How We Support Survivors
A Supportive Place to Start
Confidential CARE advocates use a trauma-informed approach to supporting survivors. Advocates provide affirming, empowering, free, confidential support, and bring a non-judgemental approach to exploring all options, rights, and resources.
Confidential victim advocacy services are available to all UC Davis and UC Davis Health community members, including: undergraduate and graduate students, students in our professional schools, staff, faculty, and academic appointees. UC Davis CARE services are also available to employees at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR).
You may be experiencing a wide range of feelings such as shock, fear, disbelief, recurring memories, outrage, confusion, sadness, despair, and anger. All of your feelings are valid. Whether you tell someone, who you tell, and how you share your experience, is entirely your decision. Regardless of what you decide, there are many people at UC Davis who are committed to helping you, whether you’re a student, staff person, or faculty member.
What kinds of support can CARE advocates provide?
Emotional Support and Crisis Counseling
Confidential support and crisis counseling for survivors is available through the CARE office, which is a separate resource from Counseling Services or ASAP. CARE advocates use a trauma-informed approach and offer affirming, empowering support. Our priority is ensuring that survivors feel heard, understood, and recognized as the expert of their experiences.
CARE advocates bring a non-judgemental, caring approach to exploring all options, rights, and resources. We recognize that it is always the survivor’s choice to pursue any of the available options or resources; support from CARE is available regardless of the survivor’s decision to make any report to police or the university.
CARE also offers support to people seeking to help a survivor in their life. We understand that the survivor’s friends and family may also be impacted by the violence their loved one has experienced, and they may struggle with not only how to help the survivor but also their own feelings about the situation. CARE advocates are available to help people who are concerned about a survivor in their life process their emotions about the situation and talk through how to help the survivor in a trauma-informed way.Safety Planning and Safe Housing
Safety planning is a collaborative conversation with the survivor to brainstorm ways they can stay safe and reduce the risk of future harm. CARE advocates can assist survivors in creating a safety plan that addresses how to stay safe in a variety of circumstances, including while the survivor is still in an abusive relationship. At CARE, we recognize that the survivor is the expert in their life and of their experience, and we prioritize that expertise when collaborating with a survivor to develop a safety plan that will work for them.
A safety plan may include an action plan to address technology and online safety, supportive measures or accommodations in the academic setting or workplace, or a plan for responding in the moment to active harm that is happening. A safety plan may also include assistance with obtaining a Domestic Violence Restraining Order or Civil Harassment Restraining Order through the court, or assistance with obtaining a No Contact Order through the university.
CARE advocates can also assist survivors in arranging immediate temporary relocation to a safe place. Some survivors may also be interested in long-term options designed to increase safety at home. CARE advocates are able to assist survivors of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, or stalking with terminating their rental lease so that they can move to a safe location. UC Davis CARE is also an enrolling agency for the California Safe at Home program, which will allow survivors of certain crimes to maintain confidentiality of their home address.Medical Care - Information & Accompaniment
After an experience of physical or sexual assault, a survivor may wish to seek medical care to treat injuries, including injuries the survivor may not be able to see, and get tested for any possible STIs. Some survivors may also wish to have evidence of the assault collected and documented through a sexual assault forensic exam or domestic violence forensic exam. Forensic exams are time sensitive and are typically performed within 5 days of the assault.
Confidential victim advocates are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to talk with survivors about their medical care options, including their options for obtaining a forensic exam. Survivors have a right to be accompanied by a confidential victim advocate and/or a support person of their choice at their sexual assault or domestic violence forensic exam. Visit the Following a Sexual Assault page on this website for more information about medical care, collecting and preserving evidence, and what happens to the evidentiary exam kit.
A confidential victim advocate can be reached 24/7, including holidays, by calling CARE’s mainline at (530) 752-3299. When calling outside of normal business hours, callers can press “1” to be connected with an after-hours confidential advocate.Reporting Options - Information & Accompaniment
CARE advocates are available to assist survivors in exploring reporting options, including reporting to law enforcement and/or the university via HDAPP and Title IX, and can answer the survivor’s questions about each process. Meeting with a confidential advocate can act as a consult to explore if engaging with the reporting process is the best fit for the survivor’s goals. If a survivor chooses to report, a CARE advocate can be present during the process to accompany the survivor to the initial interview and any needed follow up meetings.
In addition to being present and offering support during any intake meetings, interviews, or hearings, CARE advocates can also assist the survivor with follow up communications to and from university officials and/or law enforcement, obtaining supportive measures or accommodations, and offer guidance on each step of the reporting process.Supportive Measures & Accommodations
Many survivors notice that the assault or harassment they have experienced has a wide-reaching impact, which may disrupt their ability to focus on school or work. Survivors of sexual harassment and violence, including intimate partner violence and stalking, have a right to reasonable accommodations and supportive measures to support their continued success as a student or employee.
Confidential CARE advocates are available to consult with survivors about their right to reasonable accommodations, explore options for what those accommodations could look like, and assist survivors in obtaining the supportive measures that they feel will best meet their needs.Resource Referrals & Assistance
There are many resources available to help support and meet the unique needs of survivors. At CARE, we understand that sometimes what a survivor needs most is information and a warm introduction to another program or service. CARE advocates are available to help survivors connect with the resources or assistance programs that will best support their goals.
Whether it’s financial or basic needs assistance, counseling services, off-campus support, or something else entirely, CARE advocates can assist survivors with identifying the best resource and getting them connected.Healing
Survivors may feel an array of emotions after experiencing assault, abuse, or harassment. It is also common for some survivors to be disconnected, disassociated, or numb. Aspects of the survivor’s life may be impacted after the harm they have experienced. This can include things like increasing or decreasing social interactions, a shift in academic or work engagement, physical health and wellness, and more. Healing looks different for every survivor, there is no “right way” to address trauma or to heal. It is very common for survivors not to know how to heal or where to start with their healing journey.
At CARE, we recognize that survivors should be empowered to explore whatever healing modality feels right for them, in a way that allows them to change their mind and explore new modalities as their healing journey progresses. There is no timeline for healing, and healing is not a linear process. CARE advocates are available to connect with survivors at any point in time during their healing journey - to offer support and validation, to brainstorm different coping strategies and healing modalities, and to connect the survivor with additional resources.