One of the best approaches, when there is a person who is a victim of abuse, is to be holistic in the support that you will be giving. That means that when you give your support and assist them, no matter what your role in that person’s life may be, is to try to take it carefully and tactfully in your actions and words.
Victims of such crimes are apt to be very sensitive to small details in people’s actuation and thus such cases need to be approached in a well-planned and organized manner. Here are some of the things that you can do in such a situation.
Report the Case
The victim needs to be empowered even in such a time of crisis. Now the idea of empowering the victim might sound ironic if taken into a certain context, but empowering victims has always been one of the most effective strategies to encourage victims to report the case.
Well, it is easy to report and file a criminal case against any stranger, but it is not easy to file a criminal case against somebody you know, who might be a family or friend, and thus many assault cases usually are kept under wraps until it is too late.
Victims should always be empowered to report the case and face it with courage only then can they start to heal from their wounds and trauma. Reporting the case might be initially difficult for the victim as they will be trying to remember details of the traumatic events of the assault.
Give Autonomy
As much as we want to make sure that we can assist and help the victim in one of the most difficult times of their lives, we must also remember to never take away the autonomy of the victim in their own life. Assault victims usually feel very powerless and vulnerable because their sense of trust and safety has most likely been shattered.
And thus, one way to bring this back is to give them the autonomy to take a step forward toward the resolution of their issues even if those steps might go in opposition to what we wanted for them personally.
Take for example, if the victim cannot relive the whole event, then they should not be forced to give a testimony but rather give them enough time to compose themselves so that they can retell and put into the record the whole detail of the event.
Take Medical Records
As the victim needs medical care, one should also make sure that all the medical records, even bills, prescriptions, and all pertinent documents are kept, organized, and oftentimes made copies of so that it will be assured that the medical documents pertaining to the abuse are well-documented.
On that note, it is also very helpful to ask for the assistance of an unbiased medicolegal firm such as azure medicolegal medical assessments and services for their services that will be very beneficial for the victim. Not to demean other institutions, but with a firm whose expertise is on the medicolegal aspect, then it would be best to have them on board with the case.
At the end of the day, we are all human beings and that is basically all it takes for us to help a fellow who is in desperate need of help and assistance. Victims of such crimes often feel that they could no longer trust anyone and thus this adds complexity to the problem, especially in their recovery period. Patience and kindness are always the key to handling these cases.
