Crisis Call Center is pleased to announce a recent hire as well as promotions to fill two other positions, all within our Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS) Direct Services Program.
In February of this year Crisis Call Center was awarded funds to place a full-time Victim Advocate onto the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. In cooperation with UNR’s Division of Student Services, Office of The Associate Dean of Students and after conducting a full search, the position of Campus Advocate was offered and accepted by Justine Hernandez. Ms. Hernandez begins her duties immediately and appropriately during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM).
Vacating her most recent position, Ms. Hernandez is succeeded by Elaina Vlassopoulos, who has been promoted to the position of Prevention Education and Outreach Specialist and who will begin working providing education curriculum in the Washoe County School District High Schools and at UNR providing bystander awareness tools to the campus culture.
Rounding out our SASSy staff we are thrilled to announce the hire of Nichelle Cieri as Program Assistant & Volunteer Coordinator, and who has been serving the program as a volunteer on-call advocate for a number of years.
All three of these incredibly talented young women have undergone the program’s extensive 78 hour training, have served as direct victim advocates and have represented the program with distinction. We are privileged to have them as integral member of our team.
Crisis Call Center was established as an outreach program of the University of Nevada, Reno in 1966 in response to the high rate of suicide in Nevada. On March 12, 1966, the Board of Regents approved a plan, calling for a cooperative community effort in the field of suicide prevention. During those early years the need for this service proved to be so great, it was expanded to include support for persons in any type of crisis. Although Crisis Call Center became an independent not-for-profit agency in 1985, we have maintained a close working relationship with the University of Nevada.
The sexual assault support services program began in 1979. The addition of this program made the Crisis Call Center also a “Rape Crisis Center” for northern Nevada. We offer a 24-hour rape hotline through the Crisis Lines. In addition, we have advocates who do additional phone counseling, meet survivors at the SART Clinic and provide face-to-face crisis intervention during the immediate period after the assault, additionally provide legal advocacy – accompanying survivors to police interviews, court appearances, and other services the survivor may need access to. SASS provides referrals to counselors in the area who specialize in helping victims of sexual assault become survivors.
