Healing Survivors and Supporting Those Who Help

by Anne Keller

Anne Keller is an intern at Text Power Telling. She is a sophomore at The University of Delaware with intentions to pursue a medical track post-grad. Anne is a passionate advocate for the safety and rights of women.

A Discussion with Sarah Esser, the Coordinator of Clinical Case Management Services at YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE

Sarah Esser, MSW, LCSW

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with Sarah Esser, the Coordinator of Clinical Case Management Services at the YWCA Northern New Jersey. Sarah began her work with the organization in 2021, interning with the hotline department, while in school to earn her master’s degree. In 2022, she began interning in the clinical department and was then hired as a case manager after graduation. She has been in this position for a little over two years. Sarah was drawn to YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE by a passion for anti-power-based violence and anti-sexual violence work. Sarah explains, “With this role, this job specifically, I’d enjoyed my internship experience a lot. I was doing some case management and clinical work and wanted to continue doing it. I feel that case management is an important element for survivors as well, really focusing on their overall wellbeing.” As a Case Manager, she is tasked with handling administrative elements of engaging clients in therapy services, initial screenings, connecting clients with resources outside of YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE overall wellbeing and healing, and providing individual therapy services. 

YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE

The YWCA’s Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE is Bergen county’s only sexual violence resource center and has been providing services for sexual trauma survivors since 1975. They have a 24/7 crisis intervention hotline and an “online chat staffed by confidential sexual violence advocates, [that] provides free assistance, support, information, and referrals to anyone who has been affected by sexual violence. “Whether it happened hours ago or years ago, YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE has trained advocates and staff providing individual counseling, group counseling, case management services and accompanying survivors through medical, legal and other proceedings associated with sexual violence as well.” They also have served a role in community outreach and prevention education. When asking Sarah to summarize their mission, she said YWCA Northern New Jersey is “dedicated to empowering women, girls, and families, while working to eliminate racism. Our mission is rooted in uplifting communities, advancing gender equity, while challenging racial and social inequalities.”

Sarah also emphasized that something that sets YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE apart, other than being the sole resource center in Bergen County, was that they focus specifically on sexual violence. Many counties have a dual domestic violence and sexual violence resource center, but Bergen County has them separated. Sarah believes it’s helpful due to their ability to prioritize sexual violence survivors, their needs, and their loved ones. She emphasized that while dual resource centers are amazing, “being able to prioritize sexual violence survivors is important.”

The Value of Staff Support

Something that really stood out to me about YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE was their commitment to supporting their team. While learning about sexual violence support systems, I noticed a significant need for team based healing in addition to helping those who experienced trauma. Within recent years, YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE has taken more steps towards prioritizing their staff’s mental health. This began in the Fall of 2022 with a hybrid work model that helped prioritize workers and their needs and create a better work-life balance. Sarah shared with me how these changes have improved her experience, "It's helped me; it’s allowed me to be a lot more flexible with my schedule. I think in this role it's really important to support staff so they can more adequately support clients and the survivors that come through the door.” This is an idea that has been continuously growing in support, the need to keep the team members healthy in order to maintain a positive and beneficial environment for clients to get the best services they can.

“I think definitely what I am most proud of within YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE is the amount of support that’s available among the staff, everyone is super supportive of one another, and they also care a lot about the mission and the work they are doing. I feel very passionate about this work and it's great knowing that the team around me does too. [This is] something that drew me to YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE and is something that made me want to continue working here as well.” Talking to Sarah, I could feel her, and her team’s, passion for the work. During this conversation the dedication for helping others and healing was so apparent, and that is what makes this organization so impactful.

Healing Within the Community

Sarah said the most rewarding part of her job is “seeing the change in people that healing brings.” She elaborated on how this can occur through therapy and case management services, watching clients meet their goals. She also shared her favorite community wide event, the Clothesline Project, an event where survivors decorate shirts and display them to spread awareness, protest victim shaming/blaming, and validate survivors’ stories. She shared how “it is really great to see the community come together with a common goal of supporting survivors, working to end sexual violence.”

She went on to say that community is the most rewarding part of her job. “Something that I think is both rewarding and a unique part of my job is I talk to so many different people. I talk to survivors, their loved ones, other outside organizations, a lot of different people with different lived experiences, it's really great to be able to make all of those different connections with people.”

Advice for Overcoming Obstacles

Though Sarah has been working with YWCA Northern New Jersey's healingSPACE for 4 years now, I made sure to ask if there was anything she still finds challenging or struggles with. She told me “There are a lot of things that affect survivors that are out of our control, and sometimes resources for some of these things can be pretty limited. I think in both of these cases it is helpful to focus on what we can do, assisting clients, navigating these systems as best as possible, and finding the resources that are going to meet their needs as best as possible.” It is necessary to emphasize what can be done towards healing while working with such difficult and painful experiences, and that is the focus of Sarah’s job–to help facilitate healing. 

As our interview came to a close I asked if there was anything else she wanted to share, she said “self-care is crucial in this work, it is really important to find what works for you, and make it a continuous practice,” making sure to add, “that includes reaching out for support and finding communities when you need it.” The importance of self-care can often be overlooked, but taking the time to better yourself goes much further than just you. It is a necessary practice in order to better help those seeking support, and if you need help yourself, don’t be afraid to reach out to others in the community. 

Sarah Esser, MSW, LCSW (she/her/hers) obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies from Rowan University. She earned a Master of Social Work degree from Montclair State University. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and currently works as the Coordinator of Clinical Case Management Services for YWCA Northern New Jersey’s healingSPACE, Bergen County’s designated sexual violence resource center. Sarah is passionate about anti-gender-based oppression work and is committed to ensuring survivors and their loved ones have access to support and healing.