Military-Connected Victims’ Rights Advocates

Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors

Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors

One aspect of NCVLI’s work is an effort funded by the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women, called the Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors Project.  This Project is a partnership of NCVLI and the National Organization for Victim Advocacy (NOVA) designed to provide specialized training and technical assistance (TTA) for criminal justice and allied professionals who respond to military members (active duty, Reservist, National Guard, and veteran) and military family members, who have been the victim of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and/or stalking.  The NOVA/NCVLI Project Team is working to provide TTA that builds and strengthens military-civilian partnerships and coordinated community response (CCR) teams. This work facilitates trauma-informed, survivor-centered services and legal advocacy tailored to the unique needs of military-connected survivors, including connecting advocates and attorneys serving military-connected survivors through a Pro Bono Pairing Portal and supporting practitioners in military and civilian justice systems through the Military-Connected Victims Toolkit.

For more information about the Advocating for Military-Connected Survivors TTA Project, please contact the Project Team 

    • NOVA: Please request TTA from NOVA here. For more information about the Project, please contact NOVA at MilitaryTTA@trynova.org.
    • NCVLI: Please request TTA from NCVLI here.  For more information about the Toolkit for Advocating for Military-Connected Victims, please contact NCVLI at ncvli@lclark.edu (subject line: “Toolkit for Advocating for Military-Connected Victims”).

Toolkit for Advocating for Military-Connected Victims

The Toolkit for Advocating for Military-Connected Victims contains a variety of tools and resources to help practitioners provide survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and collaborative advocacy for military-connected victims, including: interactive videos, tip sheets, checklists, quizzes, flash cards, and survivor interviews.  Some of these tools can be directly accessed on this page. Register for free to access more Tools!

Please note that Tools may contain sensitive content concerning victimizations.

Learn from a Survivor How an Advocate Can Make a Difference
Survivor Interview – Major Hali Picciano

Tune in to learn from Major Hali Picciano, a survivor and veteran of the United States Army. Major Picciano’s story illustrates the impact that victim attorneys and advocates can have in the process.

Recorded Summer 2022

Learn About the Military’s Safe-to-Report Policy
An Overview of Military Policies Regarding “Minor Collateral Misconduct” by Sexual Assault Victims

Check out this handout, available in English and Spanish, to learn about Safe-to-Report Policies across the military. This resource provides a general overview of these policies through a question/answer format.

Learn Practice Tips for Civilian Providers Working with Military-Connected Survivors for the First Time
What Civilian Providers Need to Know About How Military Advocates Describe Civilian Attorneys & Victims’ Civilian Legal Needs and Preferences

This video is part of a series, Interview with an Expert, in which an experienced military victim advocate answers questions from a civilian victims’ rights attorney about what civilian attorneys need to know when working with military-connected victims for the first time.

Recorded Winter 2024

All resources and information in this Toolkit, including these  Tools, are intended for educational purposes only.  As such, NCVLI, NOVA and the trainers make no warranty, express or implied, regarding any information they may provide in this Toolkit or the respective Tools.  The information neither constitutes legal advice nor substitutes for legal advice.  No attorney-client relationship is created with any person who uses this Toolkit or these Tools or any of the information contained in these resources. For additional resources relating to the protection, enforcement and advancement of crime victims’ rights, please visit NCVLI’s website at ncvli.org. For information on the pairing of crime victims with victims’ rights attorneys, please visit the National Alliance of Victims’ Rights Attorneys & Advocates (NAVRA), a key project of NCVLI, at navra.org.

Military-Connected Victims Trainings

For more information on how to volunteer as a pro bono attorney or how to list a case in need of a pro bono attorney, please contact NCVLI at navra@lclark.edu, subject (subject line: “Pro Bono Attorney – Military-Connected Crime Victims”).

This project is supported by Award No. 15JOVW-22-GK-04039-MUMU, awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication, conference agenda, or product, are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Department of Justice.