APD Victims Services Unit Calls on Local Therapists for Help

Image via Getty Images

Local therapists, the Austin Police Department wants you to help with long-term intervention for survivors of crime. The incentive? Free professional training – cost of textbooks not included.

The APD Victim Services Unit is now accepting applications from Austin-area nonprofit and private practice counselors to participate in an up-to-three-year program first launched in 2018. Selected counselors will be trained in a form of trauma therapy known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. That training can cost up to $4,000. In return, the therapists agree to offer 50 pro bono sessions for survivors of trauma within the next three years.

Victim Services supervisor Stephanie Bur­gess said that this call for applications is unrelated to the officer and civilian staffing shortages at APD. Rather, this relatively new project began as a partnership with the Com­mission for Women and the Austin/Travis County Sexual Assault Response and Resource Team to provide long-term therapy for survivors of sexual assault. She said that in-house Victim Services counselors "have a more short-term intervention with survivors of crime," Burgess said. "Really, our role here at Victim Services is to be on-scene or to support the survivor throughout the investigation, and then to get them referred over to those longer-term resources that are already in place."

With $50,000 available for this training program, APD plans to assemble around 40 local therapists. EMDR, an extensively researched form of therapy that focuses on the disturbing emotions and symptoms resulting from a traumatic event, is a highly sought-­after mental health treatment and "a great marketing tool for any clinician to have in their tool belt," according to Burgess. The training, led by Austin-based therapists Rick Levinson and Dr. Christie Sprowls, typically costs between $2,000 and $4,000. (Out-of-pocket textbooks total around $120.)

"As part of this program, therapists don't have to do EMDR," Burgess said. "So just because they receive this training and are providing the pro bono sessions doesn't bind them to have to commit to one sort of therapeutic model. They can still use their own clinical judgment alongside the survivor to determine what's best for their care." Burgess added that although the program originally limited the pro bono sessions to survivors of sexual assault, it has since expanded to all victims of crime. Interested therapists should apply by April 25 at 5pm to be considered.

For information on how to apply, see austintexas.gov.