Recent conversations amongst the ICADV Program Council membership have emphasized the importance of recruiting survivors into the movement in creative ways. Of course, we know survivors are already the foundation of our organizations. They are the advocates working directly with survivors in shelter. They are providing counseling services for children of other survivors. They are Program Directors, Executive Directors, and Board members. While it is important to recognize the role survivors already play as employees at our organizations, it is also important to find new ways to incorporate the voices of survivors into services when they do not choose to work in the field.

One organization that is setting the stage with an impactful program that promotes survivor leadership is WINGS Program, Inc. In March of 2021, the organization launched the Survivor Lifeline Mentoring Program, which has recently been awarded the National Purple Ribbon Award for Outstanding New Service Launch!

Emily Hinrichsen, the Director of Training for ICADV, met with April Flores-Brayton to discuss the program. April Flores-Brayton is the Director of Community Based and Suburban Safe House Services at WINGS. The Survivor Lifeline Mentoring Program matches mentors, who are survivors themselves, with mentees, who are survivors currently receiving services from WINGS or other community partner agencies. Survivors in mentorship roles have either previously received services from WINGS or are members of the community.

Elizabeth Santoyo is the Coordinator for Survivor Lifeline, and she tries to pair people with like situations. For example, a mentor and mentee may be paired because they have similar religious views/practices, live in a certain area, have children or do not have children, etc. Mentors typically only work with one mentee at a time, but they can have up to three depending on the circumstances. Pairs usually meet once a week for mentors to provide support and guidance from the perspective of someone who has potentially had similar experiences or gone through similar processes.

To prepare mentors to have meaningful and genuinely helpful conversations with mentees, WINGS provides them with various trainings. First, mentors are required to complete the 40-hour domestic violence training that all advocates are required to complete. This ensures that mentors can have confidential conversations with mentees, but it also provides WINGS with information on if an individual is ready to serve as a mentor due to the in-depth nature of the content included in the training. Mentors are also trained on the basics of mentoring, such as how to ask open-ended questions, the importance of confidentiality, what it means to be a mentor, and relevant WINGS policies and procedures.

In addition to the 40-hour training and basics in mentoring, mentors are provided with quarterly trainings on various topics. These quarterly trainings may cover new laws in the county or state that could affect the mentee, budgeting, financial planning, cultural humility, and more.

WINGS recently received a grant so they can provide a stipend to survivors for their mentorship, and the organization also reimburses mentors for travel. They are constantly improving the program and finding ways to support mentors so they can develop meaningful mentorship relationships with mentees. The program has very clearly been impactful for everyone involved, which can be seen through the following quotes from a mentor and mentee.