Episode 19: The HEART Project

The HEART Project (Health, Empowerment, and Recovery from Trauma) is a college campus based initiative for supporting victims of sexual assault through counseling and medical care. SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) program advocates serve as liaisons between victims and Title IX and law enforcement, as well as helping them navigate their emotions and rights post-assault. Dr. Candice Selwyn discuses how, through a grant, her team has been able to develop and extend the services provided through a partnership with medical, law enforcement, and counseling personnel to better attend to the needs of campus sexual assault victims. As one of only eight grantees in the county, Dr. Selwyn and her intern, Tristen Grantham, and SANE coordinator, Kat Loveless, share how this project may become a model for medical forensic care for other campuses. The team also emphasizes that free sexual assault care is available at both the student health center on campus and the freestanding ER adjacent to campus on Hillcrest. The Heart Project is supported by a federal grant designated 2020-V3-GX-0164, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. More information about the HEART project can be found at: https://www.southalabama.edu/departments/studenthealth/heartproject/