Week 2

January 16-20, 2023

The first half of this week we expected several clients for counseling, forensic interviews,

and/or medical exams, however, a variety of circumstances arose that made it so none of them

could happen. First, a family came in Tuesday afternoon for counseling, however the client did

not want to go back to counseling, and due to the fact that she has already made significant

progress since her first session, the counselor, Antoinette, cleared her and they did not end up

going to counseling. However, they might return in a couple months as the offender is taken to

court, and the girls have to confront him face to face again. Later that day, a young woman came

in for an interview, however, when she got here, she expressed that she did not want to go

through with the interview process, so the staff advocate, Shelley, sat with her and her mother to

outline the other resources available to her at the office and in town. Due to the fact that the

client was older, probably in her young teens, I did not stay in the lobby while she talked with

Shelley, because I didn’t want to intrude on her privacy.

Wednesday, however, I was able to stay in the lobby as a three year old girl and her

grandmother came into the office, intending to be interviewed and to receive a medical exam,

however, circumstances prevented this from happening. For starters, the interviewer, Ashleigh,

was not able to come into the office that day, because her daughter was sick. Additionally, before

the grandmother came in with her granddaughter, Katie, the forensic nurse, and Shelley, found

that the city in which the assault occurred is actually two possible counties, one of which does

not accept medical exam results in court cases unless the exam took place in the same county as

the assault. However, the grandmother did not know the offender’s exact address, so Shelley sat

with her as she filed a police report, which allowed the county police to uncover the man’s
address and also provide an officer to sit in on the interview when the girl comes back. This is

helpful, because they can talk with the interviewer and instruct her to ask different questions or

try to get more information from the child.

Through this week, I learned more about the everyday practices around the offices, and

was able to hone my advocacy skills as I made the clients feel comfortable and welcome in the

office. Coming here can be very stressful for them, so it is good for me to be able to calm and

distract the young clients while their parents / grandparents work with the staff to complete

official paperwork. I do need to work more on interacting with the older children, as I feel most

comfortable with people under the age of ten, but that negates almost half of the people who can

come into the office. In the future, I am going to watch more interviews, which will help expose

and desensitize me to the sensitive nature of the work that we do here, as well as showing me

how the interview process is performed, so I am able to be more empathetic to the clients when I

sit with them during the interviewer’s break.

Date In Lunch Out Hours Worked

Monday
MLK Day
January 16

Tuesday 9:00 AM 1:00PM-2:00PM 5:00PM 7

January 17

Wednesday 9:00AM 1:30PM-2:30PM 5:00PM 7

January 18

Thursday 9:30AM 12:30PM- 5:00PM 7

January 19 1:30PM

Friday 9:00AM 1:30PM 4.5

January 20

Weekly Hours 25.5

Total Hours to 55.5

Date