Hard Truths and Bad News: Trauma-Informed Conversations with Survivors
In this Survivor Center workshop, we will explore strategies for engaging in sensitive dialogues with victims of crime while upholding their rights to healing and justice on their own terms. Participants will learn how to approach these conversations with empathy and respect, ensuring that survivors feel heard and empowered. We’ll address the challenge of delivering difficult news with a trauma-informed approach, emphasizing the importance of not dismissing concerns as mere “policy” but rather acknowledging and validating the survivor’s experience. Through specific scenarios and expert guidance, you will gain practical tools for managing difficult interactions, addressing emotional needs, and reaffirming each survivor’s autonomy in their journey toward recovery. Join us to enhance your skills in fostering supportive and compassionate environments for those affected by crime.
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Speaker
Robyn C. Sordelett is the Survivor Center Director at the Prosecutors Alliance and a nationally recognized speaker on sustainable advocacy and survivor-centered best practices. A clinical social worker by training and a 2026 Office of the Virginia Attorney General Unsung Hero Award winner, she has built her career across the criminal justice system, community-based organizations, and policy spaces, always centering trauma, resilience, and systemic change. At the Prosecutors Alliance, she leads efforts to center survivors in conversations about justice and reform while supporting victim advocates’ psychological and emotional well-being, exploring vicarious trauma, burnout, and the conditions that foster resilience and shared power. A frequent national presenter, Robyn is regularly consulted on organizational wellness and trauma-responsive advocacy, with a core focus on reconnecting justice workers with the purpose that brought them to the field. She is also deeply interested in work that advances collaborative, trauma-responsive approaches to domestic and sexual violence and innovative responses to gender-based violence beyond traditional systems. Robyn was appointed by Governor Abigail Spanberger to the Criminal Justice Services Board in 2026, serves on the National Organization for Victim Advocacy’s Public Policy Committee, and stays up far too late reading mystery novels. Robyn holds a B.A. in English and Sociology from the University of Richmond and an M.S.W. from the University of Southern California.