Who helps the helpers? Social support for rape crisis advocates

Abstract

Secondary exposure to trauma may have negative effects on rape victim advocates' well-being. Self-care can help to mitigate these negative effects on advocates' well-being, and prior research suggests that social support is an especially important aspect of advocates' self-care. However, there is a lack of research on how rape crisis advocates access and receive social support in relationship to their advocacy work. Therefore, semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 rape crisis advocates who volunteered for a rape crisis center in Chicago to understand how they accessed social support from informal and formal support providers, and when they did receive support, what was helpful versus unhelpful. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results revealed that many advocates were able to seek out and receive positive instrumental and emotional social support that nurtured them and their work. However, advocates also experienced a variety of barriers to obtaining positive support from informal support providers, including fear of burdening providers and a reluctance or lack of preparedness of their support providers to speak about the issue. Advocates emphasized the need for rape crisis centers to provide resources for their informal social support systems in order to encourage helpful responses. In addition, advocates praised the rape crisis center for its built-in formal support structures, but also encouraged the organization to seek broader representation of persons from minority backgrounds among their advocates and mentors. Implications and future directions for research and rape crisis centers are also discussed. The present study highlights the importance of social support systems for advocates and potential barriers that may be addressed to reduce service provider burnout and vicarious trauma.