
Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2024
Celebrate SAAM with PAVE
Check out our Social Media Toolkit for SAAM 2024 and help us Shatter The Silence!
Join us Tuesday, April 23rd for our Teen Survivor Panel in honor of #TeenSurvivorsWeekOfAction!
Hosted by PAVE Ambassador and survivor, Delaney Henderson, this panel will feature both survivors who are currently teens and survivors who experienced sexual violence when they were teens. Adolescence is an incredibly formative time in our lives and healing from sexual violence at this age can add another layer of challenge for survivors. Join us as we discuss the ways these survivors have healed and thrived after trauma.
Mark your calendars! PAVE/Survivors.org is hosting our first ever virtual book club for Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2024. The book we’re reading is the novel “The Power” by Naomi Alderman.
““All over the world women and girls are discovering they have the power. With the flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain, and even death. And with this small twist of nature, everything changes drastically.””
Join us throughout the entire month of April as we read through “The Power” and discuss its themes, messages, and our thoughts. Each week, we will discuss a selected section of the book and lead participants through a conversation based on a discussion guide.
Reading Schedule:
4/4: 1-82 (Eight Years To Go)
4/11: 83-179 (Five Years To Go)
4/18: 180-278 (No More Than 7 Months To Go)
4/25: 279-end
National Sexual Assault Advocate Appreciation Day was founded by PAVE/Survivors.org in 2023 in order to show our gratitude towards those who support survivors during their trauma. The work that advocates do is unparalleled and often plays a crucial role in the healing process.
How to Show Your Appreciation
Submit letters of gratitude to advocates.
Learn more about getting involved with our toolkit.
Download our social media graphics.
Check Out Our Advocate Appreciation Day Panel!
Sexual Assault Advocate Q&A
-
Advocate is a loaded word that means many things. Someone who advocates for survivors of sexual assault is a person who wants to do what they can to support survivors and their healing. Their aim is to spread the word about sexual violence and the harm it causes, and how we can prevent further abuse. Advocates for survivors of abuse are amazing and they can be anyone.
Not everyone can, or wants to be, a sexual assault advocate in the formal sense. It is a difficult job or volunteer experience that requires education, experience, formal training, and an investment in working with individual survivors. Advocates are members of sexual assault teams in their community to help individual survivors after a sexual assault has occurred.
-
Sexual assault advocates are professionally and specially trained individuals who respond to and support survivors of sexual assault. Sexual assault advocates’ specific duties vary by location, but most provide emotional support, a lending ear, access to resources, and serve as an echo to a survivors’ needs. Advocates do not make decisions for survivors. They inform survivors of possible options and advocate on their behalf to others. Others including SANEs, police, loved ones, medical providers, and more. In addition, advocates who work on college campuses may advocate to professors, coaches, and Title IX offices. Many advocates are first responders in communities, but their duties are not limited to the acute phase after an assault.
-
Provide in-person support to survivors in the immediate aftermath of an assault
Hospital settings
College Campuses
Community settings (where the assault occurred or the person’s home)
Rape Crisis Centers
Police stations
Provide virtual support in the immediate aftermath of an assault
Educate survivors on their rights and resources available to them
Liaison with providers about survivor's needs
Listen and provide emotional support
Help a survivor reach out to professors or bosses about accommodations
Help survivor fill out forms like crime victim’s compensation
Follow-up with survivors for longer term services
Educate their community
Thank-you Advocates!
Highlighting The Advocates Who Are Making A Difference