When a victim calls Texas RioGrande Legal Aid there is a new approach that is transforming how to provide service in their most vulnerable hours. Rather than a focus on quick information gathering which can retraumatize them, we are building a relationship with the client first and moving on to the difficult facts once they feel safe. 

“Our trauma-informed staff build on each client’s strengths while meeting the client exactly where they are", says Stephanie Harlien, TRLA’s Legal Alliance for Survivors of Sexual Assault (LASSA) attorney. For example, if they are not ready to file a divorce and first need some safety planning and therapy, then that will be the first focus of the work. 

Similarly, TRLA’s Legal Alliance for Survivors of Abuse (LASA) director Caitlin Fish stated it’s important for the program’s clients to know that the staff and attorneys are ready to support the client however they feel most appropriate. “This is your case and you’re the expert: you decide what our approach will be based on what you think is best”, says Fish.  

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LASA & LASSA empower their clients 

It may seem like allowing the client to guide the movement of their case is the norm.  But research on programs that serve survivors of domestic and sexual abuse demonstrate that more often than not, there is a wide gap between what the client feels their needs are and what the service provides. Unfortunately, many services offer approaches that focus on punishment and can leave the survivor feeling disempowered. 

According to the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health, the best models for serving survivors of domestic and sexual assault empower clients to exercise autonomy over their cases, focusing and listening to and responding to the client’s stated needs, and involve community partnerships: in other words, the sort of care survivors receive through LASA and LASSA. 

As a part of their trauma-centered approach, each program has staff social workers, so that clients are often paired with both an attorney and a social worker, meaning that LASA and LASSA are able to assist the clients with not just their legal needs, but other critical resources like safety planning, information about community resources and referrals, crisis intervention, counseling referrals, and suicide assessment.  

This holistic approach to serving clients also means that beyond the family-law issues usually associated with domestic violence cases, LASA and LASSA attorneys are prepared to assist their clients in other legal matters like immigration needs, consumer law questions, legal questions related to LGBTQ+ identity, employment law, and housing needs.  

Notably, LASA and LASSA believe so strongly in their methods that this past June, they resumed their annual (prior to the pandemic lockdown) conference where not only do Texas RioGrande Legal Aid staff and attorneys come to receive trauma-informed care training over three days, but the programs also make it a point to invite staff from their partner organizations. The trainings at this year’s conference ranged from technology services, stalking, and cultural competency to what an advocate or staff can expect in the long life of a domestic violence case.  

This year, after feedback from staff, the conference also included sessions on secondary trauma for workers in these fields, demonstrating that LASA and LASSA take seriously the implementation of their trauma-centered approach.  

When asked what most surprised her about her work, LASSA attorney Stephanie Harlien stated she is often left in awe of her clients’ resiliency and willingness to fight for their cases. From a research perspective, though, it’s no surprise that already brave survivors find the mental fortitude to push their cases forward: trauma-informed approaches like those utilized at LASA and LASSA are proven to help clients feel empowered. So much so that one client success story Attorney Harlien recalls fondly is of a client who, after enduring her grueling domestic violence case, went on to become a victims’ advocate and is in the process of creating her own nonprofit to assist survivors in her community. 

Though not every survivor will go on to carry the torch of assisting other survivors, many of LASA and LASSA’s clients go on to have other successes like finding stable housing, getting fair custody agreements and protective orders, and receiving help with their immigration status. Though domestic violence cases can take years to finally resolve in court, on the other side of the long process is the possibility of a life free from domestic and sexual assault. 

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