Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["O'Brien, Lynn" <>]

Dear list serve members,

We have been struggling with the issue of providing service to victims and 
perpetrators of sexual/dating violence and I wonder if you all have any ideas.
 
We do not see these folks as part of a mandate, because if we did we would be 
better able to "catch" the problem before it arises.  Instead, our difficulty 
is when we discover through consultation that both parties are working with 
our clinic on a volunteer basis or sometimes in advance of a possible mandate.
 
Here are some questions that we are grappling with  and wonder if you have 
found some effective ways to address these concerns:
 
*        Do you have some mechanism at intake that assists you in "flagging" 
such cases?
*        Do you have a special protocol for consultation on these cases so 
that victim's/perpetrator's rights to confidentiality are maintained and 
consultation about one case does not "color or influence" treatment of the 
other; or instead do you use group consultation of both parties to "enhance" 
treatment efforts?
*        Do you refuse to treat offenders, so that victim services take 
priority and offenders are referred out?  If so, what measures do you use to 
determine "who is an offender" and at what level of offense do you refer out?
*        What efforts do you take to prevent the victim and offender from 
inadvertently having contact in the CC?
 
Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.
 


Lynn O'Brien, LCSW, LMFT
Counselor
Coordinator of Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Services
Marquette University
phone:  (414) 288-7172
fax:  (414)288-7598