(Seguin) – The Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter serves more than just a temporary shelter. That’s according to Hannah Klug, the shelter’s community engagement specialist and sexual assault advocate.
Klug recently shared the details behind the shelter and all its services during a recent meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court.
“For those of you who don’t know, we are an emergency family violence shelter, but we are also a certified rape crisis center and so what that means is all of the services that we provide to family violence survivors whether they are in a shelter or non-residential clients, we also provide to survivors of sexual violence,” said Klug.
Klug’s presentation was part of the court’s observance of “National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month” which is designated each April.
Klug says the scope of their work in combating sexual assaults and being there to assist the victims has helped to grow their local response to these crimes.
“Right now, in the community, we are working on a few different sexual response teams in different counties and Guadalupe is one of those counties. We are doing some big things in that area as well as CSEY certification which is Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth. It’s a long and tedious certification process but it’s going to do a lot of good. It provides long term advocacy to youth who have been trafficked. In the fiscal year 2022, we provided 65 hospital accompaniments here in Guadalupe County and we have counseling, we have help with housing, we have help with legal advocacy. We provide accompaniment to those hospital forensic examinations as well as to law enforcement to make a police report and as well as the court if someone choose to go the legal route. However, our agency’s goal is not just necessarily to support those who take the legal route. We are here to support all survivors on any walk that they choose. Whether or not they go that legal route, we want to make sure they have that support that they need and (help those) that might include counseling. It might include crisis intervention or peer support or emergency shelter – whatever it is going to take to support the survivors that we work with,” said Klug.
Among those joining her at the podium was Stephanie Johnson, the shelter’s sexual assault program coordinator. Johnson says it’s especially important to note how their efforts also extend to the youngest of victims.
“We work with community partners to review our response to sexual assault, to determine what works and what we can do better. We’ve been endorsed as the CSEY advocate by the children’s advocacy center that will allow us to provide support for trafficked youth whereas right now, anyone in the shelter, our services are short-term. This could be a year more where we would follow that child through the process, allow to help them with birthdays and things like that and so those are the things that we are working on right now,” said Johnson.
The shelter’s presentation was followed with the court’s applause for such efforts to prevent such crimes. and to help victims heal.
In his reading of the proclamation observing the month of April as “National Sexual Assault Awareness Month” in Guadalupe County, Commissioner Pct. 1 Greg Seidenberger reads, “Whereas, every 68 seconds another person in the United States is sexually assaulted, and in Texas 2 in 5 women and 1 in 5 men are victims of sexual assault and in fiscal year 2022, the Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter rendered 1,422 services to 370 survivors of sexual violence.”
In their quest to bring attention to this issue, county officials also ask that all citizens observe this month by “supporting the goals and ideals of victims and those working toward awareness and prevention, and by participating in community efforts.”
Among those opportunities for the public to show its support will be a Denim Day Awareness Walk in downtown Seguin. The event gets underway at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26. The event will include information and art making beginning at 3 p.m. followed by speakers at 5 p.m. and then the walk at 5:30 p.m. Live music and food trucks will also be available.