Confidential Support
Office of Title IX and Civil Rights Compliance
Confidential support resources must keep your identity and what you tell them in confidence.
They must not disclose to the Title IX Coordinator what they learned from you unless there is an imminent risk of harm to self or others. Some confidential resources also have an evidentiary privilege that prevents the person from being compelled to testify in civil or criminal court proceedings. You have a right to ask a confidential support person whether they are also privileged.
Confidential reports can be made to mental health counselors that COA contracts with or with the family nurse practitioner in COA’s health clinic.
Confidential support is also offered by COA’s Confidential Resource Advisor – Pamela Gagnon da Silva, LCPC. For Fall 2024, Pamela holds office hours on Tuesdays from 10:30am-12:30pm in the COA Counseling Office. She can also be reached via email.
As a Confidential Resource Advisor (CRA), Pam’s role is to support COA students and employees who are impacted by sexual violence, relationship violence, and stalking. She provides free, confidential, restorative, and trauma-informed services in a “brave” space for people to share their experiences without fear of judgment. She provides information, resources, and options to explore and encourage people to make informed, supported decisions about their lives. These services are also beneficial for deciding how to help a loved one who is experiencing sexual violence, relationship violence, and stalking.
Pam Gagnon da Silva has worked in violence prevention for over 35 years. Currently, she is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) who specializes in assisting people to integrate the impact of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and other forms of adversity and oppression. She is the founder/owner of Resilient Women in Ellsworth, a place of support and connection for people who identify as female. She serves on the Executive Board of the Maine Counseling Association and the Governing Board of Finding Our Voices, a grassroots domestic abuse support network. She teaches Intimate Partner Violence Dynamics and Community Response, and Introduction to Feminist Theory at COA.
You can also talk with any of the following confidentially: a counselor off campus, with a medical practitioner, a religious leader, and/or someone at AMHC Sexual Assault Services (1-800-871-7741).
An extensive list of both on and off-campus resources can be found by downloading our COA On and Off-Campus Resource Guide.
