A Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) officer is using an unique concept to train area and NSTC domain Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) volunteers.

Lt. Tara Smallidge, NSTC's Research Psychologist and member of the Navy's Medical Service Corps, is introducing Emotional Intelligence (EI) into the training of SAPR Victim Advocates.

"Emotional Intelligence is simply how one understands and manages emotions both verbally and nonverbally," said Smallidge, who is also an industrial and organizational psychologist within the research psychology community. "Emotions are pieces of data that help us make decisions. When people can understand their emotions and be able to predict others' emotions, it is an extremely beneficial tool for relationship building and communication, especially in traumatic and stressful situations."

Smallidge said understanding facial expressions are, as a whole, an important component of one's overall Emotional Intelligence. It is based on Dr. Paul Ekman's research on facial expressions where one can learn how every facial expression has an associated behavior. "For example," Smallidge said, "if someone is depicting a facial expression of disgust, they are likely to be exhibiting a behavior of 'rejection' therefore the receiver can use this information to make conversational modifications, such as 'rephrasing the question'.

Dr. Ekman's EI research of micro expressions, or very brief facial expressions, has been a tool of psychologists and law enforcement for a number of years. The research of Dr. Ekman has led to EI being more in the mainstream of public awareness, especially with the advent of many popular criminal and legal television shows. What may be even a newer concept, or training method, is SAPR Victim Advocates using EI when interviewing and helping victims of sexual abuse.

"Teaching the victim advocates the importance of EI can help them to understand what the victim is saying, without saying it," Smallidge said. "It can help the advocates to know when it is appropriate to ask the victim more questions and when to hold off just by reading their facial expressions. The benefit of emotional intelligence in victim advocacy is to be there for the victim, understanding their emotions to help build rapport."

Smallidge has been partnering with Naval Station Great Lakes Fleet and Family Service Center (FFSC) Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (SARCs) since being assigned as NSTC's SAPR Command Liaison and Victim Advocate in August 2014. She assists the FFSC SARCs with the training of command victim advocate volunteers; many of them enlisted active duty Sailors and Marines.

"I try to give the victim advocates an overview of how to read facial expressions and understand how each expression has an associated behavior," said Smallidge. "This will be beneficial to them when they are trying to 'read' the victim they are supporting. This is an additional tool for them to use as an advocate."

"Lt. Smallidge is fantastic and we are very pleased that she is part of our training team," said FFSC SARC Erin Brzezinski. "We hope our victim advocates, our first responders, will be able to learn how to recognize and read facial expressions and body language and how to interpret them."

According to Department of Defense (DoD) SAPR websites, sexual assault is the most under reported crime in society and in the military today. While the DoD prefers complete reporting of sexual assaults to activate both victims' services and law enforcement actions, it recognizes that some victims desire only medical and support services and no command or law enforcement involvement. The DoD believes its first priority is for victims to be protected, treated with dignity and respect, and to receive the medical treatment, care and counseling that they deserve. Under DoD's Confidentiality Policy, military victims of sexual assault have two reporting options - Restricted reporting and Unrestricted reporting.

The Uniformed Victim Advocate (UVA) and Victim Advocate (VA) provide essential support and care to the victim to include providing non-clinical information on available options and resources to assist the victim in making informed decisions as they progress through resolution and healing. A Victim Advocate may be military (UVA), or a civilian (VA). The UVA/VA maintains communications and contact with the victim as needed for continued victim support.

Smallidge continues to expand her training, providing enhanced tools for Victim Advocates to use in caring for victims of sexual assault.

"Emotional Intelligence has become a familiar concept in the Navy and I feel it will continue to expand as the importance of understanding emotions manifests, especially within leadership development," Smallidge said.

"For the past three years I have been a guest presenter at the Naval War College on 'Self-Awareness for Leaders - Leadership and Emotional Intelligence' with over 100 military officers completing emotional intelligence assessments. Emotional Intelligence is now in the standard training for Victim Advocate Training and I will be launching a new pilot class for the NROTC Units this fall. I will also continue to find other avenues to share the importance and skill of emotional Intelligence."

NSTC, commanded by Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, as well as the Navy's Citizenship Development program. NSTC includes Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., NROTC units at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command (OTC) at Naval Station Newport, R. I., and Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

For more information about NROTC, visit https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/. For more information about NSTC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.