Military Sexual Assault a Focus of Academy

The United States Navy’s area sexual assault prevention and response (SAPR) coordinator will be among the trainers at the annual Rhode Island State Victim Assistance Academy, a collaborative project of Family Service of Rhode Island and Roger Williams University. 

“Sexual assault in the military is a complex and important national issue and we owe it to our service members to learn as much as we can. We want to raise awareness about the difficulties in reporting but also the resources that need to be put in place to help,” said Family Service of Rhode Island’s Susan Erstling, PhD, a founder of the annual academy six years ago. 

“In a state with such a significant military presence it’s critical for non-military victim services professionals to understand the culture and stresses of military service when they are responding to sexual assault.  We are pleased to welcome Allison Agnello, who not only has been a trainer at the academy, but a student as well.” 

(In a recent report on Yahoo News, United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel calls combating sexual assault in the military “as high a priority as there is.”)

SAPR, based at Naval Station Newport, helps all military personnel, their dependents 18 years old and older, as well as civilians sexually assaulted on Department of Defense property. 

The Department of Defense estimates there are over 26,000 cases per year, said Ms. Agnello, noting that the number is a 2012 estimate and will be updated in the near future.  “The Department of Defense defines sexual assault as intentional sexual content involving force, physical threat or abuse of authority when the victim does not or cannot consent,” she said.  “Sexual assault includes rape, nonconsensual sodomy, indecent assault or attempts to commit these acts.”

She said that her goal during the academy is to help victim service providers recognize the issues unique to people involved with the military, currently or in the past.  “Due to the significant population of service members and veterans throughout Rhode Island, these providers may come into contact with them in their work.” 

The Rhode Island State Victims Assistance Academy takes place over the course of five days in July and August at Roger Williams University’s Baypoint Inn & Conference Center, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.  Other topics include: 

·         working with LGBTQQ youth;

·         homicide victim response;

·         victim’s issues in mental health;

·         and other topics.

Registration information is available at www.familyserviceri.org

Family Service of Rhode Island is a statewide non-profit social service and educational organization.   More information is available at www.familyserviceri.org. 

Roger Williams University, based in Bristol, Rhode Island, is an independent, coeducational university.  More information is available at www.rwu.edu.