Commentary
Street Roots • May 1-7, 2015
Page 13
Healing the body and the mind of victims
BY HEATHER McDOWELL
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
“W
Heather McDowell
is the policy and
advocacy intern a t
Partnership fo r
Safety and Justice.
PSJ is a statewide,
nonprofit advocacy
organization
dedicated to
m aking Oregon’s
approach to crime
and public safety
more effective and
just.
He can stitch them up, but we
can’t make them well.”
These heart-rending words
came from Alicia Boccellari, Ph.D., director
of the Trauma Recovery Center at the
University of
California, San
Francisco (UCSF)
Medical Center,
during a presentation
at the first annual
Oregon Justice
Reinvestment Summit.
Dr. Boccellari was
expressing the
frustration and hopelessness that medical
providers face when working with victims of
violent crime who come to the UCSF
Medical Center for healing. Medical
providers were able to offer victims help for
-their physical injuries but weren’t able to
address their psychological wounds.
The wounds of violence can run deep if
they are not addressed. According to a 2009
report from the Academy on Violence and
Abuse, the cost of violence on the U.S.
health care system is between $333 billion
and $750 billion each year. Seventeen
percent to 37 percent of total health care
costs are spent on the chronic medical
consequences of untreated trauma.
Researchers found that people who survived
violence in the past access health care 2 to
2.5 times more frequently than people who
do not have a history of surviving violence.
Recognizing that people who have
survived crime need more than their
physical wounds addressed in order to heal,
the UCSF Medical Center created a Trauma
Recovery Center. The Trauma Recovery
Center envisions a community that heals
the wounds of violence and embraces hope
for a nonviolent, compassionate world. They
offer wrap-around services to victims of
violence who come to the UCSF Medical
Center for help. They begin with a simple
but incredibly important question: “What
has happened to you?” This is a shift from
the traditional therapeutic question that
victims were asked in the past: “What is
wrong with you?”
The Trauma Recovery Center provides an
integrated model of care and works to meet
crime victims’ needs that would not
traditionally be addressed through the
medical system. A multidisciplinary and
culturally diverse team addresses not only
the survivor’s medical needs, but the
survivor’s mental health, housing, legal,
financial and other basic needs. A key
element to the services is that the team
does outreach and engagement wherever
works best for the survivors. This could
mean in the hospital, at their home, or
anywhere in the community. Staff meet
victims where they are — literally.
Many of the victims who are served by
the Trauma Recovery Center are people
who would not typically be able to' access
other services, such as people who struggle
with chronic mental illness or have complex
psychological issues, people who are recent
immigrants or are part of refugee groups,
and youth victims who have had,contact
with the juvenile dependency or justice
system. Many of the victims served are
young men of color who have been stabbed
or shot. A 2013 study by Californians for
Safety and Justice found that victims of
violent crime in California are more likely to
live in low-income communities, be under
30 years old and be Latino or African-
American. But few of these people had
access to victim services that were provided
by the justice system.
In creating this new model of care, the
Trauma Resource Center found a huge gap
between crime victims eligible to apply for
victim compensation funding and people
who actually knew about the funding. Crime
survivors may have high medical costs or
lose income or even their jobs due to
inability to work, which can result in a loss
of housing and other basic needs. Many
victims also have little financial resources to
access costly — but needed — services such
as counseling. Victim compensation is one
financial resource available to survivors who
have been the victim of a violent crime and
can be used for covering medical expenses,
counseling and other needed services in the
aftermath of victimization. While waiting for
the funding, though, victims have to pay out
of pocket for services and some have gone
into bankruptcy just to access resources and
support. The Trauma Resource Center
helps alleviate this barrier by offering free
services and helping survivors access
compensation funds.
Each person reacts differently to being
the victim of a violent crime, but one thing
is clear: Trauma can have a detrimental
effect on survivors unless they get the
support and resources needed to heal.
We’re in an exciting time in the United
States, as the need to reform our public
safety system has come to the forefront of
elected officials’ and communities’ call for
change. As we advocate for a more effective
and just public safety system, we must
ensure that crime victims can access the
resources they need — in the community, in
schools, in the justice system and in the
medical field.
When we rebuild victims’ lives, we rebuild
our communities.
This May, all recurring donations ¿rtyyf
to Street Roots will be matched
by a generous donor!
ISK3B
JHH
Bli l M
“Street Roots gives us a sense o f structure and
stability. I t helps us to communicate with
the community, get to know the community,
makes us feel like we're part o f the
community."
,
■
BI k I i IB m
-Frank and Tiffany Quiroga
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