Victim Support Services

❤️ADVOCATE💙

At Victim Support Services, advocacy means standing beside survivors and ensuring their voices are heard. We help victims navigate complex systems, understand their rights, and access the resources they need to move forward.

Advocacy is challenging barriers, raising awareness, and working toward a community where every survivor is supported, respected, and never alone. During National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we reaffirm our commitment to advocate for safety, healing, and justice for all.

Volunteer Spotlight 💚 Julie Fitterer

Since joining Victim Support Services in 2020 and becoming a nationally credentialed advocate in 2021, Julie has been dedicated to supporting individuals impacted by trauma. Drawing from both her professional training and her personal experience navigating the legal system as a victim, she brings a deep sense of empathy, understanding, and purpose to her work.

Julie is passionate about providing emotional support and connecting victims with the resources they need, helping ensure no one has to face the process alone. We are grateful for her compassion, commitment, and the meaningful impact she continues to make in our community. 🌟

Read More About Julie Here:
victimsupportservices.org/spotlight-on-service-honoring-volunteer-advocate-julie-fitterer

❤️ACT💙

At Victim Support Services, action means showing up when it matters most. We provide crisis intervention, legal advocacy, resource connections, peer-to-peer support, education, wellness workshops, and more to help victims navigate some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Action is answering the call, standing beside survivors, and helping remove barriers to safety, healing, and justice. During National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we reaffirm our commitment to taking meaningful action for every person who reaches out for help.

This Volunteer Appreciation Week, we honor the individuals who give their time, compassion, and energy to support victims of crime.

Volunteers are the quiet force behind stronger, more connected communities, showing up, listening, and making a difference in ways that truly matter. Being victimized is very isolating, and our volunteers help others feel less alone.

To all volunteers: thank you for the care you give and the impact you make every day. 🌟

To read more about our amazing volunteers: victimsupportservices.org/compassion-in-action-celebrating-our-volunteers-this-appreciation-week

💙LISTEN❤️

At Victim Support Services, listening is where healing begins. We create safe, judgment-free spaces where victims’ voices are heard, believed, and respected. Every story matters, every emotion is valid, and no one has to carry their experience alone.

Our advocates are here to provide compassionate listening, emotional support, and crisis intervention when it’s needed most. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can offer is simply being present and truly hearing someone’s story.

During National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we reaffirm our commitment to listening first, because every voice deserves to be heard.

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (April 19–25, 2026) is a time to honor survivors, raise awareness about victims’ rights, and recommit to supporting those impacted by crime.

This year’s theme, LISTEN. ACT. ADVOCATE. Protect Victims, Serve Communities, reminds us that supporting survivors takes more than awareness. It takes creating safe spaces to be heard, taking meaningful action to connect people to resources, and advocating for policies and systems that center victims’ needs.

When we protect victims, we strengthen our entire community. 💙❤️

💚 Ready to make a meaningful impact for victims of crime? 💙

Core Academy is a 40-hour, nationally recognized training designed to prepare you to provide direct support to individuals impacted by crime throughout Washington State. You’ll gain practical skills in crisis intervention, deepen your understanding of victims’ rights, explore cultural competency, and learn how the criminal and civil legal systems work—plus so much more.

This training is open to professionals and volunteers working in or alongside victim services. Students pursuing degrees in Criminal Justice, Human Services, Social Services, or related fields may also be eligible.

📅September 21-25
💲$450 per person
📌Apply today

Not sure if it’s the right fit? Reach out to [email protected]—we’re happy to connect and answer any questions.

🔗 victimsupportservices.org/events/core-training

Every missing person is someone’s loved one — son or daughter, parent, sibling, or partner. 💛 In Washington State, hundreds of families are still searching for answers, and over 100 unidentified individuals remain.

Missing persons cases should never go cold. Continued awareness, community support, and partnership with law enforcement and the media are essential in helping bring loved ones home and provide answers to families who are waiting.

In recognition of Missing and Unidentified Persons Month, Victim Support Services and local professionals invite you to join us for an awareness event at the Snohomish County Superior Court Plaza.

📍 Thursday, May 14
🕚 11 AM – 1 PM (stop by anytime)

If you have a loved one who is missing, we welcome you to share their story. If you’re unable to attend but would like information displayed, please contact Leslie by May 8 at [email protected].

Let’s continue to keep missing persons awareness a priority in our communities. 💚

🤍 Post-Traumatic Living: Grief & Growth 🤍

Hosted by Victim Support Services | Led by Jess Carter, LPC, MSC

Join us for a free, virtual workshop on navigating grief while growing after trauma. Led by Jess Carter, Licensed Professional Counselor, Army veteran, and experienced crisis interventionist, this session explores healing, rebuilding trust, and finding meaning after loss.

🗓 Wednesday, May 20 | 5 PM PT
📍 Virtual (Zoom)
💜 Free

🩵 Eligibility: This workshop is open to individuals impacted by homicide, attempted homicide, non-domestic violence/non-sexual assault-related assault, robbery, home invasion, vehicular crimes, and those missing a loved one suspected of foul play. We care deeply about all survivors of crime. As a grant-funded program, this workshop is limited to the populations listed above and reflects our current funding guidelines—not our values. Thank you for understanding.

📅 Apply by May 6 | Notifications by May 13

🌻 Apply: victimsupportservices.org/csp

❔[email protected]

Post-Traumatic Living: Grief & Growth - Victim Support Services Victim Support Services invites victims of crime to take part in Post-Traumatic Living: Grief & Growth, an hour long, virtual workshop on posttraumatic living, navigating grief while growing, led by…

✨ Beyond Burnout ✨
Hosted by Victim Support Services | Led by Tiffany Krusey

Join us for Beyond Burnout, a free virtual workshop led by Tiffany Krusey, Victim Services Coordinator at Lynnwood PD and a nationally credentialed advocate with 17+ years of experience.

This session will explore advocacy burnout, how to prevent it, and your rights as a victim, especially during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and its theme: Listen. Act. Advocate.

📍 Virtual (Zoom)
🗓 April 23 | 5 PM PT
📝 Apply by April 9 | Notifications by April 16
💌 Eligibility: This workshop is open to individuals impacted by homicide, attempted homicide, non-domestic violence/non-sexual assault-related assault, robbery, home invasion, vehicular crimes, and those missing a loved one suspected of foul play. We care deeply about all survivors of crime. As a grant-funded program, this workshop is limited to the populations listed above and reflects our current funding guidelines—not our values. Thank you for understanding.

⭐ Apply here:
victimsupportservices.org/csp

Questions? Contact Amelia at [email protected]

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Beyond Burnout with Tiffany Krusey. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Victim Support Services invites you to join us for Beyond Burnout with Victim Services Coordinator, Tiffany Krusey. Tiffany has a Master’s Degree in Restorative Justice and serves as the Victim Services Coordinator at Lynnwood PD. She is also the Owner/Director of Bridge Coordination Services, LLC...

🎓 Congrats to the 20 graduates who completed our Core Academy Training this week!

Participants spent the week learning about victim assistance ethics, crisis intervention, cultural competency, victim rights, complicated grief, and more to strengthen their ability to serve victims of crime in Washington State.

Programs Administrator Leslie McPherson hosted Core Academy and taught numerous classes throughout the week, in addition to presentations from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office, Lynnwood Police Department, Washington State Crime Victim Compensation Program, the VINE Link Program through the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the Address Confidentiality Program, Naval Station Everett, our Victim Services Coordinator, Janine, and victim advocates from across the state.

👏 We’re proud of this group and grateful for everyone who helped make this training possible.

📣 Stay tuned for the next Core Academy Training in Fall 2026!