you can watch the video, there are some great media mentions, Vox being my favorite.
[Apologies for not being able to embed the video–having some difficulties with WordPress.]
I will be heading on vacation soon, so this week is all about tying up loose ends so I can go away without the weight of not-yet-completed work looking over my shoulder. EVAWI is in town this week, so many of you will be here in DC; while multiple scheduling conflicts prohibit me from attending, I’m going to stop over tomorrow to catch up with some folks. Perhaps I will run into you there:) Sasha just got back in town; she and I hadn’t had a weekend together in a month, so it was a pretty chill couple of days in our house. Much cooking and feeding of people, my favorite way to spend down time. I caught up on my social media feeds in the evening when jet lag was hitting my spouse hard; here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
CDC just released a new publication, Preventing Multiple Forms of Violence: A Strategic Vision to Connect the Dots. From the site: The different forms of violence—child abuse and neglect, youth violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, elder abuse and suicidal behavior—are interconnected and often share the same root causes. Understanding the overlapping causes of violence and the things that can protect people and communities can help us better prevent violence in all its forms. CDC’s Preventing Multiple Forms of Violence: A Strategic Vision for Connecting the Dots (PDF) describes the Division of Violence Prevention’s 5-year vision and areas of strategic focus to help us understand, respond to, and ultimately prevent violence across the lifespan.
When I was running an errand yesterday I heard the tail end of this discussion on extending the statutes of limitations on sex crimes on the Diane Rehm Show. It’s obviously a timely topic, and I very much appreciated the fact that a defense attorney was one of the 4 guests participating, since it added greater depth to this discussion. If you have a chance, it’s a good listen.
SAFEta has a webinar coming up next month, Virtual Resources for Survivors of Sexual Assault. The session will be held April 18th from 1-2:30pm ET. Click through for all the details:
Bear with me, FHO readers, because these next couple weeks are rather hectic, so I will do what I can to keep things regular here on the site. An editing meeting for a project today, and then a brand new course starting Tuesday (a 3-day workshop on honing presentation skills) mean this week is pretty full. I worked most of the weekend in preparation for what’s coming up, so I didn’t spend much time just surfing. But there were still a few things that caught my here–here’s the run down of what I’ve been reading since last we spoke:
We’re just under a month away from Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and our friends at NSVRC have, among their SAAM graphics, some lovely coloring pages (in English and Spanish). Perfect for relieving a moment or two of stress. Consider it a small measure of self-care, with a big dose of messaging.
I’m not sure how I missed this, but the Physicians for Human Rights published a forensic brief on virginity and hymen testing (PDF) last year that is most certainly worth your time. The references alone…
{PS: This document is available in multiple languages}
Well, this is welcome news: the new IAFN published SANE Exam Prep Guide is now available. It’s a single guide for both the SANE-A and SANE-P exams, so while it’s a bit spendy, it’s two in one. I haven’t seen one yet, but according to the site, it has:
Just in time for the April certification exams…