Introduction to The Pathway for community supports: 6 Commitments for being survivor-centered

By Christine Murray

The Pathways for Supporting Survivors Model offers a guiding framework that empowers individuals on their journey to recovery from abuse. This blog post introduces the application of this model to community supports and resources. To delve deeper into the overall model and its application to both survivors and community supports, you can find more information here.

There are many community settings, systems, and services through which survivors of abuse may seek support during their healing process, including healthcare systems, faith communities, workplaces, judicial systems, and educational institutions. Often, survivors also seek support from friends and family members, so the Pathway for Community Supports also will address ways that people can support a loved one who faced abuse. As we explore this pathway, consider the vital role that you, as a member of various community settings, play in supporting survivors on their healing journey.

The Pathway for Community Supports applies the 6 commitments in the Pathways for Supporting Survivors Model to offer a framework for community supports to commit to survivor-centered approaches in their responsiveness to survivors’ needs and experiences. As a reminder, the 6 commitments are not a sequential set of steps that must happen in a prescribed order. Rather, the 6 commitments typically co-occur simultaneously and evolve over time.

Understanding the Pathway for Community Supports

Here is a brief overview of the Pathway for Community Supports: 

Pathway for Community Supports: 6 Commitments for Being Survivor-Centered

1. Being Intentional: Committing to being intentional about centering survivors' needs and experiences.
2. Prioritizing Safety: Committing to prioritizing safety by adopting a trauma-informed lens at every level of your organization.
3. Taking a Long-Range View: Committing to taking a long-range view rather than a short-term plan of action.
4. Making Steps Forward: Committing to making steps forward through survivor-centered support.
   
5. Reflecting: Committing to reflective practice and actively tracking outcomes to enhance organizational development.
6. Paying it Forward through Collaborative, Systems-Change Efforts: Committing to paying it forward through collaborative, systems-change efforts.
   

A Deeper Introduction to Each of the 6 Commitments for Community Supports

This section provides a deeper (but still brief) introduction about each commitment. Stay tuned to the Source for Survivors Blog on the Pathway for Community Support for much more information about each commitment in the future!
    Commitment 1: Commitment to being intentional about centering survivors' needs and experiences. There are often many forces at play within community support organizations and networks that can work against their ability to be survivor-centered--such as lack of financial resources, policies and processes that must be followed, and a widespread lack of professional training about the dynamics of abusive relationships and ways to support survivors and hold offenders accountable. There also remains a significant amount of stigma surrounding the issue of abuse, and some people and organizations still hold onto harmful stereotypes, such as that abuse doesn't happen to people like them, that abuse is a private family matter so others shouldn’t get involved or offer support, or that abuse is easy to simply “get over” after the relationship ends. With all of these forces at play, it is important for any community support resources that desire to center survivors to make an intentional, clear decision to commit to having this focus. Even for informal support systems, friends and family members can commit to prioritizing the unique needs and experiences of their loved one in their efforts to offer support.

    Commitment 2: Committing to prioritizing safety by adopting a trauma-informed lens at every level of your organization. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on using a trauma-informed approach in community-based services, such as healthcare, mental health, and educational settings. One useful resource for an introduction to the guiding principles of trauma-informed care can be found in this infographic from the CDC. Safety is the first of these guiding principles, and it is important for community supports to maintain a focus on physical and emotional safety when offering support to survivors in their healing journey. This includes the safety of survivors, as well as the safety of any individuals who are providing support. Vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress can occur for people when they’re in a position to help someone who has faced the trauma of abuse, so it’s critical for helpers to care for their own well-being and safety as well.

     Commitment 3: Committing to taking a long-range view rather than a short-term plan of action. Being survivor-centered isn’t a quick item on a to-do list. A commitment to being survivor-centered is not a one-time decision or short-term plan of action. Instead, adopting a survivor-centered approach is an ongoing process that, in essence, community helpers can consider adopting from this point forward. This long-range view also helps community supports know that they don’t need to make a complete overhaul to everything they do all at once, but instead can view their survivor-centered approach as one that will grow and evolve over the course of time. 

    Commitment 4: Committing to making steps forward through survivor-centered support. A useful framework for improving supporters' responsiveness to survivors' needs can be found in the practice of "continual quality improvement." A simple definition of continual quality improvement (CQI) from Smartsheet.com is that CQI is a “philosophy that encourages all team members, including board members, volunteers, and employees, to continuously ask what can be done better.” For community supports striving to become increasingly survivor-centered in their approaches, this means identifying priority areas in which changes can be made, and then identifying specific actions and tasks that they can take. For example, steps that community supports could take to become more survivor-centered include seeking professional training, working to improve policies and practices, developing feedback systems to better understand the needs of survivors, and seeking opportunities for survivors to share their stories and experiences to inform supportive services and resources.  

    Commitment 5: Committing to reflective practice and actively tracking outcomes to enhance organizational development. A commitment to reflective practice means building in ways to examine progress toward becoming more survivor-centered, including identifying what is working well, what is not working, what barriers have come up, and how the community context has evolved over time to impact the needs and experiences of survivors. For formal community response systems, this may include implementing formal needs assessments and program evaluation strategies to track the outcomes of services over time. For friends and family members who are offering informal support to survivors, this may look like taking time for self-reflection to consider how the support they are offering is impacting the survivor, as well as their own personal well-being. 

    Commitment 6: Committing to paying it forward through collaborative, systems-change efforts. Once an organization, community-based professional, or community member supporting a loved one has increased their knowledge, skills, and strategies to offer survivor-centered support, they may have or create opportunities to help other organizations or individuals do the same thing. This might look like helping other organizations or individuals that aren’t as far along for you or identifying needed advocacy efforts to address barriers that survivors are facing. Individuals and organizations that have taken a long-term, survivor-centered approach can become leaders in affecting system-level changes that are needed to continue to make communities more supportive of survivors of abuse. In this way, community supports that commit to becoming more survivor-centered have an opportunity to be part of a ripple effect toward broader positive changes.

Conclusion

Community supports--including organizations, services, systems, and informal social networks--can play a major role in supporting survivors on their journey to healing and recovering from past abuse. On the other hand, those community supports that lack information and tools about how to provide caring, competent support can become a barrier to survivors’ healing. 

Every community support is unique and has its own starting point in the long-term process of building and maintaining a survivor-centered approach. Remember: The journey to creating survivor-centered communities is dynamic, and every contribution - big or small - plays a role in this transformative process. 
Stay connected to this blog for additional information and resources to strengthen your organization’s and/or your personal commitment to offering survivor-center support.