Counseling & Advocacy Counseling
Program
POC: Jo Beth Walter, LPC
Fleet & Family Support
Center
Bldg H-100
DSN: 861-1675
COMM:(361) 961-1675
Hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1600
Counseling & Advocacy
Counseling Program
POC: Kathy Turner, LCSW
Fleet & Family
Support Center
Bldg H-100
DSN: 861-2875
COMM:(361) 961-2875
Hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1600
Victim
Advocate
POC: James Bangert
Fleet & Family Support
Center
Bldg H-100
DSN: 861-2372
COMM: (361)
2372
Hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1600
Provide Spouse domestic abuse
victim advocacy services either through personal or telephonic contact
to
ascertain immediate needs, develop a safety plan, and ensure victims are
aware of the legal actions available to promote their safety. Offer
victims information, as appropriate, regarding: local resources for immediate
safety and long-term protection and support, workplace safety, housing, child
care, legal services, clinical resources, medical services, chaplain resources,
transitional compensation, and other civilian support
services. Collaborate with the Family Advocacy Program (FAP), law
enforcement and the command to assure safety plans are
coordinated. Support the victim in decision-making by providing
information and discussing available options.
Counseling & Advocacy
Counseling Program
Child abuse and spouse abuse threaten the fabric of
our entire society. Concern for the welfare of Navy families and the effects of
family dysfunction on military performance prompted the establishment of the
Family Advocacy Program in 1976. Today, the Navy Family Advocacy Program is
designed to address the prevention, identification, reporting, intervention,
treatment, and follow-up of child and spouse maltreatment while it also balances
the need to protect the rights of victims and the rights of offenders as well.
The Navy Family Advocacy Program rests on the following
assumptions:
Spouse and child abuse has a negative effect upon military
readiness, effectiveness, and good order and discipline.
Family violence is
a leadership issue.
Family maltreatment and abuse is disruptive and
interferes with the work performance of the service member and thus with the
mission of the Navy.
Family violence and neglect is incompatible with
the high standards of professional and personal discipline required of Navy
members.
Most perpetrators of family violence are not deviant or
incorrigible and many may be rehabilitated.
Victims and involved
families are often best served when the perpetrators of family violence are
placed in treatment and are available to participate in the family's
rehabilitation.
Perpetrators of family violence must be held accountable
for their behavior and swift and certain intervention is a most effective
deterrent.
Rehabilitation of a valued service member is most effective
for the Navy.
Victims and witnesses of child and spouse abuse have
access to appropriate protection, safety, care, support, case management, and
educational rehabilitation services as needed, to the extent allowable by law
and resources.
The Navy Response to Family Violence
The Navy's
comprehensive response to family violence is designed to prevent or stop the
violence and to minimize its impact on the family and on the Navy. Program
components include:
Prevention
Navy family support programs help
minimize the negative stresses caused by a mobile life-style. For example, New
Parent Support Teams provide information, home visits, and basic parenting and
life skills to families who are expecting a child and may be located far from
traditional family support systems. This support is especially critical
considering the Navy's youthful population.
Identification and Reporting
The Family Advocacy Program provides training to help professionals
detect abuse. Incidents of abuse or neglect are reported to family advocacy
representatives and coordinated with local child protective and law enforcement
authorities.
Intervention and Treatment
A multidisciplinary team
of medical, legal, investigative, and social service professionals and command
representatives recommends an appropriate response to identified cases of abuse.
The Navy's intervention may include crisis intervention, emergency shelter, risk
assessment, safety planning, group counseling, rehabilitation or treatment
designed to prevent further violence, criminal prosecution, disciplinary or
administrative sanctions, and close coordination with civilian social service
providers.
Victim Services
Research has consistently shown that
children who witness violence suffer psychological, emotional, and often
physical damage as a result of living in violent homes.
Witnessing
parental violence is considered the single most consistent risk marker for the
prediction of future spouse abuse as an adult.
Both victim advocacy for
spouse abuse victims and counselors for children who witness violence are
critical to the military's effort to protect current victims, to provide
rehabilitation to our youngest victims, and to interrupt the intergenerational
cycle of abuse.
Spouse abuse victim assistance provides for safety
planning, assistance with obtaining needed resources such as shelter and medical
and legal assistance, and advocacy with military and civilian agencies.
Case Management/Follow-up
Family advocacy cases are monitored to
ensure the victim is safe and the offender is making progress. Case follow-up
may span a year to allow time to resolve the immediate problem before
reassigning the service member.
Family support programs, the medical
treatment facilities, and local commanders work cooperatively to provide family
advocacy services. Families may obtain assistance with family problems,
including family violence, by contacting a local Family Service Center, a
military hospital social worker, or a mental health clinic found on the nearest
Navy installation.