Victim Services Division Reaching Clients Through E-Counselling

The Justice Ministry’s Victims Services Division (VSD) continues to reach clients during the coronavirus (COVID-19 pandemic through its e-counselling services.

The entity provides opportunities for healing and therapeutic intervention in keeping with the Ministry’s commitment to ensure justice for all victims of crime. This mandate is carried out through 14 parish offices islandwide.

Among the services provided are emotional support and crisis intervention, through telephone counselling, on-the-scene response, home visits and walk-in service; public education; advocacy on behalf of clients; and court support by preparing clients for court proceedings and giving them emotional support throughout the process While e-counselling is not new to the VSD, the entity’s Executive Director, Osbourne Bailey, tells JIS News that it is the primary method being utilised at this time given the reality of COVID-19.

He notes that engaging clients through the online method, has enabled the entity “to keep the numbers up”.

“We [reached] over 5, 500 new clients from January to December 2020 (averaging 458 per month), which is consistent with what we would have seen before the pandemic. This is because we were able to retrofit our offices as e-counselling facilities that would have allowed the staff to contact clients even from home,” Mr. Bailey notes.

In addition, he says that the entity engaged 7,616 follow-up clients over the same period and conducted 13,166 counselling sessions.

Mr. Bailey tells JIS News that 882 clients were seen face-to-face, with strict adherence to the health and safety protocols.

“Part of our pandemic retrofitting included the use of face shields. We also ensured there was social distancing, and emphasis was placed on increased and thorough hand-washing. It really is a major achievement and reflects the commitment of the Government of Jamaica, through the Ministry of Justice, to provide service to the victim and witness population,” he points out.

For 2021, Mr. Bailey says that the VSD served approximately 445 new clients per month for January and February through face-to-face and online services.

“What we have seen is that the new client figures are consistent with last year,” he says, noting that the follow-up figures rose slightly. “This is because e-counselling allows for us to be able to make phone calls,” he points out.

The VSD’s Executive Director tells JIS News that online counselling, whether by phone or by video, has its advantages and disadvantages.

“With online, you can actually see people in their comfort zone, which sometimes causes them to feel more open to speak to us,” he points out.

He says protocols have been established to ensure confidentiality and clients are given the opportunity to terminate the session if for any reason they do not feel safe.
“Also, if on a video call, we see something in the background that would cause a client to be compromised, we would terminate,” Mr. Bailey adds.

He notes, however, that these remote sessions “may take a little longer to get something out of the client”.

“When you see the client face-to-face, we can see everything in the environment, see how they react, and it is easier for us to read all the signs and symptoms, the body language and how they react to certain things, in order to do an assessment,” he points out.

He says that e-counselling also saves clients on time and money that would have been spent getting to and from the VSD offices.

Mr. Bailey tells JIS News that training and equipping of staff with the necessary resources, were essential in preparing them for the shift towards the increased use of e-counselling methods.

He says that refresher courses were conducted for counsellors on confidentiality, informed consent and information-gathering techniques.

“For example, while you may not be in to sign a physical document, you would at least have a record that the client would have given consent electronically or verbally to speak to us. We would have recorded all of those things to ensure that it is there. The staff signs to it and it is validated by a supervisor, so the whole process is as authentic as if they were face to face,” he points out.

In terms of resources, he notes that staff already had Closed User Group (CUG) phones, and cameras and microphones were installed on their desktop computers.
The number of persons occupying a space was reduced to ensure confidentiality.

“Some staff have also been provided with laptops so they can actually operate offsite and they can provide a similar type of confidentiality. Actually, the training also involved working with each other to get the camera positioning right and also the projection of voices,” Mr. Bailey notes.

He says the feedback suggests that the VSD continues to deliver a high level of service to clients.

“We have found that the level of approval rating remains high at 97 or 98 per cent, so we know we are carrying out victim services efficiently, and we have had [clients] being able to come in for face-to-face sessions. In fact, clients laud us for continuing and considering their safety while providing them with relevant services,” Mr. Bailey tells JIS News.

He says that increased focus is being placed on monitoring and evaluation in order to enhance efficiency and ensuring that the “division’s services are still of the highest quality for the victim and witness population”.

For more details on the work of the VSD and a full list of the entity’s programmes, visit https://moj.gov.jm/victim-support-unit, call 876-946-0663 or dial 888 VICTIMS (888-842-8467).