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Megan Weaver, Victim Services Coordinator - Grand Junction (CO) Police Department

Today, meet Megan Weaver . . .

Hi Megan, we'd love for you to tell us what inspired you to become a victim advocate, and what has kept you passionate about this work?"

I think my initial inspiration truly was being raised in a family where my parents gave back to their community through volunteering on many local boards and with many non-profits. I come from a family of helpers by profession and it is just in my blood, I guess:) When my family moved back to my hometown in 2010 I had been mostly a stay at home mom to four young boys then and I was searching for a way to give back to the community I loved growing up in. I reached out to a longtime friend of mine who was a law enforcement officer with Grand Junction Police Department about my desire to help in someway the GJPD serve victims or the community. I was not familiar with the Victim Services  Unit at that point and he suggested that I reach out to the Victim Services Coordinator and chat with her about joining the volunteer team in VS. I attended the Spring academy in 2011 and was a volunteer through 2019 when I was hired as the Victim Services Coordinator in January 2020.

My passion has come in the moments that I see a victim or family member truly feel heard and helped by something simple to make their life just a little less complicated or sad. Wins are hard to come by in the work we do but when they do, they are big! They are why we all keep doing the work of helping those who have suffered tragedy. And honestly, we ALL have suffered some form of a tragedy in our lives, some much bigger than others but helping people see a spark of hope in those tragedies are driving factors for me staying in this work. I have not made it through almost 50 years in my life without significant tragic circumstances but I have seen myself through them and I just hope my voice can be one that may help someone else. 

Can you describe a typical day in your role as a victim advocate?

Well, as the coordinator I have a little different role than our specialist and the volunteers but a typical day is monitoring the callouts that our volunteers have been on over the last 24 hours and doing any follow up that may be needed. I also check in with all our volunteers as needs arise or events are happening in their lives. They are the reason we can offer Victim Services in our community so I am sure to meet all their needs.

I touch base with officers and command staff regarding calls, law changes, needs they encountered on various calls etc. I sit on many local boards and community organizations as well that need to have a "victim centered"  voice at the table.

One additional opportunity I have added to my cadre is coordinating our in house Spanish club and I am a new member of our community Spanish Advisory Group. I do this as a Spanish learner and not fluent but so that our agency and our local Spanish speaking community can have opportunities to learn, support and grow together. As one would suspect, not one day is the same as the other!

What is one of the most rewarding aspects of your work, and what has been one of the greatest challenges?

The most rewarding are those big and small wins of helping someone through their tragedy. We helped a young mom escape a DV situation a few years ago, helped her with a car seat, getting checked out at the local hospital and then to move with family out of state. She reached out a year later and was thriving with family in the other state and doing great for her and her daughter. Those are the success stories that are so rewarding.

As far as challenges go, I would say the frustration of working with victims on a repeat nature and just hoping that this time is when they will make a change in their life that would get them out of the scenarios that keep making them a victim. We just show up again, help them again and hope that this really is the time that they free themselves of that life. I can't even imagine how scary that is for them but I hope for them as well.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in victim advocacy or who wants to support victims in their community?

My advice, make sure that you have a very supportive network surrounding you of family and friends. I could not have entered this work with four young sons back in 2011 without the unwavering support of my husband, mom and friends.  

Be sure to have a good self care regimen. Know what you need to do to take care of your mental health whether it is hiking, reading, working out, singing, binging Netflix, whatever, you have to have ways to take care of yourself or this work can swallow you up.

Know that some days are just hard, period. But others are so rewarding and fill that cup back up. I always remind my volunteers that it is not our tragedy when we are helping a victim, we support with empathy but we do not have to take it home with us. When you take it home, you will not last in this work.

We asked Megan why their Victim Services Unit continues to use eVAC Victim Rights and Resources eCards to share VRA Information.

“That’s easy, we live in a digital age where most everyone has access to a smart phone or device for communication. As an agency we try to make it as easy as possible for those we encounter as victims of crime to have access to phone numbers, resources and support in the most ways possible. Therefore having a digital option for our Victims Rights brochure that  has all those contact links and information is vital to being accessible on multiple platforms. Our officers also really like having a digital option for sharing the VRA brochure as some scenes make the need to share via QR code, text or email much easier.”

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