Sexual Assault
 

Unfortunately, it does happen.

A confidential resource to midshipmen, MDC psychologists are here to assist victims of sexual assault and to help shipmates who want to be more sensitive to friends who are healing from an assault.

The primary resource for sexual assault victims at USNA is the Sexual Assault Victim Intervention (SAVI) Program.  The program consists of both victim Advocates and GUIDEs.  SAVI's victim advocates are officers and senior enlisted leaders who are trained in sexual assault prevention, intervention and assistance.  Since SAVI is a fleet-wide program, many of our advocates served as SAVI Representatives on their ships or in their squadrons and, therefore, have valuable experience dealing with these types of incidents.  The job of a victim advocate is to accompany the victim throughout the healing process (ie. medical, legal, investigative) in order to answer any questions the victim may have, provide support, and advocate for the victims needs as requested.  SAVI GUIDEs are midshipman volunteers who act as peer resources for the Brigade of Midshipmen.  GUIDE, which is an acronym, stands for Guidance, Understanding, Information, Direction, and Education.  All SAVI GUIDEs undergo a careful screening process and are required to receive at least 20 hours of training prior to participating.  In addition to providing information and assistance to their shipmates at a time of need, GUIDEs are actively involved in prevention education throughout the four-year training curriculum.

This link will take you to the SAVI Homepage for more information about the program and how to access the SAVI Advocate and/or GUIDE on duty (available 24/7).

Following are some additional resources for your information:

	National Sexual Assault Hotline
	National Sexual Violence Resource Center - A project by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape the oldest and one of the largest state sexual assault coalitions in the country and funded by the CDC.
	National Women's Health Information Center - A US Department of Health and Human Services site with good information about violence against women.
	Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Information on Sexual Violence
	Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Inc. - Private, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982.
	Men Can Stop Rape - Washington DC area organization dedicated to ending male violence against women.
	Men Against Sexual Violence - part of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape the oldest and one of the largest state sexual assault coalitions in the country.
	Rape is... - Award winning documentary by Cambridge Documentary Films.
	Male Survivor - Overcoming sexual victimization of boys and men.
	Sexual Abuse of Males - collection of information by a psychologist about male victims of abuse.