CVSC Training Series

WHEW! Our training series that was hosted under the CVSC Training Grant has come to an
end. We jumped in fast and furious at the beginning of February with the initial 40-hour
nationally credentialed CORE Academy Training and qualified 12 new advocates to help
individuals hurt or harmed by crime in WA state. We then got the ball rolling on our training
series with the prioritization to cover important topics surrounding Cultural Awareness and
Racial Equity, Homicide and Healing, Vicarious Trauma and Mindfulness and lastly, Supporting
LGBTQ Clients.

We had an incredible turnout for the entire training series and we cannot say thank you enough
to our partners and peers who tuned in and learned about these incredibly important topics
alongside us. We trained a total of 300 (!!) participants and accounted for 21 hours of training!!
I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to our wonderful presenters as we could not have
done this without them:

Storm Ervin, MPP from Urban Institute Justice Policy Center
Bryon Lambert from The Cross Cultural Healthcare Program
Sarai Rivera & Dulce Delgado from Fairfax County Police Department
Connie Saindon, MFT & Tammy Carter, MFT from Violent Loss Services
Pastor Patricia Saunders from DC Alliance, Empowering Homicide Survivors & Pastoral
Care Chaplaincy Programs & Services
Melissa Isenhart from Victim Support Services
Scott Bass from North Carolina Victim Assistance Network
Kim Flournoy DiJoseph from Hot Mess Work
Vu Le from NonProfit AF
Dr. Chris Wilson, PsyD from Being Trauma Informed and,
Daniel Ensley from Oasis Youth Center

To illustrate just how impactful these trainings were, I wanted to take a moment to share some
of the feedback we received:

“The trainer was amazing! I was amazed by all the knowledge and the presentation was
amazing as well!”

“I haven’t worked with clients bereaved by homicide, but after having this training I learned so
much! It’s a hard thing they deal with, but I learned so much.”

“The presenter was great. I liked the interactiveness of the training and that he brought a lot of
humor and humility into it.”

If we missed you on our training series, don’t worry! We will be back with more opportunities in
the future. Thank you to all who supported, attended, and listened. I know that we have all
walked away from at least one of these sessions with a clearer understanding of how to be a
kind person and how to best serve those around us.