JIBC Victim Services and Trauma-Informed Practice — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A trauma-informed approach to working with crime victims primarily means:
- Requiring victims to recount the traumatic event in detail to ensure accurate documentation
- Designing services to avoid inadvertently retraumatizing clients through organizational practices (Correct answer)
- Prioritizing criminal prosecution outcomes over the victim's immediate emotional needs
- Providing immediate psychological counselling before any other form of assistance
Correct answer: Designing services to avoid inadvertently retraumatizing clients through organizational practices
Trauma-informed practice focuses on organizational and individual behaviours that prevent re-traumatization. It does not mandate a specific service sequence, but it does require that every interaction—including intake, documentation, and referral—be conducted with an awareness of trauma's effects.
Question 2: Under BC's Victims of Crime Act, victim service workers are required to provide victims with information about:
- The accused's full criminal history upon request
- Their rights under the legislation, including the right to information about the justice process (Correct answer)
- The anticipated sentence if the accused is convicted
- The identity and contact information of the Crown prosecutor assigned to the case
Correct answer: Their rights under the legislation, including the right to information about the justice process
The Victims of Crime Act requires that victims be informed of their rights—including the right to receive information about the status and progress of their case. Sharing accused criminal histories or predicted sentences goes beyond the victim services mandate and may breach privacy legislation.
Question 3: Which of the following best describes 'secondary victimization'?
- When a victim's family member is also targeted by the offender
- The additional harm a victim experiences through insensitive or inadequate responses from systems or individuals (Correct answer)
- A second criminal incident involving the same victim within a 12-month period
- Psychological harm that emerges only months after the original crime
Correct answer: The additional harm a victim experiences through insensitive or inadequate responses from systems or individuals
Secondary victimization refers to harm caused not by the crime itself but by subsequent interactions with justice, health, or social systems that are dismissive, disbelieving, or procedurally burdensome. It is a core concept in victim services training.
Question 4: When a domestic violence victim recants their statement, a victim services worker should FIRST:
- Encourage the victim to maintain the statement to support prosecution
- Inform the victim that recanting will result in criminal charges for public mischief
- Explore the victim's safety concerns and reasons for recanting without judgement (Correct answer)
- Contact the Crown prosecutor immediately to advise of the change
Correct answer: Explore the victim's safety concerns and reasons for recanting without judgement
Victim-centred practice requires exploring the reasons behind a recantation—which often include safety fears, financial dependency, or coercion—before any other action. Pressuring a victim or making legal threats undermines trust and can increase danger.
Question 5: The 'activation' phase of trauma response, sometimes called 'fight-flight-freeze', is most accurately described as:
- A voluntary behavioural choice made by the victim
- An automatic physiological response triggered by perceived threat (Correct answer)
- A symptom exclusive to individuals with pre-existing mental illness
- A learned coping behaviour that diminishes with repeated exposure to trauma
Correct answer: An automatic physiological response triggered by perceived threat
The fight-flight-freeze response is an involuntary neurobiological reaction mediated by the autonomic nervous system. Understanding this helps victim services workers avoid misinterpreting non-linear or seemingly inconsistent victim behaviour as dishonesty.
Question 6: A victim services worker receives a disclosure of child abuse from an adult client describing their own childhood experience. In BC, this triggers:
- A mandatory report to the Ministry of Children and Family Development only if the alleged abuser is still alive
- No reporting obligation because the victim is now an adult
- A duty to report to police regardless of the victim's wishes
- An obligation to discuss reporting options with the client without a mandatory report, unless a child is currently at risk (Correct answer)
Correct answer: An obligation to discuss reporting options with the client without a mandatory report, unless a child is currently at risk
BC's Child, Family and Community Service Act mandates reporting of a child currently in need of protection. Historical abuse disclosed by an adult who is no longer a child does not trigger the same mandatory reporting obligation—though workers should discuss options and assess whether any children are currently at risk.
JIBC Victim Services and Trauma-Informed Practice
A trauma-informed approach to working with crime victims primarily means: