40 Hour Victim Advocate Certificate Program

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About the Program

Course curriculum

1. All about the learning platform
2. VIDEO: About the certificate program
3. Program Checklist
4. Becoming Certified with NACP
5. Please share a little bit about yourself
6. Contacting Your Instructor
7. VIDEO: Let's Get Started!
1. SYLLABUS: Advocacy 101
2. INFO: Glossary of Terms
3. VIDEO: What is Advocacy?
4. INFO: Types of Advocates
5. VIDEO: The Role of the Advocate
6. IMAGE: Difference between advocacy and therapy
7. VIDEO: What is harm?
8. VIDEO: What is power-based violence?
9. INFO: Financial Abuse
10. WEB RESOURCES: More About Sex Trafficking
11. INFO: What is Victim Blaming?
12. VIDEO: Overview of Trauma
13. Check your understanding!
14. VIDEO: History of the Movement
15. WEB RESOURCES: Sexual Assault on College Campuses
16. Check your understanding!
17. VIDEO: Intro to the Criminal Justice System
18. VIDEO: Intro to the Civil Justice System
19. VIDEO: Why some victims do not want to go to court
20. INFO: Victims' Rights
21. VIDEO: Victims' Rights
22. INFO: Victim Restitution and Compensation
23. Check your understanding!
24. VIDEO: Protection Orders
25. INFO: Protective Orders
26. Check your understanding!
27. RESOURCE GUIDE: Advocacy 101
28. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Advocacy 101
1. SYLLABUS: Court Accompaniment
2. VIDEO: The Advocate's Role in Court
3. INFO: About Court Procedures
4. VIDEO: Victim Advocate in Court
5. INFO: Understanding the Expectations in Court
6. Check your understanding!
7. RESOURCE GUIDE: Court Accompaniment
8. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Court Accompaniment
1. SYLLABUS: Systemic Challenges in Advocacy
2. VIDEO: Introduction to Systemic Challenges
3. VIDEO: Examples of Systemic Problems
4. VIDEO: Check out this scenario
5. INFO: Mistrust of the Police
6. Check your understanding!
7. WEB RESOURCES: A Guide for Healing in an Imperfect System
8. INFO: A Hopeful Message
9. RESOURCE GUIDE: Systemic Challenges
10. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Systemic Challenges in Advocacy
1. SYLLABUS: Crisis Intervention and Counseling Skills
2. VIDEO: What is Crisis Intervention?
3. VIDEO: Trauma-Informed Crisis Intervention
4. INFO: The Advocate's Role in Crisis Intervention
5. VIDEO: Common Missteps in Crisis Intervention
6. INFO: Specific Crisis Intervention Skills
7. VIDEO: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
8. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
9. VIDEO: De-escalation Techniques
10. WEB RESOURCES: Specific Strategies
11. VIDEO: Autonomy
12. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Exploring Autonomy
13. Knowledge Check!
14. VIDEO: Risk Assessment
15. INFO: Risk Assessment
16. VIDEO: Warning Signs/ Red Flags for Risk
17. VIDEO: Asking About Risk
18. INFO: Safety Planning
19. VIDEO: Responding to Risk with Safety Planning
20. INFO: Questions for Safety Planning
21. VIDEO: Intro to Counseling (vs. counselors)
22. VIDEO: Explaining the basic skills
23. INFO: 8 Key Counseling Skills
24. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Open Ended Questions
25. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Reflective Listening
26. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Reframing
27. VIDEO: Non Verbal Communication
28. VIDEO: Empathy and Compassion
29. VIDEO: Setting Boundaries
30. INFO: Boundaries Prevent a Misuse of Power
31. VIDEO: Respecting Other People's Boundaries
32. INFO: Respecting boundaries and modeling healthy relationships
33. VIDEO: Case Management
34. Check your understanding!
35. INFO: Introducing Self-Care
36. WEB RESOURCES: The Missing Ingredient for Self-Care
37. Check your understanding!
38. VIDEO: Summary of Crisis Intervention and Counseling Skills
39. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Crisis Intervention and Counseling Skills
1. SYLLABUS: Trauma 101
2. VIDEO: Intro to Trauma Symptoms
3. INFO: The Basics of Trauma
4. VIDEO: Wide Range of Trauma Causes
5. VIDEO: Research and Data Overview
6. INFO: Trauma Research Update
7. VIDEO: Feeling Shame After Trauma
8. Check your understanding!
9. VIDEO: Trauma in the Brain
10. INFO: Trauma in the Brain and Body
11. INFO: Window of Tolerance
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12. Check your understanding!
13. VIDEO: Supporting Trauma Survivors
14. INFO: Supporting Trauma Survivors
15. VIDEO: Grounding
16. VIDEO: Treatments Available
17. INFO: Understanding Social and Cultural Trauma
18. Check your understanding!
19. VIDEO: Summary of Trauma 101
20. RESOURCE GUIDE: Trauma 101
21. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Trauma 101
1. SYLLABUS: Vicarious Trauma
2. VIDEO: Intro to Trauma Symptoms
3. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Trauma Symptoms
4. VIDEO: Defining Key Terms
5. INFO: Key Terms
6. Check Your Understanding!
7. VIDEO: Vicarious Trauma and the Brain
8. INFO: Vicarious Trauma and the Brain
9. Check Your Understanding!
10. VIDEO: Signs and Symptoms
11. VIDEO: Risk and Protective Factors
12. INFO: Over-Functioning
13. Check Your Understanding!
14. INFO: Tips and Strategies
15. VIDEO: Managing Vicarious Trauma
16. VIDEO: Summary of Vicarious Trauma
17. Check your understanding!
18. RESOURCE GUIDE: Vicarious Trauma
19. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Vicarious Trauma
1. SYLLABUS: Compassion Fatigue
2. VIDEO: Defining Key Terms
3. INFO: Biofeedback as Tool for Managing Stress
4. WEB RESOURCES: The Compassionate Mind
5. INFO: About the Three Flows of Compassion
6. VIDEO: Compassion Satisfaction
7. INFO: Self Compassion Strategies
8. Check your understanding!
9. RESOURCE GUIDE: Compassion Fatigue
10. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Compassion Fatigue
1. SYLLABUS: Shame
2. VIDEO: Shame vs. Guilt
3. VIDEO: Feeling Shame After Trauma
4. VIDEO: Shame is the Cause, Not the Solution
5. VIDEO: Shame is Protective
6. VIDEO: Shame as a Weapon of Control
7. Check your understanding!
8. VIDEO: Accidentally Increasing Shame
9. VIDEO: Helping Folks Who Feel Shame
10. Check your understanding!
11. VIDEO: Understanding Shame that Advocates Feel
12. INFO: Shame and Negative Self Talk
13. VIDEO: Summary of Shame
14. RESOURCE GUIDE: Shame
15. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Shame
1. SYLLABUS: Grief and Ambiguous Loss
2. VIDEO: Welcome from Elizabeth McElroy
3. INFO: Grief and Violence
4. VIDEO: Types of Grief
5. INFO: Grief and Trauma
6. VIDEO: Disenfranchised Grief
7. INFO: Grief Recovery Assessment
8. VIDEO: Dual Process Model
9. INFO: Tasks of Mourning
10. VIDEO: Creative Ways of Healing
11. INFO: Healthy Coping
12. VIDEO: Ambiguous Loss Webinar
13. RESOURCE GUIDE: Grief and Ambiguous Loss
14. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Grief and Ambiguous Loss
1. SYLLABUS: Ethical Advocacy
2. VIDEO: Intro to Ethical Principles
3. INFO: NACP Code of Ethics
4. INFO: The Challenge of Autonomy
5. VIDEO: A Deep Dive on Power Sharing and Social Dominance
6. INFO: Breaking Confidentiality
7. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Confidentiality
8. VIDEO: Webinar About Dual Relationships (1 hour)
9. VIDEO: Webinar About Personal Values & Ethics (1 hour)
10. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Personal Values Exploration
11. INFO: Distress Tolerance
12. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Distress Tolerance
13. VIDEO: Ethical Decision Making Model
14. INFO: A model for ethics
15. Check your understanding!
16. RESOURCE GUIDE: Ethical Advocacy
17. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Ethical Advocacy
1. SYLLABUS: Microaggressions and Implicit Bias
2. INFO: Key Terms
3. VIDEO: Understanding Bias in the Brain
4. INFO: How do biases form?
5. Check your understanding!
6. VIDEO: Types of Biases
7. INFO: Survivor Mold Bias
8. INFO: Cognitive Fallacies
9. Check Your Understanding!
10. VIDEO: Building Awareness of Biases
11. WEB RESOURCES: Are you biased? I am.
12. VIDEO: Beyond Awareness: Skills for managing biases
13. INFO: Tips for Managing Biases
14. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Create your own plan
15. Check Your Understanding!
16. VIDEO: Microaggressions
17. INFO: Microaggressions in Victim Advocacy
18. Check Your Understanding!
19. WEB RESOURCES: Eliminating Microaggressions
20. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Practice Understanding Microaggressions
21. Check Your Undertanding!
22. VIDEO: A Message From The Advocacy Academy
23. INFO: Making it Right
24. INFO: Self-Compassion
25. WEB RESOURCES: A perfect apology in 3 steps
26. INFO: About Apologies
27. VIDEO: Summary
28. RESOURCE GUIDE: Microaggressions and Implicit Bias
29. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Microaggressions and Implicit Bias
1. SYLLABUS: Prevention
2. WEB RESOURCE: The Spectrum of Sexual Violence
3. INFO: Key Terms
4. VIDEO: Causes of Sexual Assault
5. WEB RESOURCE: Advocacy vs. Prevention
6. VIDEO: Consent, Boundaries, and Healthy Communication
7. WEB RESOURCE: When "yes" means "no": The Truth About Consent
8. INFO: Alcohol Intervention Programs to Reduce Sexual Assault
9. VIDEO: Bystander Intervention Programs
10. VIDEO: Intro to Risk Assessment
11. VIDEO: How to Perform a Risk Assessment
12. OPTIONAL EXERCISE: Risk Assessment Case Study Activity
13. INFO: Policy Efforts that Make a Difference
14. WEB RESOURCE: Understanding a Culture of Violence
15. INFO: Ecological Model
16. WEB RESOURCES: Ecological Model for Framing Sexual Assault
17. WEB RESOURCE: Engaging Allies in Prevention
18. WEB RESOURCE: Rape Culture on TV
19. Check your understanding!
20. RESOURCE GUIDE: Prevention
21. REQUIRED ASSIGNMENT: Prevention
1. Wrapping up with Dr. Watson (2 hours)
2. STOP!
3. Final Exam (1 hour)
4. Final Project (1.5 hours)

About this course

$315.00
242 lessons

Why get certified?

Credentialing strengthens the victim assistance field by increasing professional recognition, credibility, and mobility for advocates. It promotes standardized training and ensures that the standards and practices of the field are defined by victim assistance professionals themselves. Credentialing also fosters professional identity and unity among advocates who commit to a shared code of ethics and recognized professional designation.

Obtaining Certification

The National Advocate Credentialing Program (NACP) Oversees Advocate Certification

As of March 2026: The certification is currently being reviewed by NACP for "pre-approval." Once this program received pre-approval, our learners can submit their certificates of completion to honor NACP's 40 hour training requirement.

More about NACP

On Demand + Live Component

We're proud that this certificate program offers the maximum flexibility for learners all around the world. Even the live component can be completed according to your own availability.

What happens in the live component?

During the live component, you'll meet with Dr. Kate Watson 1:1 to review your assignments, discuss what you've learned, and practice your skills. In the 2nd session, you'll receive a full feedback report which you might choose to share with your supervisor/ employer.

Checklist of Program Requirements

This is available as a downloadable PDF once you're enrolled in the course.

Your Coach Along the Way: Dr. Kate Watson

The program is mostly self-paced, but you're not on your own.

You're only *required* to meet with Dr. Watson toward the end of your certificate program, but you're welcome to reach out at any point along the way. You may use email, phone, or Zoom meetings to stay connected to Dr. Watson if you need help or encouragement.

How long do I have to complete the 40 hours?

This program offers a great deal of flexibility for you to learn at your own pace. You can move as fast or as slow as you'd like, as long as you complete the 40 hours within 180 days (6 months)

Tip: We recommend scheduling your learning time in your calendar so you don't run out of time.

Military Discounts Available

Use code: MilTen for a 10% military discount. And Email [email protected] to inquire about group rates (whether you're affiliated with the military or not).

For Tax-Exempt Institutions

BEFORE you enroll, email [email protected] to request a special invoice.

Understand Our Return Policy

Payments are non-refundable unless otherwise stated in our refund policy (see Terms and Conditions at the very bottom of this page).
Registrations cannot be transferred to another course or to another person unless otherwise stated in our transfer policy (see Terms and Conditions at the very bottom of this page).