Break the Silence: Sexual Assault and the SART Solution

The SANE-SART Resource Service, based in Minneapolis, Minn., is setting out to create a culture in which victims of sexual assault can “break the silence” and are unafraid to report rape, confident of receiving caring treatment and encouraged to seek justice.

In our culture’s current state, more than half of sexual assault victims do not report these crimes because they fear not being believed, feel ashamed and responsible for the assault, and don’t trust the system to keep them safe from retaliation. SANE-SART’s mission is to help grow the number of qualified professionals to care for and support victims. This can be done by helping to spearhead rape investigations, successfully prosecute perpetrators, exonerate the falsely accused and help survivors obtain justice and heal.

Through a sexual assault response team (SART), which consist of RNs, MDs, sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs), law enforcement, victim advocates and prosecutors and other legal professionals, SANE-SART believes they can be successful in providing innovative, victim-centered justice. The SANE-SART Resource Service wants to ensure that every Level 1 and Level 2 trauama center in the U.S. has adequate access to SANEs and is served by SARTs.

That’s where you come in: You can help SANE-SART Resource Service create better services by providing them with valuable information for addressing SANE staffing and SART support in communities throughout America by taking this quick survey.

You can also click below to watch and share the following video used by SART members to increase awareness within communities, which demonstrates the power of a SART to seek justice for victims of sexual assault.

Leave a Reply