Domestic Abuse Victims Advocate
Description
About the Role:
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE -- We are currently seeking a Domestic Abuse Victims Advocate at Misawa Air Base in Japan. The Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate (DAVA) provides Air Force personnel, their family members, or intimate partners who are victims of domestic abuse (DA) non-clinical emergent and urgent service whenever requested.
The DAVA is an essential resource for victims of DA who are active-duty members, spouses of active-duty members, or unmarried intimate partners of active-duty members and provides a private and confidential service to encourage victims in seeking assistance. The DAVA promotes the Air Force’s coordinated community response to allegations of DA by providing a range of support and education services to victims during duty hours, as well as on-call emergency services to victims after duty hours. The DAVA does not provide clinical intervention services.
DAVAs are required to work a 40-hour work week; however, it is vital DAVAs be available when requested; on-call services are required. The DAVA performs “ad-hoc” telework when providing victim assistance after-hours that does not require in-person support. DAVAs may be required to perform outside the typical work hours when assisting victims; their schedule shall remain flexible and vary according to the needs of victims and may take place outside normal duty hours.
Duties:
- Offers follow-up DAVA services to each victim:
- Empower the victim to advocate for the needs of self and children
- Support the victim in decision-making by exploring options
- Assist the victim with prioritizing actions and establishing short/long-term goals
- Provide information and referral on military and civilian resources
- DAVAs establish a Victim’s Safety Plan on a case-by-case basis. Partners with the FATM and FAIS or mental health on-call provider if the treatment or case manager is unavailable, to establish safety plans. The victims’ safety is the DAVA’s top responsibility and priority. Advises victims of the impact of domestic violence on children and supports victim’s efforts to have children assessed and treated, as needed. Accompanies the victim to appointments or court proceedings when requested by the victim.
- Collaborates with treatment/case manager to support the victim and promote safety for the victim and children in the home. The DAVA briefs the treatment/case manager prior to the CCS so that the CCS team has the most current information on the victim and children for staffing.
- Develop process to keep the team lead and designated POC (e.g., on-call mental health provider, emergency room.) informed of DAVA’s location and timelines when providing DAVA victim services. This process will include location, arrival, and departure notification.
- Continually evaluate the quality of the installation’s coordinated community response and collaborate with base agencies to improve the system response to victims.
- Empower victims to be involved in plans or decisions about the safety of self and children.
- Collaborate and establish protocols with Security Forces Squadron (SFS) and Office of Special Investigations (OSI) confirming:
- 24-hour notification of the DAVA in all incidents of suspected DA
- Collaboration on safety planning
- Collaborates and establish protocols with the Military Treatment Facility confirming:
- 24-hour notification of the DAVA in all incidents of suspected DA
- Training of Military Treatment Facility personnel on the DAVA role
Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in any of the following disciplines: Social Work; Psychology; Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling; Counseling or Behavioral Science; Criminal Justice, or related field.
Experience: Two years of experience assisting and providing advocacy services to victims of DA or sexual assault.
Certification: Upon hire, or within six-months of hiring, must obtain the Basic Advocate credential (https://www.thenacp.org/credentialing/) with designation of Comprehensive Intervention Specialist as approved and offered by the National Advocate Credentialing Program, which is overseen by the National Organization for Victims Assistance.
- Competitive market-based salary, commensurate with experience and education
- Comprehensive benefits package available (Medical, Dental, PTO, 401k etc).