Labette County Attorney Mandy Johnson and two of her staff members will receive training on trauma related to criminal justice (domestic and sexual violence, child trauma) in the coming weeks. The training takes place in Honolulu, Hawaii, a fact that raised the eyebrows of Labette County commissioners this week who approved a voucher for airfares related to the trip.
Commissioners want department heads and elected officials to get permission in advance of traveling out of state for training. Johnson didn’t do that and told the Sun that she has since apologized to Commission Chairman Vince Schibi.
The training will be in downtown Honolulu and focus on “Preventing, Assessing and Treating Trauma Across the Lifespan.”
The Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma is providing the training. For the past 25 years IVAT has provided professionals and students access to its summits and trainings to learn from experts in prevention, identification, investigation, and interventions for exploitation, abuse and trauma, according to the IVAT website. “We provide a list of opportunities for addressing interpersonal violence, child abuse, human trafficking, system-response and community engagement, professional burnout and conflict resolution/de-escalation trainings.”
Johnson said she learned of the training through her military work as a JAG in the Kansas Air National Guard. She said she compared the available training in Hawaii to other available options and could not find one that compared in scope, scale, availability and applicability.
“It was also highly praised by military personnel I have interacted with in my position as a JAG in the Kansas Air National Guard. I did a cost comparison of the Hawaii and San Diego counterparts, and they are very comparable in terms of cost including air travel, rooms and meals,” Johnson said in email correspondence with the Sun.
She said the training costs $2,290. She believes lodging will be around $3,200 and the plane tickets will cost around $2,500.
“I will also add that the majority of these expenses will be paid for with diversion funds, and not the taxpayers’ money.
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I am allocated funds in my budget for training, but almost all of these costs, if not all of them, will be paid for through diversion funds,” Johnson wrote.
Diversion programs are an alternative to a criminal or traffic conviction, allowing individuals to avoid a criminal record if they complete the program’s terms. Fees for diversions vary based on the severity of the offense and other factors.
As of March 27, the county attorney had $212,138.06 in the diversion fund, according to the Labette County Treasurer’s Office.
Johnson said the IVAT summit is held twice a year, in Hawaii in April and in San Diego, California, in August.
Courses start daily around 7:30 a.m. and end around 5 p.m. or later.
“This is a very unique conference that offers a multitude of training opportunities including topics involving child trauma, human trafficking, sexual violence, preventing abuse and combating vicarious trauma,” Johnson said.
Courses the Labette County representatives will attend are “Best Practices and Eliminating Error in Addressing Child Abuse,” “Justice and Healing: Exploring Digital Victimization of Sexual Violence,” “Exploring Different Types of Child Abuse,” “When Love Hurts: The Intersections of Intimate Partner Violence and Sex Trafficking,” “Bridging the Gaps: Addressing Substance Misuse and Strengthening Youth Support Services,” “Mitigating Factors & Mental Health: Sentencing Considerations and Implications for Criminal Cases,” “Red Flags and Risk to Intimate Partner Violence,” “Understanding the Connection Between Alcohol and Sexual Violence in College and Military Settings,” “Child Abuse and Neglect Risk Assessment Tools for Family Court,” “Recovering from Trauma With a Focus on Resilience and Wellness,” “Intimate Partner Violence Offender Typologies” and “Building a Case Against Sex Traffickers: Critical Evidence and Collaborations.”
She said these topics affect Labette County regularly.
“The daily trauma that my office regularly handles can have a long-lasting effect on the ones that handle those cases. It is imperative to first responders, prosecutors, legal staff and law enforcement to ensure that measures are put in place so that we don’t get burned out, desensitized or develop long-term mental health issues. In fact, the Kansas Supreme Court recently created an ad hoc committee to focus on implementing recommendations from a national task force on lawyer well-being,” Johnson said.
She added that there is a concerning shortage of attorneys in Kansas, as well as throughout most of the United States, with an even bigger shortage in rural areas.
“As someone that has attempted to hire legal assistants repeatedly over the last couple years, there is a major shortage of competent legal staff who are willing to subject themselves to the ongoing vicarious trauma dealt with in the County Attorney’s Office. In addition to the amazing training opportunities that are being offered during this I.V.A.T. training, we are also able to secure continuing education credit hours, of which a certain number is required to maintain a license to practice law in the State of Kansas, and my legal staff are able to receive certifications as a result of this opportunity as well,” Johnson said.
She said this is the first outof- state training she has done since she took office four years ago.
