WASHINGTON (WAVY) — Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has signed a new policy that will expand resources for those members who report sexual harassment. It will borrow from a structure already in place that deals with sexual assault, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR).
Kayla Fallon-Arestivo, a Hampton Roads therapist who counsels sailors in crisis through her Trails of Purpose organization, welcomes the new policy.
“Sexual harassment is kind of rampant within the Navy,” she said in a Tuesday morning interview. “It’s rare that I’ve spoken to a female sailor that she hasn’t experienced any kind of sexual harassment in her career, I mean very rare.”
Like SAPR, sailors who are victims of sexual harassment will now have access to crisis intervention, safety assessments, counseling resources, victim advocacy support and the ability to discuss reporting options.
Fallon-Arestivo said SAPR has already proven effective.
“When you look at the SAPR program, there are civilians that work within and are embedded in it,” Fallon-Arestivo said, “and there’s also active duty. And it works wonderfully together.”
Fallon-Arestivo said the policy will help sailors feel freer to report sexual harassment — an offense she sees as a gateway to something worse.
“If we can stop the sexual harassment first, then we’re gonna have a decrease, hopefully, in the sexual assault, because the assault comes after the harassment,” she said. “So if you put a stop in that first gate, hopefully we won’t get to the assault.”
The expanded resources will be available to all uniformed sailors, active and reserve, cadets and midshipmen at the Naval Academy and Academy Prep School, as well as the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps.
“Sexual harassment is part of the sexual violence continuum of harm and has no place in the Department of the Navy,” Del Toro said in announcing the new policy. “This policy is intended to ensure that uniformed military sexual harassment victims are offered a range of support options similar to those available to victims of sexual assault.”
The Navy said the next step will be training the personnel in charge of implementing it.
