An Annual Publication of Washington Coalition of Programs

Volume XXIII 2019

Healing Activated! In this issue: Reflections on Kavanaugh The Role of Activism in Survivor Recovery Confirmation Activism A conversation with Leah Green

Survivors in Action: Profiles in Healing through Art & Activism WCSAP

Program Highlight Beyond Survival A conversation with Maddie Graves-Wilson

Survivor Volunteerism Tabitha Donohue

Activist Burn-Out and Self-Care Know Your IX

Question Oppression

Resources Silence is one of patriarchy’s most oppressive mandates. We have the gift of testimony and our long- held philosophy of empowerment to fight back.

Letter from the Editor

Michelle Dixon-Wall Resource Sharing Project Coordinator, WCSAP

even years ago, I interviewed several With the surge of activism, we have seen in survivors for an assessment project at my this last year and half surrounding the #MeToo S local program as part of the national Sexual Movement and the Kavanaugh confirmation Assault Demonstration Initiative. We wanted to hearings it is clear that survivors have been know what helped survivors heal so we could itching to move the needle and are more than best align our services with needs of those in our ready to share their stories as a catalyst for community. change. The sea change has inspired us here at WCSAP to dedicate this publication to survivor The survivors I spoke with identified that their activism and the healing found in it. participation in the anti-violence movement contributed most to their healing. It Whether it is writing a letter to the editor, was the only unifying healing aspect all survivors participating in Take Back the Night, making shared with me. What I discovered should not change on Campus, protesting, performing, have been surprising but I was taken aback testifying, or voting, survivor activism helps to Because I realized two things: transform traumatic experiences into something vital and meaningful for society. Even when 1. in my many years of sexual assault advocacy, activism is not specific to sexual violence, using this was not something I had considered your voice and building your power is healing. working with survivors around, and Silence is one of patriarchy’s most oppressive 2. as a survivor myself, this was exactly what I mandates. We have the gift of testimony and our was doing here in this work: healing. long-held philosophy of empowerment to fight back. Volume XXIII 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reflections on Kavanaugh Confirmation Activism...... 1 A conversation with Leah Green

4317 6th Ave SE, Suite 102 Olympia, WA 98503 (360) 754-7583 Survivors in Action: (360) 709-0305 TTY 7 (360) 786-8707 FAX Profiles in Healing through Art & Activism...... WCSAP

Program Highlight: Beyond Survival...... 11 A conversation with Maddie Graves-Wilson

Survivor Volunteerism...... 13 Healing Activated! Tabitha Donohue The Role of Activism in Survivor Recovery

The mission of the Washington 16 Coalition of Sexual Assault Activist Burn-Out and Self-Care...... Programs is to unite agencies Know Your IX engaged in the elimination of sexual violence through education, advocacy, victim services, and social change. Question Oppression...... 20 Connections Magazine is published annually and mailed to subscribing members of WCSAP. For membership information Resources...... 20 and to view articles online visit: www.wcsap.org

Editor:

Michelle Dixon-Wall Cover photo © Alice Donovan Rouse. Boston, United States. This sign was a trademark of the Women’s Marches around the world. The posters were available Design © Debi Bodett to download for free and were printed by many as a (literal) sign of solidarity. www.DebiBodett.com https://obeygiant.com/people-art-avail-download-free/ “One point of this healing journey is not just personal, but to use my personal narrative to create a better world. I want my story to be a jumping off point to critically understand what oppression is and how it relates to child abuse. I want you to make a commitment, if you have not already, to take responsibility for the kind of society you really want to live in. Any understanding you come to as a result of my words must push us forward to concretely and physically transforming society.” -billie rain, The Healing Journey as a Site of Resistance

1 Reflections on Kavanaugh Confirmation Activism

A conversation with Leah Green

exual assaults survivors nationally were deeply impacted by this year’s confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee S (and now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh. It was the boiling point that propelled us to claim our #MeToo promise in earnest, through anger and activism.

Many survivors were there in the midst of the hearings-- lobbying senators in hallways, staging sit-ins in offices, and rallying those at home to keep calling and tweeting their representatives.

Ana Maria Archila, was one of the women who confronted Senator Jeff Flake. About this activism she said, “what happened in that elevator was the result of thousands and thousands of women survivors and survivors of all genders who are doing something incredibly dangerous and incredibly generous.”

www.wcsap.org 2 3 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 The national Women’s Law Center, Know Your IX, End on Campus, and other leading organizations sponsored survivors to travel to D.C. to lobby their senators in person and participate in actions. Leah Green was one of those who was there, too. A survivor who works in the anti-sexual violence movement, Leah activated her support system and went to D.C. with organizers all over the country to speak out. She generously agreed to talked about her experience with us.

Editor: You were present in DC at protests related I have found that sometimes when to the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, what I do things that really trigger my made you decide to go? survivorship or are really hard, it It just felt right. I saw they were looking for helps me. Because even though it people with the ability to go to D.C. at short was hard, I got through it and at the notice and I thought about all the survivors who end of it I feel some sort of relief, might want to go but didn’t have the access. I like I got just a little bit farther have the privilege to work for an organization down the path. that gave me adequate enough vacation time, I had a partner that was going to be supportive I rallied support around me before going: I had to me while I was there, I had friends around the supervisors who engaged me in conversations country from whom I could seek support, and about what I thought that was going to be the economic privilege to financially take care of like and how they could best support me. I myself in DC if that needed to happen. connected with the community of support I had around me to let them know I was doing this I looked at my situation and saw I had the real and people offered to be on-call to support me. ability to go so I just felt like I had to, who else I connected in a friend in D.C. who offered to was going to be supported in going at such a let me stay with her, to walk me to the Capitol, short notice-- if not me, who else was going to whatever I might find helpful. be able to go? And then I had to tell my family. I don’t have a I knew that going would feel like taking an strong relationship with my family. But I knew action and it was an impulse that I had to follow. that if I went I would talk about my survivorship I was really worried that once I got there I would and that involves my family so I felt the need to fall apart and that it was going to be terrible but give them a heads up. I didn’t know what was there was a part of me that felt like I had to do it going to happen or what the experience was anyway. going to be like.

www.wcsap.org 4 Editor: From home, we saw a lot of survivors Editor: How do you think participation in these there, telling their stories and lobbying senators types of actions contribute to your healing? in hallways. What was it like to be there? For me, the most powerful healing I think the only other experience that I have had that I’ve done is getting the that was even somewhat similar was going to NSAC (National Sexual Assault Conference). In opportunity to say the words out the two block area of the Capitol and the Senate loud in public because for so many buildings, every single person you encountered years I was terrified to talk about it. was an activist or person trying to help survivors, or survivors themselves. It felt like almost Holding it in did so much damage to me, that everywhere you looked there were people who to say the words out loud as often and as loudly were excited to engage with you. When we as possible has, on a level, undone some of that were in The Russell (Senate Office Building) a trauma. group of us took a trip to the bathroom and the woman cleaning the bathroom asked what we So this felt like the next big scary step. I were doing there and when we told her even talk about my survivorship with friend, she was like “give ‘em hell.” So, it was cool to my colleagues, my partner, and only very see that even people who were just working in recently started to engage in some of these the building, that weren’t here for the protests conversations with my family and to out myself engaged with us and were supportive of us. It as a survivor in my work. But this felt like another was overwhelming to see and feel the support. level-- getting the opportunity to do this as a We went to watch the vote and there were private citizen, but on the national scale and hundreds of people waiting to get in and all the being in D.C. [pull out quote] I think that rallying people in line around us were engaging with around me to try to fortify myself before I went us in conversation. I befriended others who gave me an opportunity to take stock of my had flocked to D.C. from all over the country support system and how many people around to witness and participate in their own form of me supported me. How much support and love activism. I was surprised by how exhilarating it I had for myself and understanding my power as all felt, despite the somber reason for bringing an adult to make decisions and do this for myself us all together. — how far I’ve really come.

I worried that it would feel scary or angry or violent but actually it was like everyone was just excited to make friends and build community. In the end I utilized almost none of the support I rallied around me before I left. There was so much support physically in D.C.-- the organizers that brought us and other activists were so trauma-informed and were natural born advocates. They did an amazing job of taking care of us-- answering our questions, making sure we felt comfortable, and knew where to go and what to say and what to do.

It was indescribable.

5 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 Editor: Healing is such a complicated process for We have to create mechanisms within our so many survivors. In a lot of publications we communities and organizations to allow for make, we use a lot of calming images like nature, survivors to give feedback about what is being water, etc. to discuss healing. And there is such offered-- about what they need-- and then we a contrast between, like trauma-informed yoga, have to listen to them. Survivors are going to be and Ana Maria Archila passionately confronting the ones to tell us what’s healing for them, and Senator Jeff Flake in the elevator. But all can be what is working for them. I’m with you-- it all healing! I felt the most moved by the women feels healing. in the elevator (Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher). I watched everything about the When I go on a hike it feels healing, Kavanaugh confirmation from beginning to when I go to yell at (Senator) the end and it was those women that, like, broke me open and I was like “yes, these are my Grassley it feels healing — all of that heroes right here.” I reflected on this because works together. they were private citizens who were angry and that they made a shift with their words-- The other thing we can do is to help point whether it created a longer term solution or not, this out to survivors and help them process it. doesn’t matter-- it was that shift and process of Reflecting on my experience in D.C. is a whole confronting someone and being angry. I saw in other level of healing than actually going. It is that encounter something I, as a survivor, didn’t getting an opportunity to think more critically know I had desperately needed. How do we hold on why that experience felt good to me and, all of these complexities of healing and foster obviously, this conversation is one of those and communicate that there can be so many opportunities. When my partner talked to ways to heal and offer services? me about what, in the end, I got out of the experience-- that conversation is part of the healing too. It encourages me to do my own reflection and then that helps me figure out what’s the next thing I want to do or, what is another thing I can put on my list of things that feel healing for me. Having someone ask: What felt hard? What do you feel proud about? And to engage with me to reflect and process what I need and what feels good and what I want to happen next.

Bio

Leah Green is a survivor and sexual assault professional living in Des Moines, Iowa.

www.wcsap.org 6 Survivors in Action: Profiles in Healing through Art & Activism

WCSAP

7 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org Amanda Nguyen Amanda Nguyen is a survivor of college . After undergoing a rape kit examination, police informed Nguyen that her kit would be destroyed after six months if she didn’t submit an extension request. Every six months, Nguyen had to resubmit an extension request to ensure that her rape kit wouldn’t be destroyed in the hopes that it could be tested for her attacker’s DNA.

Her experiences of retraumatization moved her to create the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, legislation to ensure basic civil rights to victims when they first report being raped and during the medical and legal ordeals that follow. Nguyen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

“I look at it as a metaphor — every time a survivor tells me his or her story it is like they are handing over a coal. It is a weight I carry but also it keeps my fire to fight alive.”1

www.wcsap.org 8 Tabitha Mpamira-Kaguri In rural Uganda, Tabitha Mpamira-Kaguri, a teacher, was driven to action by the stories of rape and from her young students and the entire lack of justice afforded them. She started the EDJA Foundation which engages in public advocacy efforts including radio shows, advertisements, and community meetings, EDJA staff members and volunteers teach victims of sexual violence that it’s possible to come forward with stories of abuse and that it can be the first step toward healing, achieving justice, and ending patterns of abuse.

“I actually think my perpetrator is very influential in my purpose and my life. If it weren’t for [my own] horrendous experience, I wouldn’t have the zeal and passion for sexual-trauma healing that I do now. The day I decided to start this work officially, it was that still voice that whispered ‘Why do you get the luxury to wait, when they are hurting now?’”2

Scheherazade & Salamishah Tillet When Scheherazade Tillet learned that her older sister, Salamishah, was a rape survivor, Scheherazade turned to photography and began documenting Salamishah’s recovery journey.

In 2003, the Tillet sisters co-founded A Long Walk Home, the only organization in the country that uses art therapy and the visual and performing arts to end violence against women and girls and provide innovative and inclusive programs for underserved communities.

“With each passing day, more young women accuse R. Kelly of sexual assault. That means more people and institutions — with the glaring exception of his label, RCA records — are taking their voices, and, by extension, girls who look like them, seriously. We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. Let’s not squander it.”3

9 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 Aspen Matis Aspen Matis published her memoir Girl in the Woods to share her story of rape, recklessness, and recovery. She sought healing on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail leading from Mexico to Canada, hiking for 5 months.

“As writers, we have tremendous power. If something happens to us, we have the power to not only learn from it but to take something bad and transform it into one of the most beautiful things that never could have happened–that I never could have write if these bad things hadn’t happened.

It’s not extraordinary that all these stories are becoming national news. It’s extraordinary that they weren’t before. There has been a systemic silencing, but I feel like I’m at the beginning of a mountain wave of a movement.”4

1 “The Rape Survivor Who Turned Her Activism into A Nobel Peace Prize Nomination”, Huffington Post, July 2018.

2 “Turning Pain into Power,” heartsonfire.org.

3 “After the ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ Documentary, #MeToo Has Finally Returned to Black Girls,” New York Times, January 2019.

4 “I’m at the Beginning of a Movement: These Sexual Assault Survivors Are Coming Forward So Other Women Can Find a Voice,” Marie Claire, December 2015.

www.wcsap.org 10 We know that healing is not a linear process. As the authors of The Courage to Heal explain, “(y)ou go through the same stages again and again; but traveling up the spiral, you pass through them at a different level, with a different perspective…With each new cycle, your capacity to feel, to remember, to make lasting changes is strengthened.” - Bass & Davis, 2008

11 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT

Beyond Survival A conversation with Maddie Graves-Wilson

hat can it look like in our advocacy Editor: What are ways survivors in this group use programs to offer healing and growth or engage in activism or volunteerism? W services for folks in this spiral journey, those who are activated to do more and have Our group started in August, although it is a moved long past the initial crisis? We asked new endeavor many of the participants have Maddie Graves-Wilson, MSW, Executive Director stepped in fully expecting to be a leading force at Beyond Survival to talk with us about how to volunteer. We will be having Core training this they support the healing journeys of survivors month and some of the participants are going through their services, specifically their new to sign up so they will be able to assist with the Thriver’s Group. crisis line. Another Thriver presented her poetry at an event for us and was able to articulate Editor: What is Thriver’s Group? to our community how Beyond Survival has assisted her in her trauma recovery. Thriver’s group is a peer support group for Beyond Survival staff and clients who are Editor: How do survivors move from support and survivors of sexual assault and are ready to move discussion to more action oriented-activities? forward as advocates against sexual violence in our community. We are using this group to encourage survivors to be a voice in our movement. One of our core Editor: What was the impetus for Beyond values as an agency is sustainability and with Survival to start this group? this group we are hoping to establish a network of trained advocates who are also survivors to We as a staff started this group because we had support their peers through the healing process. a number of clients who had done the (support) In our rural community this is our step toward a groups, had done one-on-ones, and now they sustainable service model. were looking for a way to give back. They really were no longer in the stages of crisis and deep depression many survivors experience after assault/abuse. Bio These folks had found a fire in them and a passion for the work Beyond Survival strives to support, educate & we do here at Beyond Survival and empower all people impacted by Sexual Abuse wanted to participate in it. in Grays Harbor County, Washington.

www.wcsap.org 12 Survivor Volunteerism Tabitha Donohue

urvivor volunteerism is another, and administrative work, and event planning. Even sometimes more accessible, way survivors within community sexual assault programs, S can engage in activism. Many survivors volunteer survivors continue to have options for find healing in opportunities to get involved in how they choose to engage. anti-sexual violence work through volunteering, employment, or internships. For individuals During my time as a Volunteer Program who have experienced trauma, learning more Coordinator, many applicants self-disclosed about it is a helpful way of processing it and that survivorship was their main motivation moving forward. Volunteering has the potential to volunteer. They often identified this factor to be more of a long term commitment than as both helpful and harmful in their volunteer other activism platforms. Depending on the engagement. On the one hand, they felt acute community sexual assault program’s volunteer levels of empathy, and had an understanding needs, activities usually fall along a continuum about sexual violence dynamics and rape of services. Types of volunteer activities can culture. On the other hand, their personal include direct advocacy with other survivors, trauma experiences sometimes left them feeling community outreach and engagement, particularly vulnerable to trauma triggers.

13 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 “People want to give survivors the Volunteer Program Considerations opportunity to tell their stories, and I ✔✔ Ensure there are volunteer opportunities wholeheartedly believe in that. I believe appropriate for survivors who are not that, particularly for survivors who ready to engage in trauma work. Can they do childcare, prevention work, stuff have felt silenced and haven’t had an envelopes for direct mail campaigns, opportunity to tell their story, they should write blog posts, or organize donations? have that opportunity. But I don’t believe ✔✔ For individuals who have experienced that having the repository of stories about trauma, learning more about it is a trauma is a way to heal. I feel that one helpful way of processing it and moving forward. Is your volunteer training open of the strongest pathways to healing is to survivors who may not yet know releasing your story, and then doing the how or if they’d like to volunteer? Do you have classes or training offered to work required to begin to heal. This is not community members? really a movement about trauma—it’s a ✔ movement about joy. It’s a movement ✔ Survivors may feel moved to speak publicly about their experiences. Are about love and about respect, and it’s there ways your volunteer program can about finding the ways that we can incorporate survivor speakers into your training or events? cultivate those things in our lives so that we can use them to combat the trauma ✔✔ Because healing is not linear, there is no set time where a survivor would be we’ve experienced.” - Tarana Burke deemed ready for trauma work.

✔✔ Have a discussion with potential volunteers about the unique experiences of survivors and what helps healing. Survivors will know what helped them heal but not all might have openness to The decision of how to engage as a survivor how other survivors experience healing volunteer takes immense courage: courage and justice. Someone may not be ready to be reflective, and courage to practice to support survivors if they feel their healthy boundaries. Self-reflection can include way of getting help is the best or only examining personal bias, motivation to help, way. and individual trauma responses. Identifying and practicing boundaries then creates space for ✔✔ Help new volunteers think about how self-care, and for helping other survivors without they will respond to direct questions attempting to “rescue” them. The balance can be about their survivorship like, “has this tricky: this work can be incredibly empowering happened to you, too?” as a survivor, but we begin to shift from that empowerment model when make the focus ✔✔ Plan with volunteers. Think through about our own healing rather than the needs of possible triggers and work together to survivors. create plans for if they should happen like, going to the restroom to reset, grounding activities, etc.

14 caring for myself IS NOT SELF-INDULGENCE it’s SELF-PRESERVATION and that is an act of POLITICAL WARFARE Audre Lorde

15 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 Activist Burn-Out and Self-Care By Suzanna Bobadilla & Kate Sim, Know Your IX Reprinted with permission

et’s be real: this work is hard. It takes time, extremely challenging for two reasons. On one it can be disappointing, and it sure is hand, it is extremely challenging to actually L draining sometimes. For survivor-activists, value our own well-being in a victim-blaming, our activism can be doubly overwhelming sexist world that constantly tells us that the because we are in the process of healing and needs and interests of survivors are insignificant. processing our own experiences of trauma, in On the other hand, as activists, “taking a break” addition to learning how to organize anti-rape can seem like a drastic action, almost like a cop- culture campaigns on our respective campuses. out or even an act of betrayal against our co- We are also doing a million other things, from organizers. schoolwork to extracurricular activities. Yet, many existing dialogue about self-care do Unfortunately, isn’t going away not provide concrete and productive ways of anytime soon, and that means that we need actually practicing self-care. While these are to be able to sustain our energy and ourselves. certainly relaxing activities, they do not address “Self-care” refers to attitudes and behaviors we how we can practice self-care in our daily lives. engage in to honor our needs and prioritize our Following, we offer a few principles that we well-being. Too often, self-care is relegated as have found helpful in prioritizing our self-care as simply “taking a break.” This, however, can be activists who are in this fight for the long run.

www.wcsap.org 16 RECOGNIZE THAT OUR ACTIVISM IS OUR SELF-CARE.

Why did we even get ourselves into this mess and cause ourselves all this stress? Because we care. Activism is our way of caring for ourselves, regardless of the extra difficulty it may bring to our lives. It is through activism that we find support networks, validate our traumas and healing, and envision safer schools without rape culture. There are aspects of this work that can be overwhelming and draining, but ultimately, we are doing work that is generative.

OUR FEELINGS — GOOD AND BAD — ARE REAL.

We are often told to just “feel better”: do some stretches, take a long walk, and treat yourself.

For some, this might be hugely effective. Yet, for many of us, “negativity” is our inspiration — it is inseparable from our activism. We would not be doing this work if we weren’t sufficiently angry about the injustices perpetrated by attackers and universities. Yet, we are told by classmates, administration, and even friends and families, that we are too “negative” or that we have too much “hatred for the school.” But anger is and can be generative. It drives us, it gives us insight, and it builds solidarity.

Besides, this “negativity” is often linked to the joys we experience from our activism: at the small victories and at new friends and allies. Validate your experiences — good or bad — as they are.

17 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org 2019 ACTIVISM IS OUR WAY OF CARING FOR OURSELVES, REGARDLESS OF THE EXTRA DIFFICULTY IT MAY BRING TO OUR LIVES. IT IS THROUGH ACTIVISM THAT WE FIND SUPPORT NETWORKS, VALIDATE OUR TRAUMAS AND HEALING, AND ENVISION SAFER SCHOOLS WITHOUT RAPE CULTURE.

www.wcsap.org 18 THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO DO SELF-CARE.

What are specific actions you take that relax you? These can range from taking a mini break after hours spent on your gmail and listening to music to cooking and taking a nap. Below are a few suggestions of concrete actions that include a time frame:

✘✘ Turn off your phone or internet for X minutes ✘✘ Set a bed time in order to get at least 8 hours of sleep, or as much sleep as you need ✘✘ Eat meals regularly ✘✘ Set aside breaks and make sure not to schedule anything during those times ✘✘ Take a nap for X minutes ✘✘ Take a walk or work out ✘✘ Listen to music, play an instrument ✘✘ Find funny websites

✘✘ Spend time with supportive people

SELF-CARE REQUIRES PLANNING.

To reiterate: we “practice” self-care. This means that we have to concretize self-care into specific actions and plan them into our schedule so that they are integrated into our daily lives. Write them into your planner. For example, you can write in “take a X minute-long break after an hour of reading/emailing.” Or, make a to-do list in order of due-dates so that you can prioritize tasks by urgency. Involve people in your support network (i.e. friends, family, co-organizers), so that you have company who are holding you accountable to putting your well-being first.

We hope that these are helpful suggestions for integrating self-care into your daily life. But, we also want to recognize that, maybe, you are feeling overwhelmed because you are doing too much. If you feel that you have too much at hand, perhaps it warrants a conversation with your co-organizers about task delegation. We suggest calling a meeting with your co-organizers to have a frank conversation about how much everyone is actually doing: you may find out that someone is willing to take some load off you. Using “I” statements, be very specific about exactly which tasks you are doing and how much time you are committing to those tasks. This is helpful for two reasons: it itemizes what are you stressed out about and it communicates to your co- organizers that you need help.

19 CONNECTIONS www.wcsap.org Question Oppression

Exploring the Connections Between Sexual Violence & Oppression

Use these questions to explore the connections between sexual violence and oppression with staff, volunteers, or board members. ​What implicit biases might we have related to survivors’ Try discussing one or more at a staff anger? Do we allow anger from meeting, in-service, volunteer training, privileged populations more or board retreat. than those who are targets of oppression?

How can we ally anti-sexual violence activism with anti-racist movements and other Are there concrete ways we can support social justice activism? community and survivor activism? What resources do we have to offer?

Resources

• Sisters Testify https://www.sisterstestify.com/about/the-proclamation/ More than 1600 African American Women signed “In Defense of Ourselves” following Anita Hill’s testimony during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. • #MeToo Rising https://metoorising.withgoogle.com/ Explore a visualization of the #MeToo movement from Google Trends • Know Your IX, Campus Action Toolkit https://www.knowyourix.org/campus-action/ This toolkit includes: resources on writing an open letter, organizing on campus, identifying issues, building a team, planning a campaign, media coverage, and more. • #SurvivorsVote https://www.movetoendviolence.org/blog/survivorsvote/ A movement of survivors exercising their political agency and power through voting and sharing their stories. • Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, “Sharing Your Story: A Guide for Sexual Violence Survivors” https://barcc.org/assets/docs/Sharing_Your_Story_How_to_Think_through_Your_Options.pdf This is a workbook for survivors who are thinking about sharing their story publicly and includes considerations for a survivor’s goals, platform, privacy, safety, emotional well-being, and more.

www.wcsap.org 20 Non-Profit US Postage PAID Olympia, WA Permit #282

Volume X, Number 2

For information about becoming a member of WCSAP, Washington please e-mail us at [email protected], or call (360) 754-7583. Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs

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is YOUR magazine. We invite guest authors to submit pieces on a variety of topics, and welcome your submissions on advocacy approaches, media reviews, and creative work like original art or poetry.

We would also like to feature highlights of your agency and the advocacy work you are doing.

Direct submissions to [email protected] www.wcsap.org