ICESA’s comprehensive Victim Services Capacity Building Program aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of Indiana’s sexual assault service providers by facilitating inter-agency coordination, resource development, and knowledge sharing across the state. We pay special attention to service improvement and education for those providers who serve marginalized communities, victims of equity and racial injustice, and underserved communities. ICESA’s Victim Services Capacity Building Program focuses on:
Statewide Sexual Assault Response Coordination
ICESA’s staff identifies and works with partners to launch and support vital community based RCCs across the state of Indiana and provide ongoing technical assistance to established and potential RCC’s.
Service Standards
ICESA identified <Rape Crisis Centers> adhere to service standards developed by the coalition. These standards are important to ensure that every survivor receives excellent advocacy and support.
Rape Crisis Center Service Standards
In addition to service standards, ICESA works in partnership with the Rape Crisis Centers to ensure that policies, practices and services are in place by following the Rape Crisis Center Standards Checklist.
Rape Crisis Center Service Standards Checklist
A Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) is a multidisciplinary team made up of the county prosecutor, victim service provider, sexual assault nurse examiner, and law enforcement. This team provides interagency, coordinated responses to prioritize victim needs, hold offenders accountable, and promote public safety.
Indiana Code 16-21-8-1.5 requires that if a SART has not been established in a county, the prosecuting attorney shall appoint one in that county, or the county shall join with one or more other counties to create a regional SART, to comply with duties assigned to these important response services.
ICESA created a SART TOOLKIT to help counties create a SART or manage an existing one. Also ICESA works with partners to identify, launch, and support SARTs in all counties across the state.
Follow the links below to learn more.
ICESA’s EJF program aims to help sexual assault survivors in crisis get to safety as quickly as possible. These emergency costs include:
- Lodging assistance
- Transportation
- Rekeying a house, other security measures
- Restorative care (clothes, sheets, mattress, etc.)
Most of these expenses aren’t covered by federal or state grant programs, so we work with victim service providers to directly reimburse them for these survivor’s expenses. Program is subject to funding availability. <DONATE to ICESA’s Economic Justice Fund>
Sexual Assault Prevention and Intervention Programs
Indiana State Campus Consortium (ISCC) is made up of prevention educators and victim advocates in higher education that serve all racial, ethnic, religious, class backgrounds, sexual orientations, genders, and social identities.
The ISCC’s mission is to improve sexual assault survivor services on Indiana college and university campuses through collaborative community and partnerships. ISCC’s values are education and culture change, advocacy, and community and support.
Guiding Principles
ISCC members believe that
- The group can positively impact the lives of students both within the campus community and beyond through evidence-based, educational programming and best practices
- Advocating for structural change that is for the healing and educational journeys of survivors in a safe and supportive environment.
The best culture is fostering a sense of community and support amongst the prevention educators and advocates within higher education.
The ISCC’s has 4 primary goals.
- Create a network that connects ISCC members to a centralized resource hub that provides access to primary prevention resources, such as examples of best practices and effective policies, evidence-based prevention curriculum, and more
- Build community between the independent colleges and larger universities in Indiana for resource sharing, best practices, policy revisions, and support.
- Identify victim advocate support resources for ISCC members to take advantage of while they work on behalf of survivors
- Assist ISCC members network with each other and gain insight regarding what campuses are doing on their respective campuses.
ICESA’s Speak Up Speak Out Program (SUSOP) is a statewide initiative designed to engage and recruit young men and boys in sexual violence prevention efforts. The SUSOP curriculum is evidence-informed and uses multiple modules to educate participants about healthy masculinity, positive relationships, gender roles and stereotypes, and sexual consent.
SUSOP includes the following training topics:
- Redefining Masculinity
- How toxic masculinity permeates friendships
- Healthy relationships: Intimate Partner Violence
- The Sexual Violence Continuum
- Breaking Down Rape Culture
- Men’s Role in Shifting Rape Culture
- The Power of Language
- Bystander Intervention
- SUSOP addresses these risk factors
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- lack of empathy
- general aggressiveness and acceptance of violence
- preference for impersonal sex and sexual-risk taking
- exposure to sexually explicit media
- hostility towards women
- adherence to traditional gender role norms
- hyper-masculinity
- family environment characterized by physical violence and conflict
- childhood history of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
- emotionally unsupportive family environment
- poor parent-child relationships
- particularly with fathers
- association with sexually aggressive, hypermasculine, and delinquent peers
- involvement in a violent or abusive intimate relationship
- societal norms that support sexual violence
- societal norms that support male superiority and sexual entitlement, societal norms that maintain women’s inferiority and sexual submissiveness
- SUSOP also covers protective factors like emotional health and connectedness & empathy and concern for how one’s actions affect others.
StepIn, which stands for Stop, Think, Engage, Prevent Indiana, is a bystander intervention traditional and social media campaign that intends to increase awareness of and inspire action to eradicate sexual assault on college campuses and the surrounding communities. The StepIn campaign involves
- Earned media (reaching out to local media outlets, publications/television/radio programs)
- Social media, paid social media sponsored posts, printed collateral
- Thought leadership, such as op-ed pieces, guest columns, blog posts, letters to the editor, speaking engagements, and editorial board interviews.
StepIn encourages bystanders to act and intervene when they encounter harmful or unhealthy behaviors that increase the risk of violence – specifically, sexual violence. StepIn’s is to change the culture and norms that currently support sexual violence on and near college campuses and create new norms that devalue rape culture and instead promote and encourage a culture of equality and respect.
ICESA has also developed a new partnership with the SAFE Bar Network, an organization that engages bar owners, managers, and staff in continued conversations about sexual violence, active bystander skills, and their responsibility to take action when someone is uncomfortable or unsafe. SAFE Bar Network and ICESA will work together to spread the StepIn Bystander Intervention messaging to communities surrounding targeted campuses.
Professional Training
We provide <education and professional training> for victim service providers, government agencies, healthcare workers, and associated organizations (our service constituents) with a focus on service standards and best practices to ensure all victims and survivors receive high-quality, person-centered support in their communities. Our primary training programs are
CORE 40 a free Sexual Assault Victim Advocate training designed primarily for sexual assault advocates working with victims of sexual assault in Rape Crisis Centers or Dual/Multi-Service Organizations. This training offers the necessary “core” or basic knowledge and skills to provide competent and effective sexual assault services to meet the specialized needs of victims impacted by sexual violence. Content is presented by subject matter experts and topics include:
- The Role of Victim Advocate
- Neurobiology of Trauma and Vicarious Trauma
- Indiana Sex Crime Statutes
- Strangulation
- Human Trafficking
- Immediate and Long-Term Impacts of Sexual Violence
- Protective Orders
- Sexual Assault Response Teams
- Confidentiality
- Crime Victim Compensation
- SANE Meical Care and Services
- Primary Prevention
- Best Practices for Working with Law Enforcement
Coffee with the Coalition is ICESA’s monthly training series featuring expert-led sessions on topics requested by sexual assault service providers and Rape Crisis Centers, which are tailored to meet the needs of professionals in the field.
Special Topical Training: ICESA facilitates training or discussions during important awareness times such as Black History Month and PRIDE Month. Also, when our service partners need help in a specific area, ICESA responds by organizing special training around that subject or issue.
Statewide Conferences: Two times a year, ICESA holds a statewide conference. First for National Slavery Prevention Month in January and the second is our Sexual Assault Conference in September.
Outreach Activities
- Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAM): During SAAM, ICESA hosts a Rape Crisis Center and Sexual Assault Service Provider Workshop to honor service provider leadership. It’s an opportunity for them to learn, discuss concerns and issues, and celebrate successes.
- ICESA regularly attends community events around the state to raise awareness about sexual violence, state consent laws, survivor services in the area, and other survivor advocacy topics. Indiana has little to no cultural or vulnerable/marginalized community dedicated services, ICESA specifically targets these communities’ events to help raise awareness.
