Support from leadership

In sexual assault one of the biggest pieces of it is that power and control shifts and your voice doesn’t matter, your very physical being doesn’t matter. It feels like you have lost complete control and power of everything that you thought you had power and control over. - Military Veteran

Leadership in the military or RCMP are in a critical position to either help or cause more harm to someone in service who has experienced sexual harassment or assault.

It’s a lot to be a leader and have someone come to you and say she’s been sexually assaulted. All I did was sit next to her, listen, and ask what she needed. She said she didn’t want to move forward with charging her alleged assailant and I explained my duties as a supervisor. I would be bound to report it, regardless of if she wanted to press charges. - Military Veteran

Most importantly, a leader needs to be supportive and compassionate.

I’ve been through this on both sides. You need to make it human. You need to make it legitimate and clear that you care because when you feel really vulnerable, you need some space to fall into that’s comfortable and safe - safe enough. I think the biggest thing is to just listen, sincerely listen. Ask what they need, communicate what your role is but don’t disempower them again. Make sure they know you’re there for them and that you’ll support them anyway you can. That’s leadership…. and in this day and age, I shouldn’t have to explain it. - Military Veteran