Lessons Learned

Cross Training

VS 2000 proposes that faith leaders and victim service providers offer collaboratively designed cross training because often one group may have expertise that illuminates an otherwise inexplicable experience. Victims sometimes avoid service providers, for example, because they may remind the victim of the crime. Clergy whose parishioners have avoided them after they have conducted a funeral service may have been puzzled by this experience. Such avoidance, known as second-order conditioning, is a valuable concept that the victim assistance community can impart to clergy members. (For a detailed definition, see the "Elements of Collaboration" page.)

Ongoing cross training would not only educate both groups about how their members can assist crime victims but also improve communication between faith communities and victim service providers.

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