A new name for Doorways’ hospital accompaniment program

Doorways’ hospital response for survivors of sexual and domestic violence to be called ‘HARP’ – the Hospital Accompaniment Response Program, supported by ‘HART’ – Hospital Accompaniment Response Team

Doorways launched the Sexual Assault Response Advocate (SARA) program in fiscal year 2015, supporting survivors with 4 accompaniments. In 2017, our staff—including our Mobile Advocate—and volunteers provided 30 accompaniments to survivors.

“Seeing the growing need in our community for our hospital response to be inclusive and comprehensive, we added domestic violence forensic exams to our hospital accompaniment response in fiscal year 2018,” said Samantha Clarke, Doorways’ Chief Program Officer. “That year, advocates provided a total of 60 accompaniments for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, showing just how much our response has grown. In fiscal year 2019, in addition to our accompaniments for sexual assault, we accompanied 6 survivors of domestic violence and 3 survivors who had experienced both sexual assault and domestic violence.”

Now, to reflect the comprehensive response Doorways provides through hospital accompaniment, we will be embracing a new name that best supports our mission and ensures our community’s understanding of their options.

“Going forward our hospital response for survivors of sexual and domestic violence will be called ‘HARP’ – the Hospital Accompaniment Response Program, supported by our ‘HART’ – Hospital Accompaniment Response Team, comprised of our staff and volunteer Hospital Accompaniment Advocates.”

We are grateful to these advocates for providing compassion, support, and guidance to survivors of sexual and domestic violence, and to all of you who support this critical effort.