and abuse in Columbia area
By Katie McKay
Volunteers lead the way, supported by strong community outreach, in helping end sexual assault and abuse in the Columbia area.
Seventy percent of all rapes go unreported, according to the Bureau of Justice's National Crime Victimization Report. But organizations in the Columbia area actively working to further the anti-rape crusade and advocate for victims.
In the past two decades, the anti-rape movement has evolved from its beginnings as a grassroots-collection of sexual assault service providers and survivors to privately funded, volunteer-led organizations offering a wide range of services.
The Capital City is home to Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands
(STSM), a private, non-profit agency that has been servicing Richland,
Lexington and Newberry counties since 1983.The organization focuses on victim services; comfort and empowerment are key factors in STSM's work.
Their tiny corner of hope on the third floor of a larger office building became their home in 2007 and is leagues bigger than their previous home, which was considerably overcrowded and had maintenance problems, according to Director of Development Ginny Waller.
"It's a good change," she says. "Everyone has their own office now and we have plenty of storage space."
Executive Director Eve Wilson is a petite woman with a warm, caring voice, but carries with her the confidence, compassion and composure of someone who has been helping people through some of the most sensitive and crucial trials in their lives for quite some time.
She speaks about how the agency relies heavily on the community for help and support with their mission of providing services to survivors and education about sexual assault and tells about how they get their message to the community.
The organization provides 24-hour crisis intervention, hospital accompaniment, personal and legal advocacy and group and individual counseling to the entire tri-county area
STSM responded to 367 hospital call-outs in 2007, which Wilson says translates into one hospital call-out by a member of the agency per-night.
Wilson, who started working with STSM as a volunteer advocate eight years ago, says that with only six of 10 staff members on a constant on-call rotation, they simply can't handle the amount of calls that come in.
STSM relies heavily on the community for help and support, says Wilson.
"We have working partnerships with the community, such as law enforcement, medical staff and other agencies which provide referral services to survivors of sexual assault and abuse."
But their biggest connection to the community is through volunteers. With such a small staff, Wilson says that STSM relies heavily on the volunteer program, which currently has 55 active members.
"The volunteers are the ones who help answer our 24-hour crisis line, they also respond to the local hospitals when someone presents themselves for medical attention because they have been raped or sexually assaulted," she says. "The community being involved in helping with that, it's what sustains this program."
So, with a great need for community involvement and support, how does STSM reach the community?
Lee Lafontant Patterson, the volunteer services coordinator, says the agency goes "anywhere and everywhere."
"We list an ad on every free web site we can find," she says. "[We] post fliers in Starbucks, and have volunteer brochures in the community."
Waller says last year the agency was able to reach over 30,000 individuals in the Midlands by going to any civic or social organization and any group meetings, such as the Rotary Club.
"Every time [the agency] sets up [an outreach meeting], that brings awareness to the community about sexual assault and awareness about what STSM services are available," she says.
Wilson also has television interviews scheduled in the upcoming months to help get the agency's name and message in the community.
The state of South Carolina has a high rate of sexual assault and abuse, says Wilson, but legislature is trying to keep up by making the laws more severe.
According to the South Carolina code of laws, the state is allowed to seek the death penalty in cases with certain circumstances and has provisions in the law, which requires those convicted serve at least 25 years of their sentence without the possibility of parole.
Wilson says the state is currently working on controlling the high numbers of adolescents involved in sexual assault and abuse and also working on fixing holes in the laws regarding the age of consent. Those high rates are the reason STSM has such a strong education program, according to Wilson.
"We teach prevention education and risk reduction," she says. STSM presents individual lessons about specific topics and a six-week curriculum covering a wide range of sexual abuse subjects to 60 schools, both public and private, in the three counties served.
The agency has partnerships with all of the local hospitals and many law enforcement agencies, and helps educate both groups about sexual assault and abuse to help better service victims.
Painting is Edvard Munch's Comfort