‘You’ve Got This’

When her clients step up to the stand in civil court, Joy Beitzel tries to be a calming presence for them. She knows these clients, survivors of sexual violence, have had control taken away. Beitzel and her coworkers at the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault do everything they can to help them reclaim it.

“I have been able to tell clients, ‘You can just look at me if that feels best. You don’t have to look at the attorney or the other party,’” Beitzel says. When they lock eyes on the stand, she does her best to communicate, “You’ve got this.” 

Beitzel has spent two years as the staff attorney for PAVSA, a Duluth-based sexual violence crisis agency that serves southern St. Louis County. “It’s a first stop for a lot of people if they’ve experienced sexual violence and resulting trauma,” Beitzel says.

Before stepping into the newly created role, she practiced mainly family law for eight years, most recently at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. “I liked being able to do what I felt was necessary for clients without worrying about billing,” she says. Like Legal Aid, all of her services at PAVSA are free, and the organization has no income limit, meaning she can help anyone who needs it. “That was a difference from Legal Aid, where a lot of people couldn’t be served because they were over income, even though they really didn’t have the means to hire an attorney.”

In fact, Beitzel herself developed her position into its current form. When she started, she met with community members to find out what the needs were. Within the multidisciplinary agency—PAVSA has advocates, mental health specialists, sexual assault nurse examiners and a crisis hotline—she continues to refine safeguards to maintain attorney-client privilege while still working collaboratively to support a survivor’s needs. “We are the only agency that offers what we do in our area,” she says. “The more I learn about PAVSA, the more I realize what an important resource it is here.”

In 2023, Beitzel worked with 35 survivors, many of them with multiple legal concerns: family law issues like divorce and custody, orders for protection and restraining orders, Title IX cases, and the occasional employment law question. Though she doesn’t work directly with criminal cases, she is available to support clients who are going through that process, helping prep them on what to expect in regard to their rights as victim witnesses. “They’re trying to manage what that feels like as a survivor, to be riding the waves of the system that has certain obligations to the victim, but it ultimately is not centered on the victim,” Beitzel says.

When criminal charges can’t bring justice, Beitzel hopes civil court can be another option. “I’ve had several instances where people did not get what they were looking for from the criminal justice system,” she says, “but we were able to negotiate or get a protective order.” 

During a recent mediation, one client told Beitzel, “‘I would just be lost without you.’

“I don’t deserve or expect praise or validation from my clients—it’s not what I’m here for,” Beitzel says. “But I just absolutely love either being told or just inferring from a developing relationship with the client that I’m able to remove or help shoulder a significantly stressful event in that way and fill a need that nobody else can fill for them.”

Carrying the Burden

Given her work as the sole attorney at PAVSA, it’s important for Joy Beitzel to manage her own well-being, as well.

Her office is conveniently located between two of the organization’s mental health therapists.

“They’re able to kind of regulate me when I’m having a rough day. We all support each other,” she says. And she tries to take her own advice—the same she gives to clients: “‘What is it that’s under my control and what can I do about that?’”

With three young children, Beitzel tries to find time to exercise, to get outside as much as possible, and to find moments of
laughter with her husband via Saturday Night Live clips or Parks and Recreation episodes.

“I have a strong sense of calling, which is informed by my faith,” she says. “My work and my values feel aligned, which gives me the stamina to keep going.”