Held during Mental Health Awareness Month, this training highlights the importance of trauma-informed advocacy for victims living with mental health disabilities, which are often invisible to others. Participants will explore best practices for recognizing and responding to the needs of these survivors while fostering trust and reducing stigma. The session will also provide background on how people with mental illness have historically been criminalized, disproportionately victimized, and wrongly typecast as individuals who cause harm. Additionally, it will address critical issues around conservatorship, autonomy, and consent when working with this population. Practical communication strategies, accessibility considerations, and approaches to compassionate, empowering advocacy will be discussed.

Speaker:

Robyn C. Sordelett is the Survivor Center Director at Prosecutors Alliance. She is a clinical social worker and advocate for trauma-informed care and violence prevention. Her career includes work in the criminal justice system, community organizations, and in legislative advocacy on a federal and state level.

In her role at Prosecutors Alliance, Robyn provides guidance and support to victim advocates while centering survivors in conversations about justice, healing, and reform. Robyn is committed to empowering advocates to address their own psychological and emotional health in order to enhance survivor outcomes and wellness in the field. Her work focuses on vicarious trauma and resilience, systemic causes of burnout, and sustainable advocacy practices. Her work also includes researching and developing collaborative responses to domestic and sexual violence, focusing on innovative solutions to gender-based violence that exist beyond the system. 

Robyn has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from the University of Richmond and received her Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California. When she’s not knee deep in planning narrative shifts, Robyn is likely on her back deck with a cup of coffee and a good book about Plantagenet history.