Posts Written by Chloe
By Chloe H. • 11 years ago

Volunteer Opportunity: Rape Crisis, Westchester County, NY

Become a Volunteer Rape Crisis Hospital Advocate!

Victims Assistance Services is a comprehensive organization that provides free, confidential advocacy, therapy, and assistance with compensation to victims of crime in Westchester County, NY. We are also the county’s Rape Crisis Program, meaning we staff a 24-hour crisis hotline available locally and through RAINN, and provide 24/7 response to area hospitals if a sexual assault victim comes into the ER.

We are currently looking for volunteer hospital advocates to cover night and weekend shifts for our hospital advocacy! Hospital advocates provide crucial emotional support and advocate on behalf of the victim so that their rights are upheld in the medical and criminal justice systems.  Advocates are often the first person to listen and validate the survivor’s needs and feelings after an assault.

Are you interested?

Volunteer hospital advocates must undergo a 30-hour Department of Health training, facilitated in our Elmsford, NY office. That training concludes with an exam, which volunteers need to pass with an 80 percent or better. Volunteers take 3-4 shifts per month – our schedule is very flexible and works easily around work and school schedules! Volunteers become part of a growing, thriving activist community: we hold monthly meetings to support and connect with each other, and continuing education is a crucial component of our service to the county.

The next training begins on Thursday, February 7th at 6:00pm in Elmsford.

Please contact Chloe Heintz, Rape Crisis Program Coordinator, at cheintz@westcop.org or (914) 345-3113 for more ...
By Chloe H. • 12 years ago

Deaths by Poverty

A recent study released by The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health/funded by the National Institute for Health  shows a direct link between poverty and mortality in the United States.  While, of course, we all know this is the case, you would be hard-pressed to find a medical journal or research institute that could provide a statistical link between socioeconomic factors and physiological consequences (unless you were drawing the relationship between the two based on their data yourself).

After discussing the various social factors they would consider, Dr. Sandro Galea says that  “social causes can be linked to death as readily as can pathophysiological and behavioral causes.”

The study goes on to outline these relationships:

The investigators found that approximately 245,000 ...

A recent study released by The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health/funded by the National Institute for Health  shows a direct link between poverty and mortality in the United States.  While, of course, we all ...
By Chloe H. • 12 years ago

Weiner to seek psychiatric treatment?

There is a longstanding, firmly entrenched myth in our rape culture that perpetrators of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence are sick, mentally ill, unwell, “out of control”, and/or crazy.  These notions exist in comfortable concomitance with programs and commentary that suggest that abusers need anger management classes in order to learn how to control their rage and/or respond more appropriately to challenging situations.

Let me break it down for you:  this is absolute nonsense, and is propagated by rape culture, rape apologists, and (you guessed it) rapists and perpetrators for several reasons.  Yes, it’s important to acknowledge that there are some people who are actually mentally unwell; who are driven by real, diagnosable disorders.  Pedophilia is one example: the individual ...

There is a longstanding, firmly entrenched myth in our rape culture that perpetrators of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence are sick, mentally ill, unwell, “out of control”, and/or crazy.  These notions exist in comfortable concomitance with ...
By Chloe H. • 13 years ago

Man Convicted of Beheading Wife

Almost two years ago, Feministing posted about the arrest of Muzzammil Hussan, who was accused of stabbing (over 40 times) and beheading his wife after she applied for divorce.  I am not sure if this has become public knowledge again, but in late January Hussan went on trial for the crime; yesterday, he was convicted of second degree murder (it took the jury less than an hour, by the way).

In reading the various transcripts and commentaries on the trial, there are several comments that frighten me.  From his appalling claims of victimization by his wife as well as various legal institutions, as well as his insistence that men are overwhelmingly persecuted, I think this trial is relevant on a more ...

Almost two years ago, Feministing posted about the arrest of Muzzammil Hussan, who was accused of stabbing (over 40 times) and beheading his wife after she applied for divorce.  I am not sure if this has become ...