Vol. 31, No. 1 | Summer 2026

A Week With the Texas Victim Services Association

by Julie DeWitt, Program Specialist II, Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse

Working in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Victim Services Division (VSD) Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse has allowed me the opportunity to develop and facilitate a wide variety of trainings, including webinars, self-paced online training, the Texas Victim Assistance Training Academy, training for parole officers, and various other curricula for victim services professionals. As an adamant believer in the concept of being a “life-long learner,” I value each training I receive. However, I have found that I especially value opportunities to shadow others within the field.

I was excited when a colleague and I were offered the chance to assist the Texas Victim Services Association (TVSA) with their yearly Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance held in Hutto, Texas. My time with TVSA offered me behind-the-scenes knowledge on how another agency conducts and operates their Academy.

While assisting at the Advanced Academy, I learned that TVSA is a non-profit organization of victim and witness assistance programs and practitioners, criminal justice agencies and professionals, mental health professionals, researchers, victims and survivors, and many others committed to the recognition and implementation of victim rights and services. Through trainings, programs, and conferences, TVSA supports individual victim services providers and the profession of victim services as a whole by promoting competent, trauma-informed, and ethical service delivery.

Intended for victim services providers with at least three years of experience, TVSA’s Advanced Academy provides attendees with high-level training in victim services leadership and management. While volunteering at the Advanced Academy, I saw students engage with expert victim services instructors as well as their peers in discussion about leadership, ethical standards, program management, emotional intelligence, and trauma-informed supervision. While each instructor had their own unique presentation style, I was impressed by the consistency of the curriculum across each day of the Advanced Academy. I was equally impressed with the pace of the training schedule and the experience from the victim services field that each presenter was able to share.

I met many seasoned professionals while at the Advanced Academy, and I greatly appreciated learning from the experiences and insight they each shared. As a facilitator myself, one major takeaway I got from volunteering at the Advanced Academy were the techniques I can implement to improve my own presentation skills.

I would like to thank Jeni Pirtle, TVSA Executive Director, and Kathy Gomez Broussard, TVSA Communications and Technology Coordinator, for the opportunity to shadow them in their roles at the 2026 TVSA Advanced Academy. I valued the opportunity to work alongside Jeni and Kathy in their facilitation of the Academy, and through this process I was able to familiarize myself with how another organization hosts their own training.

This experience with the Advanced Academy will benefit me in the work I do alongside my fellow trainers with the Clearinghouse. I am excited to continue learning about TVSA and nurturing relationships with victim services professionals across Texas. Judging from the discussions between facilitators and students throughout the week, I can wholeheartedly attest that the future of victim services in Texas is bright!

If you are interested in learning more about TVSA and the organization’s various trainings, you can visit the Texas Victim Services Association website.