The Intersection of Trauma-Informed Victim Assistance & Community Violence Intervention
February 25, 2022 | 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET
Please join us on Friday, February 25, 2022, from 2:00–3:30 p.m. eastern time, for the Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center webinar “The Intersection of Trauma-Informed Victim Assistance & Community Violence Intervention,” hosted by Mary Vail Ware and Aubrey Lloyd.
Victims react to the psychological trauma of crime in various ways, including experiencing feelings of anger and loss of control in response to violence. These reactions can be compounded by community-level and historical trauma. In order to ensure that victims receive the care and support they need to assist with recovery, victim assistance providers and others who respond to victims should be familiar with the impact of trauma and the concept of trauma-informed care. This presentation will increase understanding of the effects of trauma on victims of violence, discuss best practices for providing trauma-informed services and assistance, and identify how this approach should be an integral part of broader community violence intervention efforts.
The “The Intersection of Trauma-Informed Victim Assistance & Community Violence Intervention” webinar is part of the new Vital Subjects series. This series addresses topics that are critical to the victim services field across the country.
Presenters
Mary Vail Ware
Mary Vail Ware is the project director for the Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVC TTAC). OVC TTAC provides victim-centered capacity building, training and technical assistance, and mass violence response for organizations and communities across the United States. Prior to joining OVC TTAC, Ms. Ware was the director of programs and outreach for the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. She managed initiatives in the following areas: Respect Richmond, Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Norfolk Gang Recidivism Prevention Project, anti-gang training and initiatives, human trafficking initiatives, school-based prevention programs, family violence prevention, re-entry efforts, training for law enforcement, victim-witness assistance, community capacity building relative to criminal justice solutions, crime prevention efforts for senior citizens, testing of sexual assault kits, Lethality Assessment Protocol training, sexual assault prevention programs and training, and campus sexual violence prevention and intervention training. Ms. Ware was the director of the Virginia Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund (CICF). CICF assists victims of violent crimes with out-of-pocket expenses associated with the crime. CICF is a multi-million dollar special purpose fund financed by state and federal court fees. Ms. Ware responded to the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, the Virginia sniper attacks, the 4/16 shooting at Virginia Tech, the shooting at Sandy Hook, the Orlando Pulse shooting, the Las Vegas shooting, and other mass casualty crime incidents. Ms. Ware authored first-in-the-nation legislation requiring all Virginia emergency plans to include methods to protect the rights of victims of crime. She served as a member of the Governor’s Commission on Sexual Violence and the Governor’s Domestic Violence Prevention and Response Advisory Board. Ms. Ware was the executive director of Quin Rivers Agency for Community Action, Inc., a nonprofit serving five rural counties in central Virginia. Ms. Ware earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she also served as a field instructor. She is a credentialed Project Management Professional and an assistant professor of Social Work at Virginia State University.
Aubrey Lloyd
Aubrey Lloyd, M.S.W., L.S.W., is a project manager overseeing work specific to human trafficking at ICF. She has 19 years of nonprofit experience working with populations affected by domestic violence, substance use, mental health, and complex and historical trauma. This experience focused on delivering training; creating and maintaining community partnerships, trauma-informed programs, and curricula; and directing programs. For the past 13 years, she has designed and implemented programs for multidisciplinary teams and nongovernmental and community-based organizations using her subject matter expertise in human trafficking, trauma-informed victim assistance programming, and connections between other crime and vulnerability sectors such as addiction, interpersonal violence, housing insecurities, and early childhood adverse conditions and the impact on developmental trauma.
She worked at the state level to coordinate identification and service delivery for victims and developed state-accredited, trauma-informed educational curricula and a trauma-informed group home model structure for minor victims of human trafficking. She used this knowledge with hundreds of grantees funded through the U.S. Department of Justice to formulate foundations for effective and sustainable human trafficking programming, utilize data to craft evaluative and evidence-based interventions, provide subject matter expertise in maintaining multidisciplinary partnerships, and as guidance to cement the importance of trauma-informed and implemented service practices. Ms. Lloyd also brings the invaluable perspective of a survivor-advocate.
OVC's Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVC TTAC) provides training to support professional development, enhance services to the community, and expand outreach to underserved victims of crime.