Yes! Survivors who speak any language have the same rights to healing services in both Lebanon and Schuylkill counties. We use a combination of bilingual/bicultural staff and trained professional interpretation to make sure that people can get help in the language of their heart. These services never cost the survivor anything. In fact, any program, office, or organization that receives federal funding is required by law to make services language accessible.
Our staff and volunteers are trained to use in-person interpreters, phone interpreters, and video interpreters during their sexual assault counselor training. This past Friday our staff from both offices came together for our quarterly meeting and training opportunity. Each year we take time out to review our language access tools and practice with the trickier technology to make sure we are ready to serve survivors and our community.
SARCC resources are currently developed and printed in English and Spanish. We also keep intake forms and service info in Arabic and Russian, and have gathered human trafficking resources in multiple languages. We map out communities each year to learn ways to improve our resources and services. No matter what language you speak, all survivors have a right to use their voices to seek justice and healing.
Resource of the Week: Existe Ayuda Toolkit