At the Albany County Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center, Erin Weiss and her colleagues provide support to dozens of adults and children who fall victim to sexual assault each year. 

“It destroys their world, their sense of safety, their sense of who they can trust,” Weiss said, a clinical supervisor at the center. “Through advocacy, education, and through therapy, anyway we can support the process a victim has to go through, we want to provide as much support as we can.”

The center is meant to serve the full county, but Weiss says its location in downtown Albany can be hard to access for victims living in outlying areas. 

“There are barriers for people living in the hill towns in accessing our services,” Weiss said. “Then they are left either alone struggling through this or with the support of the people they have around them without professionals.” 

On Thursday, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy announced an expansion of the center’s staff. A new caseworker based at the ACCESS Hilltowns building in Berne will provide easier access to services for victims living in the area.

“For us to be able to go out to the hill towns and provide our services to them, I think we are going to be able to reach a lot more people,” Weiss said.

The center is also hiring an additional therapist to help handle the increased workload. Much of their time will be spent working with young victims in a child-friendly environment designed to be less intimidating. 

“There are toys there and stuffed animals and things like that, so it is not them being interviewed in a police station or [in an environment that] may be a little intimidating and scary for kids,” Weiss said.

Weiss says it’s unclear how many victims will ultimately benefit from the expanded services, but she believes it will prove invaluable. 

“It certainly helps people gain a sense of agency over themselves, they are in control,” Weiss said. “We are helping to empower them and put them back in the driver's seat of their life.”