Supporting Underserved Survivors
The experiences of survivors, both of the abuse and its aftermath, may be shaped by the unique identities they hold. Survivors within underserved or marginalized communities may face distinct forms of abuse, additional barriers to support, and may hold different perspectives on what justice and healing looks like. Below is a sample of historically underserved survivor identities, along with information about distinct forms of abuse, barriers, and community-specific resources. Understanding these distinctions and potential barriers may be helpful to those who seek to support survivors with unique identities.
Please note that this sample is not intended to represent each individual survivor; every survivor is unique and their experience may look different. If you are supporting a survivor within one of these communities, remember to not assume anything about their specific experience.
Survivors Living with Disabilities
Survivors living with disabilities, both visible and invisible, hold their own individualized experiences. Many may have had interpersonal violence exerted on them specifically utilizing their access and disability needs. Someone’s access and disability needs also can be a direct result of past or present interpersonal violence, trauma, and harm that they have experienced.
Challenges & barriers for survivors with disabilities may include, but are not limited to:
• Finances, basic needs, and needed medical support controlled
• Denial or blame for their disability or access needs
• Isolation from their support network and resources
• Resources, options, and spaces that are not accessible to them
• Support people, providers, or service entities that invalidate or do not take into consideration access needs
Additional Resources
Deaf Hope
Confidential resource
Email: deafhope@deaf-hope.org
Phone: (510) 735-8553UC Davis Student Disability Center
Not confidential, but will keep medical information private
Email: sdc@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-3184UC Davis Disability Management Services
Not confidential, but will keep medical information private
Email: dmshelp@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-6019Survivors who are LGBTQIA+
Survivors who are LGBTQ+ hold their own specific and personal experiences, and no assumptions should be made of a person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Often institutions have been historically inaccessible to survivors who are LGBTQIA+, due to discrimination and marginalization. And for survivors who are LGBTQIA+, there is isolation and lack of support around their experiences of interpersonal violence.
Challenges and barriers for survivors who are LGBTQIA+ may include, but are not limited to:• One’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity being denied or invalidated
• Abuse and control over hormone treatments
• The threat of having one’s sexual orientation or gender identity “outed” to people they know, which could impact access to support and resources
• Messaging by the abuser that communicates the abuse is “mutual” or “even”
• Messaging that dating/domestic violence only occurs within straight/het relationships, and that what they are experiencing cannot be abuse
Additional Resources
UC Davis LGBTQIA+ Resource Center
Confidential resource
Email: lgbtqia@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-2452Gender Health Center
Free and low-cost physical and mental health care
Email: frontdesk@ghcmail.org
Phone: (916) 455-2391FORGE
Training for professionals supporting transgender communities.Survivors who are BIPOC
Communities of color have their own particular history and experiences. The experiences of a survivor who is BIPOC is unique within their community and across other communities. BIPOC survivors face particular systemic and cultural issues, within their experiences of being impacted by interpersonal violence.
Challenges and barriers for survivors who are BIPOC may include, but are not limited to:
• Familial and community notions of shame
• Feelings that their experiences may confirm bias, stereotypes, or negative messaging about their community
• Navigating a person of harm being part of one’s community
• Fear or apprehension around pursuing reporting options, due to experiences of historical and systemic violence and oppression
• Providers that do not understand the experiences of them and do not represent their communities
Additional Resources
Sacramento Native American Health Center (SNAHC)
Physical and mental health care services
Email: info@snahc.org
Phone: (916) 341-0575My Sister’s House
Confidential resource for survivors
Email: info@my-sisters-house.org
Phone: (916) 930-0626Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF)
Confidential resource for survivors
Phone: (800) 339-3940UC Davis Native American Academic Retention Initiative - The Nest
Embedded Community Counselor is confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: nari@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-3890UC Davis Center for African Diaspora Student Success
Embedded Community Counselor is confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: cfadss@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 754-0854UC Davis Chicanx and Latinx Academic Retention Initiative - El Centro
Embedded Community Counselor is confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: cclass@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-8402UC Davis Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) Resource Center
Embedded Community Counselor is confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: not listed
Phone: not listedUC Davis Strategic Asian and Pacific Islander Retention Initiative - Lotus Mana Center
Embedded Community Counselor is confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: apiretention@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 754-3484Survivors who are International Students
Survivors who are international students & scholars have their own individual and varied experiences within the UC community. There are often particular challenges and barriers faced by international students and scholars, when impacted by interpersonal violence.
These challenges and barriers may include, but are not limited to:
• Navigating legal systems, reporting processes, and community resources that feel new and/or unfamiliar to them
• Taking into account one’s visa or refugee status
• Resources not always accessible in the languages one uses
• Support systems not being accessible due to distance
• Being taken advantage of or provided false information around legal systems, reporting processes, and community resources
Additional Resources
UC Davis Services for International Students and Scholars
Embedded Community Counselor is confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: siss@ucdavis.edu
Phone: 752-0864UC Davis School of Law: Immigration Law Clinic
Phone: (530) 752-6942Survivors who Identify as Men
Interpersonal violence and abuse can occur to people of all gender identities. And while the experiences of survivors who identify as men differ, the myth and messaging that men cannot be victims of interpersonal violence creates experiences of isolation, lack of support, guilt, and shame for the survivors who do experience abuse.
Challenges and barriers for survivors who identify as men may include, but are not limited to:
• Experiences of abuse being questioned by providers or others in society
• Not being able to access or having more limited access to services (i.e. shelters)
• For gay/bi/queer/pansexual/trans men, feelings of self-blame, self-loathing, or harmful messaging that the experience was “deserved”
• A survivor’s sexuality being called into question after the harm
• Confusion around any physiological reactions
Additional Resources
1in6
Confidential resource for male survivors
Phone: (800) 656-4673Survivors who are Undocumented
The experiences of undocumented community members are not the same, nor fit any one story.
We must keep in mind that undocumented survivors may hold the shared experiences of uncertainty, stigma, and hyperawareness around what they can say and do.
Challenges and barriers for undocumented survivors may include, but are not limited to:
• Feeling that they must take into account their status, family member’s status, and/or the status of the person that harmed them in their decision making
• Holding uncertainty around which legal, law enforcement, and healthcare systems can be accessed and how that may impact their status and/or the status of others
• Being threatened, silenced, called into question, or having a survivor’s status weaponized against them
• Feeling isolated from their support system or having a support system that is also isolated
• Not being able to access resources or aid funds, due to their status.
• Being taken advantage of or provided false information around legal systems, reporting processes, and community resources
Additional Resources
UC Davis Undocumented Student Resource Center
Embedded Community Counselor and Staff Attorney are confidential; other staff are not confidential
Email: undocumented@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-9538UC Davis School of Law: Immigration Law Clinic
Phone: (530) 752-6942