The mission of TVSA is support, education, and recognition for victim service providers.

Texas Victim Services Association

Newsletter
Summer 2024

TVSA Board of Directors, new board term as of May 2024 annual meeting installation of newly elected and appointed members.

In This Issue

Message from the Executive Director

President's Column

Membership Matters

Professional Development and Training

Texas Victim Friendly Initiative

Welcome New Members

Board Spotlight

Save the Dates

Updating TVSA Profiles

Job Board

Board of Directors

President
Rose Luna, MSLC
Austin

President-Elect
Mary Breaux, PhD
Huntsville

Secretary
Sarah Lackey, MSSW, LCSW
Austin

Treasurer
Suzanne Bradford, BBA, CPA
Lockhart

Region A Coordinator
Kristi Thompson, BA
Lubbock

Region B Coordinator
Roya N. Williamson, MA, LCDC

Region C Coordinator
Jennifer Betts-Williams, MS
Arlington

Region D Coordinator
LeShae Haynes, BA
Richmond

Region E Coordinator
Osvaldo "Ozzie" Carrasco Jr., BA
El Paso

Region F Coordinator
Brenda Fuentes
Edinburg

At-large Member
Belinda Beltrán-Swan, MPA
Huntsville

At-large Member
Patricia Lerma, MA
McAllen

At-large Member
Christina L. Richardson, MS, LPC
Dallas

At-large Member
Roman Sanchez, BSW
Edinburg

Ex Officio
Executive Director
Natacha Peláez-Wagner, M.Ed.
Austin

We welcome the following new member to her agency’s TVSA membership:

Sarah Morales

Trauma Support Services of North Texas

Board Spotlight: Sarah Lackey

We welcome our newest board member serving as secretary of the board, Sarah Lackey.

Sarah has been a licensed social worker for the last 17 years and currently works at the Texas Advocacy Project (TAP), managing a team of social workers and social work interns who provide services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, stalking, and child abuse. Sarah has been with TAP for the last three years. Prior to working at TAP, Sarah was a medical social worker and worked with elderly and disabled individuals in skilled nursing facilities and the community. Sarah obtained her clinical license in January of this year and is currently working towards getting EMDR certified. Throughout her career, Sarah has been a practicum instructor for BSW and MSW interns from several universities. Last year Sarah was awarded Field Instructor of the Year from St. Edward’s School of Social Work. Of her teaching and training work she says, “I really enjoy teaching and mentoring emerging professionals.”

Sarah is an alumna of TVSA’s Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance (TAAVA), attending our advanced academy in management and leadership in 2022. About her involvement with TVSA she states, “TVSA has been valuable to me and to the Texas Advocacy Project. I’ve had the privilege of participating in TAAVA in 2022 as well as leading our agency in TVSA’s Texas Victim Friendly Initiative project this year. We have been so inspired by the structure of TVFI. For a non-profit organization, the to-do lists can feel never-ending when you are rapidly growing and changing. TVFI provides a great structure for us to identify priority areas that we can improve and set goals that are reasonable and time bound.”

“It’s quite an honor for me to be appointed to the Board of Directors for TVSA. TVSA fills a supportive role for professionals working with victims in Texas that doesn’t exist elsewhere. I hope to see TVSA grow its reach over the next two years of my board term and am honored to be able to chip in to make that happen.”

TAAVA Alumni Network Meeting

August 29, 2024

Virtual

TAAVA Alumni Network Meeting

September 30, 2024

Virtual

Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance

February 26-28, 2025

Williamson County Sheriff's Office Law Enforcement Training Center, Hutto

TVSA 2025 Biennial Training Conference

May 6-9, 2025

Holiday Inn Beach Resort, South Padre Island

Is your TVSA profile up to date?

Keeping your profile updated ensures you receive all TVSA communications, including training events and notices. Follow this link to view and edit your TVSA profile: txvsa.org/Sys/Profile

Did You Know?

TVSA has a job board on our website! We have retooled the job board to make it easier for employers to submit job postings. Employers wishing to post a victim services position opening can fill out a form online to submit their posting to TVSA. Please send us your available job listings!

Victim services professionals engaged in job searches can view postings as well, with links to the human resources departments of pertinent agencies and/or applications directly for the listed positions. The job board is available at this link: http://www.txvsa.org/Active-Job-Postings

Message from the Executive Director

By Natacha Peláez-Wagner, M.Ed.

The summer heat, and the slowdown it brings in many of our home and personal activities, is a good metaphor for summers at TVSA. We recognize that many of our victim service professionals take time in the summer for vacations and family time. Those with children are often busy at this time of year with back-to-school tasks, including shopping and seeing their loved ones return to class, be they first time youngsters off to pre-kinder through first grade, or others in primary, middle or high school up through those going off to college.

At TVSA, we know the importance of our professionals needing work-life balance, especially during these months when their work serving crime victims does not stop, but their home and family priorities take on a different schedule than during the regular school and business year. We use this time not to hold trainings and events which would present challenges to this balance of time, but to regroup internally, and to plan for our trainings and other programs and services to our victim service professionals we serve, as we approach a new fiscal year this fall.

During these summer months we have continued with our Texas Victim Friendly Initiative year long program, as we facilitate our project sites this year completing their action plans to become more trauma-informed/victim friendly agencies and organizations. We have continued with our planning and preparation for additional advanced academy alumni network meetings and trainings, and we have also taken time over the summer to confirm and engage in preliminary planning for our 2025 ninth annual Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance and for our 2025 biennial statewide training conference.

While during much of the year we are busy executing these programs and services, having a little bit of breathing room in the summer allows us the time, as a board and staff, to assess, reflect and plan for enhancements in our programs and services, thus strengthening these for those we serve.

We look forward to all our services to our professionals in the upcoming 2024-25 year!

President's Column

By Rose Luna, MSLC

As we begin wrapping up our summer season, victim service providers are furiously working on end-of-grant-year closeouts and gearing up for the new grant year. Although our work doesn't follow the seasons, we strive to find balance.

For many with children in primary and secondary schools or heading off to college, this is also a time filled with new school year festivities and preparations. TVSA is also balancing grant work while preparing to engage with our membership, offering new opportunities for connection and learning. This fall, we will time to reflect, reassess, and recharge.

TVSA’s work on the Texas Victim Friendly Initiative program and with our advanced academy’s alumni network is generating a lot of buzz. We are excited to share the incredible work of TVSA and victim service providers in Texas with colleagues across the country.

As the summer season draws to a close, we wish you a meaningful transition to fall, along with all the challenges and opportunities it brings. As always, we welcome your ideas on how TVSA can best serve you, regardless of the season.

Thank you for your service!

Rose Luna
TVSA Board President

By Brooke King, M.A., Membership Committee Chair

All of us on the membership committee hope you are staying cool this summer and are finding time for some self-care!

We are actively working to both maintain and grow our membership. We would appreciate your support in helping us spread the word about the full range of high-quality services we provide to professionals to support crime victims, their families, and Texas communities. From our upcoming advanced academy to our biennial conference, and supports we provide through our website and newsletters there are ample opportunities for service providers to find resources and professional development opportunities to continue providing the best supports we can to our fellow Texans when they need it.

Our regional coordinators wish to share their updates with you, below:

Region A Coordinator, Kristi Thompson (Panhandle-Amarillo/Lubbock/ Wichita Falls): I have been exploring options to connect with victim service providers in our very spread-out area. If you are in Region A, an email has gone out to you! If you did not get the email, please reach out to me at kthompson@lubbockcounty.gov. Also, please share contact information with me for anyone who may have an interest in being a member of TVSA!

Region B Coordinator, Roya Williamson, (Central-Austin /Waco/San Antonio), rwilliamson@sanmarcostx.gov : Hello fellow members, as summer 2024 is coming to an end, I hope you were able to enjoy some time away to recharge. I had the pleasure of representing TVSA at the Texas Victim Assistance Training Academy in July, sharing information about TVSA, the programs and services we provide, and the value of membership in your professional association. In Region B, we strive to create a network of support. Although we may not be able to make every meeting, retreat or gathering, please remember that your fellow victim service providers are a call or an e-mail away. As the Texas August heat is fully here with us, remember to keep hydrated.

Region C Coordinator, Jen-Betts Williams, (Northeast-Dallas/ Fort Worth/Tyler), jbettswilliams@theturningpoint.org: Hello! Jen Betts-Williams from Region C here. I am brand new in my region C coordinator role as of this summer but I am working on becoming familiar with the systems and reaching out for membership. Looking forward to connecting with new faces!

Region D Coordinator, LeShae Haynes,(Southeast-Beaumont/Houston/College Station), leshae.haynes@fortbendcountytx.gov: I am continuing to network and build relationships with victim service providers within our region D as well as spreading information in regard to TVSA. If you are a part of Region D and would like additional information about TVSA please feel free to reach out!

New Region E Coordinator, Ozzie Carrasco, (West-El Paso/Midland/San Angelo), ocarrasco@crmtx.org.

Region F Coordinator, Brenda Fuentes, (South-Corpus Christi/Laredo/McAllen), brenda.fuentes@da.co.hidalgo.tx.usI continue to spread the word in our region of the importance of becoming a TVSA Member. Two of my professional colleagues in the region not only became TVSA members in recent years but are now elected at-large board members of TVSA. I will work closely with them and continue to spread the word on TVSA, while we continue to provide services to victims of crime in our professional work environments.

Not sure what region you are in? Check out our regional map and listing to see where your county lies in our TVSA regions! TVSA Regions

Professional Development and Training

Earlier this summer TVSA held its quarterly TAAVA Alumni Network meeting and training. The network is a program of TVSA for all graduates of our annual Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance in management and leadership. Its aim is to provide continuing education trainings for our victim service professionals who have completed our advanced academy, enabling them to continue enhancing their skills as managers, supervisors and leaders of victim service organizations.

Our program in June featured national consultant, trainer and author Rick Torrison, who presented on The Limitless Leader Within You, Unlocking Your Full Potential. The training was extremely well received by its attendees, earning the highest evaluation results of any of our alumni network trainings thus far.

Our featured alumni segment of the meeting was conducted by Ms. Penny Watkins, class of 2024. Ms. Watkins is the Crisis Programs Director of Communities in Schools of Southeast Harris and Brazoria County. She shared information and resources about her agency’s innovative victim services program in the schools they serve in their region.

Our TVSA staff has also begun planning and preparations for our 2025 ninth annual Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance (TAAVA). It will be held February 26th through 28th, and the location has once again been confirmed as the Williamon County Sheriff’s Office law enforcement training center in Hutto. The academy is for anyone with three or more years in victim services already in a management or leadership position or aspiring to move into one. We encourage anyone interested to apply for the academy. Applications will open this fall.

We have also begun work on planning and preparations for our 2025 biennial statewide training conference, our oldest and most well known of our training offerings. It will be held May 6th-9th at the Holiday Inn Beach Resort on South Padre Island. We will issue our call for workshop proposals this fall, with conference registration opening in the early part of 2025. If you are interested in presenting at and/or attending the conference we encourage you to keep up with our social media, our upcoming fall and winter newsletters, and our announcement emails.

We hope to see many of you at our academy and conference in the coming year!

Texas Victim Friendly Initiative

The Texas Victim Friendly Initiative program has progressed on schedule this summer. This program of TVSA’s is designed as a 12-month project for selected sites who commit to dedicating the time and resources necessary to become more victim friendly agencies and organizations. Facilitated and supported by TVSA, the sites are self-directed in working through goals and activities that will enable their victim services programs to become more trauma-informed in their work.

Early this summer TVSA facilitated a virtual All Sites Meeting with the law enforcement, prosecution, and community-based programs participating in the project this year. Each site reported on its action plan progress, highlighting what they saw as successes in their work and sharing any potential challenges they might still be working through. The All Sites Meeting is designed to allow the sites to become acquainted and to network and share experiences with one another.

Throughout the summer the sites have reported regularly on their continued progress to the TVFI Program Specialist at TVSA, with TVSA providing technical assistance and support as requested. TVSA is now scheduling site visits to each program, and also preparing the tools for the sites’ project year end post- staff surveys and organizational self-assessments, the results of which will measure their growth in becoming more trauma-informed when compared to their baseline surveys and self-assessments at the start of the project year.

We are excited for our sites to complete their project year and look forward to the results of their growth in becoming more trauma-informed victim service organizations, thus joining our previous years’ sites in helping to elevate the delivery of high quality victim services in our state!

THE TEXAS VICTIM SERVICES ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED QUARTERLY. Please forward articles, announcements, shout outs, job openings, training information, reviews, information and other items of interest to info@txvsa.org. Be sure and let us know if your email changes.

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