Learning about the Massachusetts Disabled Person Protection Commission’s Sexual Assault Response Unit

Earlier this year, our Developmental Disabilities Program invited Sarah Garrity of the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission’s Sexual Assault Response Unit (SARU) to train our case managers on the resources available to providers and clients when an individual with disabilities is assaulted.

SARU offers holistic support to survivors of sexual assault who have disabilities and their families. Their services cover emotional and mental health, medical care, legal support and ways to help survivors feel safer in their homes and communities. Their counselors, who are called Navigators, are specially trained in a trauma-informed approach to therapy, and their protocol once they begin working with a survivor is designed to be a trauma-informed process.

Recently, we had the privilege of speaking with Patty, a Peer Support Leader at SARU, about her work and SARU. She gave us more detail on how SARU works to best support the people who come to them for support.

SARU approaches each case with a team mindset: the staff at SARU must all work together to provide the best care possible to every person who come to them seeking help. That’s why, when a Navigator meets with a survivor, one of the peer support specialists always goes with them. Patty is usually in the room the first time a client meets with a SARU Navigator, mainly for the client’s comfort. She wants to get the clients comfortable with the idea of working with SARU, and she wants them to feel comfortable working with her.

A lot of Patty’s work as a peer support specialist is to talk with SARU’s clients, to check in with them and see what the need. “We sure they’re safe,” Patty says. “We ask them how they feel. We get them whatever they need. And we listen. Sometimes they might be open about their assault at first, so we just let them talk about what they want, to feel comfortable.”

You can get in touch with SARU during regular business hours at 617-727-6465 x301.

To report suspected abuse or neglect against a person with a disability, call the Disabled Persons Protection Commission’s 24-hour hotline at 1-800-426-9009.