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By Alexander Alamar, Justice and Legal Thought Scholar
This internship matters because it directly helps people in need who sometimes have no other form of support.
This semester I interned at the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, which helps victims of domestic abuse in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. There are three departments that help clients (legal, clinical, and advocacy), and I interned with the Victim Advocacy department. In this role, I worked with clients who needed various forms of support. Advocating for my clients took many forms, including helping them find housing and affordable food options, navigating governmental programs, and supporting them however they need. I would also safety plan with clients. Safety planning is building a plan of action to ensure the clients are physically, emotionally, and mentally safe. Safety planning can take many forms and is dependent on the client's situation, which makes this process challenging but extremely necessary. As a victim advocacy intern, I would also find resources for clients in general and create documents with lists of resources for the rest of the team. Part of the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse’s mission is to educate people about power-based violence, which takes several forms. At my internship, I also worked with the education team as well. I immensely enjoyed working on educating, and some of the responsibilities that I had in this role include helping lead workshops for middle and high schoolers and creating educational activities. The Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse has a helpline for anyone who needs its services, and part of my internship was operating the helpline. When I did this, I worked with callers to figure out what forms of support they need and help them safety plan. This internship matters because it directly helps people in need who sometimes have no other form of support. Victims of any form of power-based violence face several struggles (either directly or indirectly from the violence). I believe in the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse’s mission to help these people and educate others on power-based violence.
Hi AJ,
I remember hearing about JCADA from my victimology professor, so it's very cool to see that you engaged with this organization and felt that you made an impact! I was excited to learn more about the types of aid that JACDA offers besides legal aid, such as financial planning and therapy. It didn't occur to me that there could more to victim advocacy than just being in court. Do you think that JCADA could provide informational sessions to students on campus because it would be great to be more educated on such a prevalent issue among young adults?
Hi, AJ!
This presentation did a great job of connecting your work with JCADA with the JLT program- it's important to see the aid of domestic abuse survivors as a issue of justice. Like a lot of people in the comments here, I am also Jewish- so this stood out to me. I'm also very much aware of the fact that a lot of domestic abuse victims don't know how to get help- and something like what you are doing with JCADA can be essential to making sure that people can escape abusive environments.
Hi AJ! This presentation was really cool! I actually had a conversation with several members of JCADA during my criminal law class and the work that they do is amazing. I worked in a courthouse as well as a law office and saw many cases of domestic violence. It seems that many of them don't know about the resources that are availible to them. What would you recommend as a way to spread the word?
Hi AJ,
As a member of the Jewish community, this poster stood out to me. I am really interested in the work that you did with your client's mental health. I think that was a unique aspect for a legal internship. Would you recommend this internship for someone else?
Hi AJ! I was drawn to your poster because one of my professors works for JCADA and I was interested in seeing what their internship experience is like! I learned that food insecurity and housing are also important factors in victim advocacy and assistance. Would you return to JCADA to work in one of their different sectors, like clinical or legal?