Photo By Senior Airman Nigel Sandridge | Caroline Yepez is Royal Air Force Lakenheath’s new sexual assualt response...... read more read more
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ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England — Wearing a teal ribbon to represent Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Caroline Yepez, newly appointed Royal Air Force Lakenheath sexual assault response coordinator, explained the importance of her position.
“We want to create a positive and comfortable environment for the survivors of sexual assault who come into our office,” explained Yepez. “No one should have to bear that burden alone. We have a great team here always ready to assist with all needs.”
As a former advocate of sexual assault prevention with the U.S. Marines, Yepez has more than 10 years of experience working with sexual assault survivors and 20 years in social services.
“I’m coming to RAF Lakenheath with a different perspective in case level and branch, but this is a great place to gain all new experiences,” said Yepez.
Yepez hopes to create new innovative ideas here at RAF Lakenheath, along with revamping older ones already in place.
“I definitely want to track assaults differently,” said Yepez. ‘’I want to bring awareness to sexual assault trends and try to reduce the numbers that we do have here at RAF Lakenheath.”
A Sexual Assault Prevention and Response down day was held April 18th as a base wide effort to raise awareness on the crime while also informing personnel of prevention methods.
Yepez also wants to increase awareness by utilizing more programs around base ranging from stand downs, runs, paint runs, block parties and any event that will bring the community together.
“The last SARC primary, Maj. Jason Guadalupe, was SARC of the year, so I have some pretty big shoes to fill,” said Yepez. “I work with a phenomenal team so that shouldn’t be hard to accomplish.”
Aside from the civilian members of the SARC office, Yepez notes that there are 48 uniformed victims advocates. Anyone who has been affected by sexual assault can choose to speak to a civilian or a fellow service member.
The foundation of the Air Force is core values of Integrity, Service, and Excellence. The SARC office wants to build on that foundation by reinforcing and fostering a culture of dignity and respect; an environment where victims feel empowered to come forward to report this crime. The SARC office is here to support each victim and provide the resources that victims may need.
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2014 06:01 |
| Story ID: | 129279 |
| Location: | BRANDON, SFK, GB |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, RAF Lakenheaths SARC team fosters culture of dignity and respect, by SrA Nigel Sandridge, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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