Gender violence brings together professionals from various fields. Sexual abuse, a prevalent form of gender violence, has necessitated the need for rape crisis counselors that are professions that deal with issues of rape. Their duties and responsibilities include one, conducting psychological assessments for persons and families experiencing sexual assault. Two, provide treatment to individuals and families that have experienced sexual assault to promote healing. Three, maintain a current and accurate record of patients, liaising with other agencies that serve survivors of gender violence. Four, empower survivors to have physical and psychological autonomy to respond to the social and physical world appropriately.
The challenges that the counselor’s faces are one, clients being mistrustful hence hindering the development of a healthy and trustworthy therapeutic relationship. Mistrust, coupled with the negative feeling affects survivors’ ability to establish healthy relationships. Secondly, the counselor identifies cultural diversity as being another major challenge. Since counselors’ works with diverse populations, they must be competent and aware of different cultural beliefs and norms to treat such people (Atkinson, 2008).
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The counselor says that they get satisfaction from knowing that each day they are making a positive impact on another person’s life. Additionally, it is gratifying to see survivors empowered and connected back to society.
The rape crisis counselor works in the support and healing area of gender violence. The counselor identifies that after experiencing a traumatic event, such as rape, survivors need someone that can support them on the road to recovery. The reason is that sexual assault results in higher levels of psychological distress in comparison to most traumatic experiences.
The rape crisis counselor has experienced vicarious traumatization from their work. The counselor notes that the passion and desire to help and support rape survivors especially the empathy and compassion that goes into rape crisis counseling predisposes them to vicarious trauma. The counselor identifies self-awareness of their emotions, limitations, and needs and being mindful of their physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental needs are strategies of avoiding vicarious trauma. The counselor further acknowledges support from peers as an invaluable resource in the crisis counseling profession (Quitangon & Evces, 2015).
References
Atkinson, M. (2008). Resurrection After Rape: A Guide to Transforming from Victim to Survivor. RAR Publishing.
Quitangon, G. & Evces, M. R (eds). (2015). Vicarious Trauma and Disaster Mental Health: Understanding Risks and Promoting Resilience. Routledge.
