OAESV’s Training Institute and Advocacy Foundations

Natasha Larson & Elliott Fullenkamp

OAESV Training Team

Join us for a special interview with part of the OAESV Training team as they discuss one of OAESV’s signature events: The Training Institute!   

   

Natasha Larson                       Elliott Fullenkamp
Manager of Training           Director of Training  
& Member Engagement     & Technical Assistance    


Natasha: Elliott, thank you so much for being here as we discuss the Training Institute. Can you tell our lovely readers a little bit about what the Training Institute is?

Elliott: I’d be happy to! Our Training Institute for Sexual Violence Advocates is one of our signature programs at OAESV. We hold it twice a year: once in the Spring and once in the Fall. It’s an opportunity for advocates who are new to the field (or new to Ohio and our laws and procedures) to gain a foundational knowledge on rape crisis advocacy skills. The curriculum is a great foundation to learn about things like how to provide person-centered services and how to provide trauma-informed care across different settings. It’s a great orientation to the field, a labor of love, and a lot of fun!

Natasha:  It has been an amazing three years with you managing this project. What’s the thing you’ve valued most about this training?

Elliott: Well, updating the Training Institute was one of the first big projects that I took on, along with you Natasha, actually, right? We started around the same time in 2022!

Natasha: Right!

Elliott: We were tasked with updating the online 20 hours of the Training Institute. It was a great opportunity to reinvigorate the program. We started by making sure that there was alignment with the Ohio Core Rape Crisis Standards  and alignment on what people need as a foundation to do their jobs successfully. Then, slowly but surely, we learned from each session ways to make it more engaging, even more aligned, and how we could make it an overall better experience for our members.

Natasha: Absolutely! As things continue to grow. we’ve received a lot of positive feedback and engagement, with folks mentioning they get a lot out of their experience. As we’ve worked on this over the years, we’ve also found different ways to offer this flexibly. Can you speak to how we’re giving folks different opportunities to plug into our training content?

Elliott: Absolutely. Something I think that’s really unique and exciting about OAESV’s offering of this institute is how we split it up in a way that makes sense for programs. We offer a full, 40-hour training that helps meet the core standards for introductory advocacy training. It’s also pre-approved as an introductory training program with the Ohio Advocate Network and with the National Advocate Credentialing Program. So, by taking the full 40 hours with us at OAESV, you are a good part of the way towards applying to become either a registered or credentialed advocate.

We also have 20 hours of online content using our LMS platform. Folks can do that at their own pace. It’s great for folks who might work third shift in shelter, or maybe they are volunteers and can’t easily attend the live training during their normal workday. I mean, 40 hours all at once is just not realistic for everyone.

Natasha: Yeah, it is really special, and it really speaks to the flexibility that we know our programs need. I know another thing that’s been exciting to develop is some of those virtual engagement tools that we’ve implemented, wouldn’t you agree?

Elliott: Oh yeah, I think that really speaks to providing training in our modern world. I know that for many folks who received training prior to 2020, it might seem strange to take such an intensive course entirely virtually. But something that I’ve felt really great about over the last few years is applying the tools that came out of a challenging time (COVID). We know that the virtual aspect of this training helps make it more accessible to folks who maybe don’t have the time, resources, or allotted travel budgets to attend a 5 day in-person training. Also, we’ve being able to offer it virtually and still retain the engagement and community feeling by do things like breakout rooms, using tools like Padlet or Mentimeter, storytelling, and roleplay. There are so many things that help us create a really engaging experience, and we do that in partnership with other OAESV staff as well as folks from OVWA, OCVJC , OAESV’s Survivor Empowerment & Advisory Council, and more!

Natasha: Yes! We’ve really built a lovely community around this institute. And it truly takes a village to make this work effectively. One last thing I think we have to highlight is something we both really value as part of the educational experience and that is, role-play. When transitioning onto a fully virtual platform, it could have been very easy to say, “Well, this is a component that we won’t need anymore” but in fact, we’ve probably stepped it up even more. And so as we close, can you share a little bit about the way we’ve incorporated role play into the Training Institute?

lliott: Yeah, I think that actually aligns with the question earlier on “what do you value most about this training?” Roleplay, from my background as an educator, is an extremely useful tool. We do our highest levels of learning when we get to practice. On the final day of Training Institute, folks have the opportunity to put what they’ve learned into practice. They get to put on their “advocate hat” and one of our staff members at OAESV plays the role of a survivor. We simulate situations that could occur within crisis line, hospital, legal, or outreach settings.

What we find is that this is something that causes some nerves, understandably. So, to help prepare folks, we offer model role-plays throughout the week. We’ll have OAESV staff (sometimes it’s me and Natasha) who take each skill or setting and show an example of what an advocacy call might look like.

In the feedback that we receive in our surveys, and as we debrief at the end of training, folks will share that roleplays were the thing they were most nervous about. But by the time that they actually did it, they are so glad that they did, and that it’s the thing that actually helped them feel the most prepared to take on the challenges that we know that advocacy can bring.

Natasha: Yes, absolutely agree. Is there anything else that you would want our dear readers to know about the Training Institute?

Elliott: Just to mark your calendars! If you’re reading this in 2025, registration for the Fall Training Institute opens September 15th! The live training will be the November 3rd-7th but access to the asynchronous modules will open up on October 14th, so please make sure to register ahead of time so that you have plenty of time to take the full training in as it’s designed. I look forward to hopefully seeing some folks who are reading this there.

Natasha: We hope to see you there. Thank you all so much!

"This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-24-GG-00972-MUMU awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice.”
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