Building Stronger Services for Survivors
Get to know the Grand Traverse County Sexual Assault Response Team
This week’s Northern Express—sister publication of The Ticker—profiles Grand Traverse County’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), which aims to provide wraparound services for local victims after an assault. The team consists of medical professionals, local and state law enforcement, the Women’s Resource Center, the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center, Traverse City’s Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking, Munson Healthcare, and the county health department.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Munson-based Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Alexis Patterson tells Northern Express that “a little over one per 1,000 residents in one year have a sexual assault in Grand Traverse County,” a figure which she says is likely low based on underreporting of these incredibly personal types of crimes.
Pick up a copy of this week’s Northern Express, available to read online or at one of nearly 650 spots in 13 counties across northern Michigan.