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

["NIX, SHANNON" <>]

Maria,

 

Good morning!  Here at the University of South Carolina we have multiple groups of peer educators that are housed in many different areas at the university.  The peer educators that Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention & Prevention (my office) and the rest of Campus Wellness utilize are exempt from reporting as they ‘work’ under the umbrella of Student Health Services, and all employees in Student Health Services are confidential resources (this includes my office, Campus Wellness, Faculty/Staff Wellness, Counseling & Psychiatry, and all healthcare providers). 

 

However, other peer educators are considered responsible employees and we are (slowly) training faculty and staff on reporting responsibilities.  Counselors are not required to report any disclosed incidence of IPV, whether it is during outreach or in session.

 

I hope this is helpful.  Please let me know what questions you have.

 

Best,

 

SKN

 

Shannon K. Nix, M.S., LPC, NCC

University of South Carolina

Student Health Services

Associate Director, Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention & Prevention (SAVIP)

1409 Devine St

Columbia SC 29208

803.777.8248 (O)

803.777.5678 (F)

http://www.sa.sc.edu/shs/savip/

 

 

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From: Wydra, Maria A. [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 10:52 AM
To:
Subject: Question: Requiring Peer Educators to Report Sexual Assault

 

Hello everyone.

 

I need some assistance from the members of the list serve.

1)      For those of you who hail from universities with sexual violence peer educator programs,

a.       Must your peer eds report to the university incidences of sexual violence they learn about?

b.      Are there times when they are not required to report (e.g., if a friend confides in them?)

c.       What type of peer ed program does your school have (e.g., awareness/prevention education? Advocacy?)

2)      Are your counseling center clinicians required to report sexual violence that they learn about while serving in an outreach capacity/in an educative role to the campus?

 

Why I’m asking:

1)      Our peer educators are required to report. I’m a psychologist at the Towson University Counseling Center, and I run our Sexual Assault Peer Educator program. The university has decided that the peer eds are required to report incidences of sexual assault if they learn of them while serving in “their role as a peer educator.” The reasoning: the university argues that they are representatives of the school, so students may have the expectation when they disclose sexual violence to a peer ed that student is making a report to the university. The person the peer eds must then report to is me . I then forward the reports to the Title IX coordinator. As you can imagine, there are a number of issues with this. I am working on a protocol to resolve some of them. So I’m interested in hearing what other schools are doing.

2)      Therapists at our counseling center are required to report incidences of sexual violence if we learn about these while delivering outreach/ educational programs.

 

Thank you so much for your feedback!

~ Maria

 

Maria Wydra, Ph.D.

Staff Psychologist, Sexual Assault Services Coordinator

The Counseling Center at Towson University

8000 York Road

Towson, MD 21252

Ph: 410-704-2512

Fax: 410-704-3453

 

 

 

http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/screening/towsonu

 

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