Asking what happened

Empathizing with the victim.

ACKNOWLEDGE

Victims experience many different life challenges. It is important to be aware of each victim’s culture, strengths, and sense of identity. Social workers should work to enhance the lives of victims, understanding the nature of social diversity and recognizing personal biases.

LISTEN

ADVOCATE

Intervention and treatment should be offered based on the victim’s verbatim accounts of the experience(s). It is important to be a source of understanding, empathy, and care above all else.

As the social worker it is your responsibility to advocate for your patient. If the medical diagnosis does not align with the patients version of events, the patient requests testing, or the patient does not understand a diagnosis or test needing to be done it is your job to advocate on their behalf as they are not in a position where they should have to advocate on their own behalf, they have just gone through severe trauma.

  • "In a traditionally voiceless population, it is important that we do not put survivors’ interpretations of their assault in a box that may not adequately represent their experience."

    (Ullman, 2019)

When asking about what happened there are a few ways to get a comprehensive look at the situation. Here are a few tips and examples to best hear their story.

  • Ask open ended questions

  • Talk as minimally as possible

  • Show active listening

    • Nod your head

    • Make eye contact

    • Ask follow up questions to gain understanding and show you are listening

Examples

  1. “I can sense you have been through a lot. Can you tell me about what happened?”

  2. “In order to make sure we get you in a better place going forward it would help me if I knew a little bit more about what occurred and your situation. Do you mind telling me about that?”

  3. “If you are comfortable, can you share with me what happened?”

There are a few different ways you can advocate on behalf of your patient. Here are a few to consider.

  • Advocating for a certain test the patient has requested

  • Advocating for sending out testing to other labs if the hospital does not test for what the patient specifically wants

  • Inquiring about the medical diagnosis if it differs from what the patient has told you

  • Ensure the patient is being seen by a doctor or nurse if they need clarification or need something

  • If the doctor is speaking with the patient and it is clear the patient is not understanding, clarify for them

  • If the patient speaks another language, asking if they need an interpreter and finding one for them

  • If the patient has a disability ensure that is accommodated for

Advocating

Listening

A CASE OF WHEN ADVOCATING IS CRUCIAL: FROM A PRIOR VICTIM

“I was drugged at a bar and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance falling in and out of consciousness. I asked multiple times for a drug screening and for a fentanyl test, I knew I had been drugged and was scared for my life. When I woke up in the emergency room and the doctor came to see me he said that the hospital did not test for roofies because it ‘would not change my course of treatment.’ I did not know what to do, or how to get a test but at that time I was so out of it I could not advocate for myself or care enough to push for answers. I knew the normal me would have pushed through and filed a police report but I felt powerless, exhausted, and defeated. Handed a sticky note with the police phone number, I was barely conscious enough to call. I left the hospital without filing a police report after being told by a doctor that since I was not raped it would “not be taken seriously” and with a discharge paper that read my diagnosis was “delirium and alcohol intoxication.” That night I had 2 drinks over a 4+ hour span total, I was barely buzzed when I suddenly vomited and then lost consciousness. My blood alcohol level was .10, just over the legal limit (.08).

I later got tested and confirmed I had been drugged with benzodiazepines (BZO).”

- A victim of drug assault

In this case had the social worker advocated for their victim through:

  • Advocating for testing

  • Inquiring about the mismatch of diagnosis and patient’s story

  • Given testing resources to patient

  • Gave the patient options on how to file a police report

The victim may have filed a police report and had an overall better and less traumatic experience at the hospital. This proves how crucial your job is. You can make a huge difference.

Drug assault and drug facilitated sexual assault is highly underreported due to obstacles with testing access, reporting, and poor patient advocacy and this is the exact reason why, victims need an advocate