Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the landscape of survivor support, offering unprecedented opportunities to expand the reach and impact of victim services. This workshop focuses on how properly designed AI tools, like Ruth—Parasol Cooperative’s generative AI digital guardian—serve as force multipliers for victim advocates. Participants will explore how AI can break down language barriers through real-time translation, provide expert guidance on mitigating digital safety threats, and connect survivors with a comprehensive network of global resources. Additionally, the workshop highlights how generative AI agents can help advocates refine their communication skills through role-playing simulations of challenging conversations, offering constructive feedback to improve their approach.

The session will also equip attendees with critical knowledge to evaluate and adopt AI tools effectively. Participants will learn what to look for in an AI system to ensure trauma-informed design, ethical practices, and data security. By combining real-world demonstrations, interactive role-playing exercises, and practical implementation strategies, this workshop will provide attendees with a comprehensive understanding of how to leverage AI tools to enhance survivor advocacy. Whether you’re a victim advocate, nonprofit leader, or technologist in a victim service organization, this session will empower you to harness technology for greater impact.

It is not uncommon for survivors to be concerned that their device has been ‘hacked’ when their current or former partner knows more information than they should. Whether that’s knowledge of an upcoming appointment or a private text conversation, the logical assumption is that someway, somehow they have hacked the survivor’s devices. For most people, hacking looks like a computer nerd who can get into any system with just a few seconds of typing, which can make it feel impossible to assist survivors in resecuring their devices. But in reality, you don’t need to be a technology genius to hack a device or to un-hack one.  

In this workshop we’ll demystify the common forms of ‘hacking’ so you can feel confident in addressing these issues with survivors. We’ll explore ways to identify how the device is being compromised, provide concrete strategies to stop it, and share security practices to prevent future ‘hacks’.  

Data collection is both a requirement and a critical aspect of the work we do to end domestic violence. In conjunction with advocate and survivor stories, data creates a narrative that engages community members, volunteers, funders, and future advocates in the anti-violence movement and propels this work forward. In this presentation, we’re going to give you an overview of how Illinois collects this data while maintaining survivor confidentiality and data security. We ask you to think critically about why each piece of data is collected, by whom, and for what purpose. What happens to this data when it leaves our database and is shared: with the community, survivors, funders, other entities? How does data support domestic violence programs and survivors, and how could data collection potentially harm survivors and domestic violence programs? In Illinois, feedback from programs on these very questions is a vital piece of the work we do to ensure that data is used ethically and centers survivor experiences. Ultimately, this session is an exercise in exploring your own data collection processes. How can you better use data to support the work to end domestic violence in your state?

As researchers study the effectiveness of online proceedings and courts seek to implement longer-term remote hearing policies, several benefits as well as limitations of remote hearings have revealed themselves – particularly in cases involving intimate partner violence and stalking. This session will discuss weighing the pros and cons of holding remote proceedings for civil protection orders and provide considerations for litigant safety and privacy. 

Navigating the courtroom challenges of tech abuse cases requires a unique blend of empathy, preparation, and litigation acumen. This session equips advocates with practical strategies for supporting clients through the emotional and procedural hurdles of tech abuse litigation.

First, we’ll explore how to build trust and provide trauma-informed preparation for clients who face the daunting prospect of confronting their abuser in court. Learn specific techniques to help your client testify effectively and withstand cross-examination, with examples drawn from real cases involving survivors of tech abuse. Then, we’ll focus on litigation strategies to counter common objections from defense counsel. Discover methods to ensure your client’s testimony and tech abuse evidence are admitted, even in the face of skepticism and victim-blaming. This session empowers advocates to overcome systemic barriers, ensuring tech abuse survivors have their day in court.

Please note: while the presenters bring a New York law perspective, we’ll provide insights adaptable for diverse jurisdictions, reminding attendees to confirm compliance with their local procedural and evidentiary rules.

Supporting survivors fleeing from abuse across three areas of location safety, young persons digital empowerment, and overcoming the digital divide in a safe accommodation setting will be the focus of todays session. The learning objectives are: - To understand the importance of brining technology into safety assessments and how to do this in a survivor centred manor - To understand the power and importance of working with children of survivors and use of youth lead initiatives to shape our work as professionals.