Certification Academy

A: NCVAN’s Victim Service Practitioner Certification Academy (the Academy) provides practitioners who work with victims of crime with an opportunity to receive 40 hours of substantial training to bolster their knowledge and experience, while also gaining prestigious state and nationally-recognized certification to reflect their growing expertise.

NCVAN’s Academy is the official academy recognized in North Carolina, approved by the National Advocate Credentialing Program (NACP). The curriculum is also approved through the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). The program continues to evolve in keeping with emerging best practices and research through ongoing guidance by the Academy Steering Committee and thorough, extensive participant feedback.

Upon completion of the pre-requisite NCVAN Academy, NOVA may consider NCVAN Academy graduates for provisional licensing on the national level.

Law enforcement officers who complete the training and certification may receive continuing education credits through NCVAN’s partnership with the North Carolina Justice Academy.

A: NCVAN sees that credentialing of professionals is a serious undertaking, requiring thoughtful and deliberate planning and development. The training faculty includes a number of well-known and seasoned experts steeped in North Carolina law and practices who bring direct and deeply-relevant experience from the field. Training is conducted in a real-time classroom environment, providing opportunity for full engagement with the facilitators.

NCVAN’s Academy participants themselves are more than students; they are professionals who have worked in a victim service-related profession for at least six months. Representing a diverse group of allied professionals, our students are: law enforcement – military – therapists – court officials – clergy – other victim advocates – to name a few. In this way, the academy is a blended learning experience. Networking brings valuable connections that benefit participants well beyond the completion of the certification program.

To assure professionalism, NCVAN conducts a criminal history check on all students, which also protects the integrity of the work and upholds the significance of the certification awarded.

A: The NCVAN Victim Service Practitioner Certification Academy is open to professionals who have been working directly with victims of crime at a recognized program for at least six months or more. Participants typically come from law enforcement, district attorney offices, the military, state-recognized domestic and sexual violence programs, and other agencies and organizations which provide direct support to victims of crime. The training serves professionals who seek a thoughtful and thorough understanding of the experience of victims of crime and how better to serve them.

The pre-requisite of having six months of prior experience serves to provide each participant with a framework to lend relevance to the highly-specialized training and to assure participants have a common baseline for reference in networking and in group discussions.

Exceptions are sometimes made. If a potential participant does not meet the six-month or current work prerequisite, we may consider other variables, including but not limited to, becoming employed with a state or other agency in a position that will primarily directly serve victims of crime, or having a prior work history that makes participation relevant. To be considered for an exception, the potential participant should email a request to the director of training upon applying to the Academy, and include relevant information such as a description of the person’s new role or employment and/or a resume which lists past work experience and references.

A: Click on CURRENT MEMBERS to see the NCVAN Training and Advisory Committee members.

A: Below is a sample of the presentation topics that are typically covered during the week.

• History of the Victims Movement

• Building Relationships for Community Advocacy

• Theory of Crisis Intervention/Victim Empathy

• Human Trafficking

• Advocacy for Victims of Homicide

• Child Abuse

• Domestic Violence

• Victims and Technology-Cyberbullying

• District Attorney’s Role in Serving Victims

• Cultural Relevancy

• Stalking

• Sexual Violence

• Restorative Justice

• Federal Victims’ Rights

• Serving Victims With Disabilities

• Criminal Justice Professionals: The Barriers We Face

• Working with Victims in a Military Setting

• Victim’s Compensation/NCSAVAN

• Childhood Trauma

A: Please email the training team at training@nc-van.org.

A: The cost of certification is $250.00 per participant. Payment should be received no later than two weeks before the academy. Placement in the academy is not guaranteed until payment is made. Without the payment by the deadline, the applicant’s place in the academy may be canceled, and the participant may be placed on the waiting list. If special payment arrangements are needed, please contact us for more information.

A: The cost of recertification is $125.00. Additionally, certified practitioners must submit documentation of 20 hours of continuing education to the NC Victim Service Practitioner Oversight Committee every three years to be re-certified.

A: Certified practitioners must submit documentation of 20 hours of continuing education to the NC Victim Service Practitioner Oversight Committee every three years to be re-certified.

A: Yes. We are pleased to announce the NCVAN Memorial Scholarship program. Two scholarships will be awarded to two deserving victim advocates working in a recognized nonprofit victim service organization in North Carolina. Each scholarship will help defray costs associated with attending the next upcoming NCVAN Victim Service Practitioner Certification Academy.

The Memorial Scholarship covers the cost of certification along with one night of lodging for recipients who may require overnight accommodations.

Note: While there is just one application for the scholarship, two will be awarded. Each NCVAN Memorial Scholarship will be awarded in memory of four much-loved North Carolinians whose lives ended because of homicide.

To learn more about The Jenna and Ethen Nielsen Memorial Scholarship & The Stephen and Michael Hoyle Memorial Scholarship and the application process, see our SCHOLARSHIP page.