Accompaniment Advocate Information
The Cottage Accompaniment Advocate Job Description
The Cottage Sexual Assault Center & Children’s Advocacy Center raises awareness and facilitates the healing of individuals, families and communities affected by sexual violence and child abuse. One component of that mission is the advocacy of clients through accompaniments involving medical and/or legal partner agencies.
The role of the Accompaniment Advocate is to respond to requests for advocacy from individual survivors or partner agencies including: hospitals (Piedmont Athens Regional or St. Mary’s), law enforcement (Athens-Clarke County), ACC Jail/Prison, or SANE, Inc. (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners). Accompaniment requests may be needed for adult survivors of sexual assault (18 years old or older) or for child survivors (17 years old or younger) who have experienced any form of abuse including but not limited to sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional/verbal abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence and/ or homicide.
This individual would need to be available, cognizant and physically present in the service area (Athens-Clarke County) between the hours of 5pm and 8am during weekdays and 24/7 on weekend or holiday shifts. A typical shift begins Monday at 5pm and ends the following Monday at 8am.
An Accompaniment Advocate needs to be able to discuss the immediate, short-term legal and medical processes that apply while providing support and crisis counseling for survivors and their families. The Accompaniment Advocate is responsible for providing information, empowering adult survivors to make their own decision and advocating for the decisions of the survivor with partner agencies as needed. An additional component of employment is professional development in the form of monthly supervision and biannual trainings.
We seek to maintain and improve our services for all survivors regardless of gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, race, color, socio-economic status, religion, age, ability, and national origin/immigration status.
Position Responsibilities
Direct Service Support
o Be available, cognizant, and physically present in the service area between the hours of 5PM and 8AM weekdays and 24/7 on weekends or holidays of the shift.
o Assess requests from individuals and/or partner agencies and respond appropriately to ensure appropriateness of fit for services including: client service area, time-frame of assault, and choices of survivor around reporting. Determine age of survivor to ensure correct protocol response for children (17 years old or younger) and adults (18 years old or older).
o Engage in advocacy with survivors as needed:
Discuss the immediate, short-term legal and medical processes that apply. Listen
and answer any questions survivor may have.
Provide support, coping skills, crisis counseling, validation, normalization, and
education of sexual assault to the survivor.
Provide support, information, and education to secondary survivors who
accompany the primary survivor. This can include friends, family members, non-
offending caregivers of children, and/or partners.
Empower the adult survivor to make their own decisions and advocate for those
decisions with all parties involved.
Explain The Cottage resources and the process of follow-up with day time staff.
Assess client’s safety in situation and provide safety planning.
Assess client’s basic needs for housing, transportation, and food. Follow The Cottage
protocols to ensure needs are met.
Documentation
o Fulfill all documentation forms and provide them to The Cottage daytime staff by 9AM the next business day.
Professional Development
o Attend and participate in monthly Accompaniment Advocate Supervision.
o Participate in Bi-Annual Trainings.
Position Requirements
o Bachelor degree in helping field and/or Master’s degree and/or equivalent job experience in fields.
o Flexible schedule on nights, weekends, and holidays (including New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Day After, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day).
o Reliable cell phone and internet access.
o Reliable personal transportation for immediate response.
o Knowledge of rape culture and coping skills/strategies for moments of crisis.
If interested, please complete the Accompaniment Advocate Application, include a resume and contact information for 2-3 references and submit to the Director of the Sexual Assault Center, Sarah Still: Sarah Still, MSW Email: Sarah@northgeorgiacottage.org Office: (706)-546-1133 ext. 224