Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s Victim Advocacy Webinar Series, Year 2
- OVW Approved?
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Yes
- Description
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Victim Advocacy Webinar Series, Year 2
A webinar series for Legal Assistance for Victims (LAV) grantees, legal service providers, legal advocates, and victim advocates providing legal assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and dating violence on Tribal lands.
Tribal Law and Policy Institute invites you to join our three-part webinar series that will discuss the role of victim advocates and how they work with victims and their families; the safety needs of victims, their children, and their community; and systems’ responses to victims experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault.
Upcoming webinar dates:
- March 18, 2026: “Victim Advocacy: The Hats Worn by Advocates to Serve Victims and Their Communities”
- April 15, 2026: “Victim Safety: Safety needs of Victims, Their Children and Community”
- May 20, 2026: “ Walking in the Shoes of Victims: The Journey Continues”11:00 AM PT/ Noon MT/ 1:00 PM CT/ 2:00 ET
90-minute webinar format
If you have any questions, please email TLAPS@TLPI.org Thank you.
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“Victim Advocacy: The Hats Worn by Advocates to Serve Victims and Their Communities”
March 18, 2026
11:00 AM PT/ Noon MT/ 1:00 PM CT/ 2:00 ET
In this webinar, participants will receive information about the model of victim advocacy, a brief history, how it differs from other models of service provision, and the importance of collaboration with other disciplines for victim and community safety and offender accountability. The primary objective is for other professionals and allies to have a greater understanding of the role of advocates and how they work with victims and their families.
Learning Objectives
- The history of victim advocacy
- The different models of victim advocacy programs
- How confidentiality is different depending on the type of program
- The many roles advocates play and the services they provide
- How these programs benefit victims
- The barriers and challenges victim advocacy programs can face serving tribal communities
- How collaboration with other agencies benefits victims by increasing safety and offender accountability
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“Victim Safety: Safety needs of Victims, Their Children and Community”
April 15, 2026
11:00 AM PT/ Noon MT/ 1:00 PM CT/ 2:00 ET
This webinar will focus on needs of victims with emphasis on safety needs for the primary victim and discuss the importance of doing safety planning, what that is, and when it’s done. Participants will receive information on the impact of the children who witness, how victims and children can benefit from seeking and obtaining protection orders. Facilitator will explore with participants the challenges that victims may face in regard to protecting their children and reasons they want custody and assistance with visitation by abusing partner.
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“Walking in the Shoes of Victims: The Journey continues”May 20, 2026
11:00 AM PT/ Noon MT/ 1:00 PM CT/ 2:00 ET
In this webinar the facilitator will take participants on a walk through of systems’ response to victims experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault. This webinar will focus on types of sexual assault and domestic violence and will identify legal needs and long-term needs of victims and how advocates can assist victims with locating appropriate services, share benefits of securing legal assistance and how to work collaboratively with legal services. Participants will also discuss the importance of improving system response through protocol development in domestic violence and sexual assault response.
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Presenter for all three webinars:Bonnie Clairmont, Victim Advocacy Specialist, Tribal Law and Policy Institute
Bonnie Clairmont (Ho-Chunk) serves from TLPI’s Minnesota office as the Victim Advocacy Specialist. Prior to her employment with TLPI, she was the Outreach/Client Services Coordinator for Sexual Offense Services of Ramsey County, a rape crisis center. While employed there, Bonnie provided leadership in the development of Sexual Assault Response Teams and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs and offered guidance with multidisciplinary sexual assault protocol development. She has worked more than twenty-five years advocating for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She has dedicated much of her work to providing and improving services for victim/survivors of sexual assault, battering, and child sexual abuse, particularly those from American Indian communities. For four years she coordinated the Strengthening the Circle of Trust Conference, a conference focusing on sexual assault and exploitation perpetrated by American Indian spiritual leaders/medicine men. Bonnie co-edited a recently published book “Sharing Our Stories of Survival” an anthology of writing by Native Women who’ve experienced violence. Bonnie provided technical assistance to research conducted by Amnesty International USA that led to the report, “Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous Women from sexual violence in the USA.” She and her late partner Jim Clairmont have two children and five grandchildren.
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This project was supported by Grant No.15JOVW-24-GK-03005-LEGA awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed on this site or in any materials on this site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.