By Hailey Murphy
CW: Sexual Assault
On campus, a group of students are advocating for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault.
These students are known as peer advocates, and they work as part of Consultation and Sexual Assault Support (CASAS). An office within Prevention Wellness Services (PWS), CASAS assists students with the aftermath of trauma. Whether that means referring a student to the counseling center, sending an email to a teacher or simply giving them options, CASAS works to optimize student success following sexual violence.
Peer advocates, despite being students, are trained to do this work. They earned their state-certification after completing a 55-hour course through Washington State Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. It’s the same training that any advocate would go through, regardless of age or background knowledge. CASAS Coordinators Jon Dukes and Michelle Langstraat have also completed this training.
“It’s training on how to sit with survivors, how to advocate, what systems are in place,” said Langstraat. “How do you help someone with a protection order? What does it look like for medical advocacy, forensic interviewing? It’s the nitty gritty of an advocate.”
In addition to this training, CASAS peer advocates also receive training through Western’s Empowerment and Violence Education (WEAVE). WEAVE is another PWS office that focuses more on violence prevention as opposed to violence response, but CASAS advocates come from the WEAVE program. These volunteers go through training every fall quarter that focuses on mental health first aid and breaking down the heteronormativity in sexual violence language, Laurel Puffert, a peer advocate, said.
After receiving training, the job of an advocate is to support students that come into their office. This includes giving validation to survivors, connecting them to other resources or helping them connect with necessary university personnel.
“A lot of support is just being like, ‘We’re here to listen. This is real and it sucks that you’re experiencing it. How do we figure out how to make things that are challenging right now more manageable?’” said Puffert.
What exactly it means to support a survivor can vary. In some cases, it means providing a student with reporting options. It can mean finding a better parking spot to ensure that a student feels safe. It can mean collaborating with Residence Life to find the student a new room.
It can also mean emailing a professor to let them know their student has experienced a trauma. Such emails, according to Langstraat, are always vague. They don’t give specifics about the trauma, and they don’t confirm nor deny if the student is being seen by CASAS. They simply inform the teacher so they can make adjustments accordingly.
These vague emails are part of CASAS confidentiality. Whether a student speaks to a peer advocate or to a supervisor, the conversation is completely private. Just to send an email to a teacher, the student has to sign a release of information form.
“CASAS is a confidential resource, meaning we don’t report to the equal opportunity office, we don’t report to University Police or anyone unless students want us to help them report,” said Langstraat. “Any other office or professor or coach, if a student discloased that sexual violence happened to them, they would have to report to the Equal Opportunity Office.”
Advocates may also refer students to the Counseling Center or to an off-campus counselor for more long-term support. While CASAS offers emotional support, advocates aren’t trained counselors.
“We’re not counselors, and that’s something that can be kinda confusing,” said Puffert. ”We do emotional support, but counselors– there’s a whole different level to it. That’s more continuous for someone who is trying to take a more clinical approach.”
More than anything, it’s the job of an advocate to give students options.
“We really take an empowerment approach… I’m not going to tell someone what to do ever,” said Puffert “It’s about what solutions seem best fitting for what’s going on for [them]. The person I’m talking to is the expert in their experience. So how, based on what they know about their life and what they know they can handle, what seems to make the most sense? And then giving them the tools to be able to go out and do that.”
For anyone interested in contacting CASAS, the best way is through their 24/7 message line. It’s a message line only, so no one will pick up the phone. However, an advocate will listen to the message the next time they’re in the office and give a call back to schedule a meeting.
Another option is to visit CASAS drop-in hours on Tuesday night from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in VU 432. Advocates will be available to answer any questions.