04/16/2026
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
When a survivor of sexual assault walks into an emergency room, the experience can feel overwhelming: medical, emotional, and deeply personal all at once. What many in the community may not realize is that, behind the scenes, a carefully coordinated team is already moving into place to ensure that no one faces that moment alone.
In the Spy interview below, Shannon Temple, program coordinator of the forensic nurse program at UM Shore Regional Health, and Lesa Mulcahy, Chief Clinical Officer at For All Seasons’ R**e Crisis Center, describe how that collaboration works in real time, beginning at hospital intake and extending beyond discharge.
Temple explains that when a patient arrives, the forensic nurse team is called immediately to provide specialized medical care, evidence collection, and documentation, all delivered through a trauma-informed, patient-centered approach. At the same time, advocates from For All Seasons—available 24/7—are dispatched to the hospital to provide emotional support, explain each step of the process, and ensure the survivor understands they remain in control throughout.
At a time when fear or uncertainty may prevent some from seeking help, both emphasize that these services are available to everyone in the community, without judgment and regardless of circumstance.
A central goal of this partnership is to reduce further trauma. Whenever possible, survivors are asked to recount their experience only once, with medical staff, advocates, and, if the patient chooses, law enforcement working together. From that moment forward, the relationship with For All Seasons continues, offering free and confidential advocacy, guidance through the legal system, and access to ongoing mental health care.
Survivors are not required to report to law enforcement to receive care, and they retain full control over every decision along the way.
Just as importantly, they stress that these services exist for everyone, men, women, and children and that families can also receive support as they navigate how best to help a loved one.
At its core, the system is built on a simple but powerful promise: survivors will be believed, supported, and given the time and space to begin healing on their own terms.
When a survivor of sexual assault walks into an emergency room, the experience can feel overwhelming: medical, emotional, and deeply personal all at once. What many in the community may not realize is that, behind the scenes, a carefully coordinated team is already moving into place to ensure that n...
