Sep/Oct 2006

A Healing Hand

Crystal Skeeter Davis helps rape victims get on the road to recovery.

By Kym Klass

Name: Crystal Skeeter Davis On the job: Executive director of The Center for Sexual Assault Survivors in Newport News.

Before the job: Manager of Avalon, a domestic violence center in Williamsburg. Off the job: Lives in Newport News with her husband, Steve, and her children, Isaac and Lela.

I walk into the office and immediately notice the quiet. Quiet in a way that instructs you not to take another step without being asked. Quiet that makes you afraid to even whisper a greeting to anyone.

A staff member approaches me.

"Hi, are you Crystal?" I ask.

I'm answered with hesitation-"Um, no, she's ... with someone."-and quickly ushered into a conference room.

This is a sensitive place. The Center for Sexual Assault Survivors in Newport News is where sexual assault victims seek guidance. They are counseled, they learn to trust, they search for their life back-the control, freedom and security they lost when sexually assaulted. This is where they become healed, and Crystal Skeeter Davis, who oversees the operation, is their primary healer.

Davis meets me in the conference room, walking with the confidence and calmness of a director. She's apologizes for keeping me waiting. She's sincere.

A rape victim and her grandmother had arrived at The Center that morning.

"This, unfortunately, is not unusual for a crisis center," Davis says. "And when we have a victim that needs support, then that is most important."

She leaves and moments later returns with a staff of three. Davis' fourth staff member stays with the victim and her grandmother, talking them through it ... whatever it is, of course, is kept confidential.

The Center, in business since 1996, moved its operation at the beginning of the year to Newport News from a church in Hampton, a move Davis calls welcoming.

"We had many concerns-feelings of guilt, shame and then the connection to the church," she says. "Many thought we were faith-based. We're not. We're thrilled to be here."

The morning meeting gets moving, with staff members discussing educational programs at universities, budgeting, fundraisers and grants. Money from the community is essential to The Center's operation.

"It's very difficult to convince [legislature] how important prevention is and how important it is to educate people before a sexual assault occurs," Davis says. "It's very difficult to get funding-they'd rather spend $10 million to put a tracking device on a criminal. You can spend a fraction of the money on prevention." -

For the rest of this story, see the Sep/Oct 2006 issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.