June 25-27 | Columbus, Ohio
Workshops
Tuesday from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Description: Anti-Oppressive Practice is a complex and broad approach that aims to bring many important lenses into one space. Leaders must incorporate Anti-Oppressive Practices to disrupt oppressive factors on an individual, interpersonal, and institutional level that can negatively impact staff and survivors. By considering the many levels at which oppression acts and how we can question it, we can begin to understand better how our survivor service structures operate to become trauma-informed and culturally responsive. The facilitator will challenge attendees to examine how they show up as leaders and institutional practices that may cause harm.
Presenter: Teresa Stafford, Chief Executive Officer, Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center
Bio: Teresa M. Stafford is the Chief Executive Officer at Hope and Healing Survivor Resources Center, the home of the Battered Women’s Shelter and Rape Crisis Center of Summit and Medina Counties. Teresa’s experience includes more than a decade of leadership at a Northeast Ohio rape crisis center and establishing a witness victim unit for one of the largest county Prosecutor Office’s in Ohio. She has over 25 years of experience in strategic leadership, organizational development, coaching, consensus building, operations management, program development, and system advocacy. She recently shared her expertise as a contributing author for the book, Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape. Teresa advocates for the systemic change needed to create a trauma-informed and culturally responsive climate for all survivors and staff. She is a social justice activist committed to eliminating factors that marginalize survivors to increase their ability to access services.
Teresa approaches this work through her own lived experiences as a survivor of incest, rape, and teen dating violence. Teresa’s passion and dedication to serving survivors and leading systemic change have been recognized across Ohio and nationally.
Description: Immigrant women in rural communities are uniquely vulnerable to gender based violence, including sexual violence, in the workplace. This workshop will introduce the special barriers immigrant women in rural areas face in both reporting violence and in accessing resources. Participants will take away information to help them and their organizations work more effectively with immigrant women in rural communities around these issues, as well as how they can engage with Justice for Migrant Women in addressing policy solutions to mitigate gender based violence and sexual violence in Ohio and nationally.
Presenter: Mónica Ramírez
Bio: Mónica Ramírez is an attorney, author, and activist fighting for the rights of farmworkers,migrant women workers, and the Latine(x) community. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, The Latinx House, and Poderistas.
Mónica has received numerous awards, including Harvard Kennedy School’s firstGender Equity Changemaker Award, Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award, theSmithsonian’s 2018 Ingenuity Award and the Hispanic Heritage Award. Mónica was named toForbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women’s 2018 list, TIME Magazine included her in its2021 TIME100 Next list and People en Español recognized her as one of the 100 Most PowerfulLatinos in 2021.
Mónica is also an inaugural member of the Ford Global Fellowship. She serves on theBoard of Directors of the National Women’s Law Center, Friends of the Latino Museum, Care in Action and she is a member of The Little Market’s Activists Committee.
Mónica is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, The Ohio State University’s MoritzCollege of Law and Harvard Kennedy School. She lives in Ohio with her husband and son.
Description: “Collaboration, creativity, and respect build lifelong connections that matter and make a difference, propelling us to work together across all boundaries.” – Diane Luna. During this session you will learn how New Directions’ connection to an unexpected community partnership with our Juvenile Court System lead to the creation of an empowering diversion program for youth facing multiple risk factors, providing space for youth and parents to foster connections to build to learn and grow together while envisioning a positive future for themselves.
Presenter: Lindsey Lamp
Bio: Lindsey Lamp is the Executive Director at New Directions where she has worked for the past 6 years. She has 16 years of experience in the social service field, with her first 10 at Head Start. Lindsey specializes in Empowerment Leadership, Youth-Led prevention, and community level collaboration. Lindsey’s goal is to empower those around her with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to believe in themselves and know that they can achieve anything. Lindsey is committed to providing resources for the safety, healing, and freedom of individuals who have experienced interpersonal violence while also creating an informed and supportive community. Lindsey enjoys coaching track and field, cheering on her kids, volunteering at their school, and being outdoors camping, hiking and kayaking.
Presenter: Bella Adornetto
Presenter: Katie Steel
Tuesday from 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Description: Review of anti-oppressive movement objectives and the lack of reflective implementation within not-for-profit anti-violence organizations. Working toward equity, representation, and diversity in the communities served but failing internally. Best practices for mirroring community objectives by hiring, retaining, and fostering DEI within these organizations, all in service of survivors of violence. Review of work policies that are actually oppressive and alternatives to combat harmful behavior within hiring and human resources. Exploration of restorative and transformative justice within these organizations to foster anti-racist practices and to promote representations at all levels, including management. Lastly, how to professionally say everything you mean without being labeled angry or difficult.
Presenter: Andrea Gonzalez-Burton
Bio: In October 2023, Andrea was honored as one of the top fifty women in management in Ohio by Women We Admire. Formerly, Andrea Burton joined Community Legal Aid Service in January 2018 and was once the Managing Attorney for the Advancing Reentering Citizens project. She also managed the Immigrants and Refugees project, the Debt Relief project, and Learning is for Everyone (LIFE). Previously, Andrea was a member of Legal Aid’s Legal Assistance to Victims team, where she worked closely with survivors of intimate partner violence, stalking, sexual assault, and human trafficking, helping them secure protection orders and end the cycle of abuse. Attorney Burton joined the Women of Color Caucus as a member of the Executive Board.
In April 2020, Attorney Burton joined the Anti-Oppression Committee for Ohio. The Statewide Anti-Oppression Committee (AOC) advocates for leaders and people of color in anti-violence work through actively addressing individual and institutional oppression. Andrea received her law degree from the Akron School of Law in 2012. Andrea graduated from Youngstown State University with a Bachelor of Science and from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning her master’s in Library and Information Sciences.
Description: Survivors of sexual violence, childhood abuse, and intimate partner violence often grapple with profound feelings of isolation, struggling to find spaces within their social circles where they can be heard, seen, and validated. This isolation can exacerbate mental health challenges such as anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Recognizing the critical role of peer support in trauma-informed care, the question arises: How can agencies effectively implement peer support initiatives? At Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center, we encountered two survivors who articulated this struggle and identified a gap in available support groups for survivors of violence. Inspired by their vision, Bob Eshelman and Kayla Cash collaborated to establish a monthly peer support group—Supporting Other Survivors (SOS)—aimed at building community, providing support, and alleviating the isolation felt by survivors in Summit and Medina County. This workshop aims to share the journey of creating SOS, detailing the process, strategies employed for preparation, and the collaborative approach taken to amplify survivor voices. SOS is a survivor-led initiative, where monthly gatherings involve engaging, creative, and community-building activities, fostering a safe space for survivors to identify, share, and receive support. The presentation will highlight the positive impact observed since the group’s inception. Our objective is to inspire and guide other agencies in replicating similar survivor-led spaces throughout Ohio. By sharing our experiences, challenges, and successes, we hope to contribute to the creation of more supportive communities for survivors statewide.
Presenter: Clarissa Jones
Bio: Clarissa Jones is the Clinical Services Coordinator at the Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center. Clarissa assists in managing the Hope and Healing Therapy program along with providing trauma-informed, individual trauma therapy to survivors of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and human trafficking. She is a trained EMDR clinician and a certified Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant specializing in treating clients with dual diagnosis of substance abuse disorder and trauma related disorder. Clarissa received a Master’s in Social Work from University of Akron and is a Licensed Social Worker. Clarissa has been working in the advocacy field in various roles and capacities since 2011 and received the 2023 Emerging Leader Award for Region 2 of NASW Ohio. Clarissa has a strong passion for working with survivors and continuing in the movement to end sexual violence.
Presenter: Breana Griffin
Bio: Breana Griffin is a Licensed Social Worker and currently works with Hope and Healing as the Access to Care Manager. This position has many goals but ultimately strives to find ways to bring needed resources and support into the community for survivors. Breana met Bob and Kayla while they were in her Speakers Bureau Group, which helps survivors learn how to tell their story. In this group we all noticed a need for a new type of support group. With the help of Hope and Healing, we all were able to make Supporting Other Survivors Support Group happen. Breana has a true passion for this work and is thrilled to be able to see hard efforts in action!
Presenter: Kayla Cash
Bio: Kayla is a survivor, victim advocate in the court system, public speaker, and peer support group leader. She dedicates her life to raising awareness of the struggle victims face in the criminal justice system using her own journey as an example. Working with a close friend and fellow survivor, she helped start a new support group with Hope and Healing Survivor Resource center called Supporting Other Survivors. This group aims to help survivors find community, support, and helps them learn to love themselves again through self-care activities. Kayla hopes to continue educating the public and helping end the stigma surrounding survivors of traumatic events.
Presenter: Robert Eshelman
Bio: Bob is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. He hid it from others and wouldn’t let himself think about it for decades. Now that he has gotten help, he wants to do what he can so that others don’t wait as long as he did to get help and start taking back their life. After looking and not finding an open survivor peer support group, he reached out to Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center to inquire about starting one. With their help and the help of other survivors he met in other Hope and Healing’s closed support groups, they got the peer group Supporting Other Survivors (SOS) started with the goal of providing community and a safe space for survivors to feel heard, understood, connected, and supported. As a youth survivor, he is passionate about people understanding the importance of talking to kids when trauma has happened to them or around them, and helping others understand the impact that masculine toxicity can have on the healing process.
Description: Join us for an immersive workshop delving into the transformative Butterfly Model, a dynamic framework designed to mobilize communities against sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking. This engaging session equips participants with practical tools and strategies to drive proactive change within their schools, businesses, or localities. Through interactive activities, attendees will grasp the essence of the Butterfly Model, learning to craft actionable behavioral goals, foster community ownership, and map spheres of influence using the Social Ecological Model.
Discover how this model sparks collective action by emphasizing relationship-building, competence development, and leveraging community influence at multiple levels. Walk away equipped to ignite impactful change, armed with a newfound understanding of the Butterfly Model’s potential in galvanizing collective efforts against pervasive issues.
Presenter: Kristen Parks
Bio: Kristen co-leads Alteristic’s programs and training efforts and contributes to strategic planning, capacity building, and prevention program development. She provides training and technical assistance in power-based personal violence prevention. Prior to joining Alteristic, Kristen worked for a community based agency in Lexington, Ky., as the Education Coordinator and implemented Green Dot in middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the state. She also provided anti-violence presentations and workshops for the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky and medical and legal advocacy for survivors.
Wednesday from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Description: Reliable information on Ohio’s sexual violence incidence rates is lacking. A centralized statewide data system to capture information on victims of sexual violence is a vital step to reducing harm and increasing health equity. For starters, these data can be used to show regional and state trends to inform better services, as well as advocate for better policies and funding. This workshop will cover findings from my capstone project, in which I compared reporting systems across the nation to assess challenges and ways to increase uniformity and consistency of reporting in Ohio and beyond.
Participants will be able to explain the different ways that states collect sexual violence data, and recognize the barriers in the current national reporting methods; give examples of how both systemic and personal challenges faced by their own coalition and staff get in the way of data collection and reporting; and critique their own coalition’s data collection system and recommend specific changes that can be made to collect better data or establish a system where one is currently absent.
Presenter: Laurie Hamame
Bio: Laurie Hamame officially joined the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence in October 2021, after loving her work as an intern for a year and a half. She has always believed in the healing power of storytelling, but never considered wielding the power of words to establish empathy and change in a community until working her first job as a news reporter. This ignited her to complete a master’s degree in public health to merge advocacy with her passion for communications to transform the future of mental healthy and body-based trauma healing. Her capston project entailed a year-long qualitative study on how OAESV can develop, implement, and operate a data collection system on sexual violence in Ohio, which was recognized as “Most Likely Project to Have Statewide Impact” by the Consortium of Eastern Ohio Master of Public Health program.
Laurie lives in Cleveland, Ohio and enjoys reading voraciously, long-distance running, and photographing weddings on the weekends.
Description: Our messaging choices can reinforce existing barriers or they can send signals of safety and belonging.In this workshop, we will discuss how to create inclusive spaces, materials, and messaging that promote feelings of safety and belonging for LGBTQ+ survivors of violence. Then, we will examine sample materials to determine what signals are being sent and discuss how to make them more inclusive. Participants will leave with tools for auditing how welcoming their organization’s current materials are and ideas for creating authentic ‘signals of belonging’ for LGBTQ+ survivors. This presentation is for those who have already engaged in cultural humility trainings and are actively working to provide safer, accessible, and equitable services to LGBTQ+ survivors.
Presenter: Laura Niehaus
Bio: Laura Niehaus (she/her) is the BRAVO Outreach & Training Coordinator at Equitas Health. Laura has a M.A. in Sociology from the University of Akron with focuses on Deviance, Gender, and Social Psychology. She is passionate about helping others recognize the links between history, social movements, systems of oppression, privilege, and individual experiences with violence. She has a background in violence prevention, education, and youth empowerment.
Presenter: Alexandra Anastasia
Bio: Alex Anastasia, she/her, has been with Equitas Health for three years and is the Program Manager for the BRAVO program, Alex is originally from New Jersey and received her B.A. from Rutgers University. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Alex began working for the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), a global human rights organization focused on researching and advocating for economic justice and against gender-based violence. In 2013 Alex moved to Ohio and in 2015 she received a M.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from OSU. Prior to joining BRAVO Alex was a Teaching Assistant at George Washington University and an Adjunct Instructor for the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at OSU Marion. Alex brings to BRAVO a commitment to approach work through an intersectional lens and a desire to merge the theory of academic work with the practice of grassroots activism and community engagement.
Description:
Kinnect to Family is a specialized family search and engagement program. We use diligent search strategies to identify connections and supports for families who have experienced trauma and are involved in the child welfare system. Through this work, we’ve learned there is no one definition of family, but by activating one’s natural supports, true healing can occur.
It’s time to get curious and meaningfully connect practitioners, agencies and groups across all levels of practice in equitable partnership to identify the natural supports and community that Kinnect believes exist for everyone.
Participants will leave prepared to locate, engage and elevate survivors’ natural supports while integrating local resources—allowing survivors to lead the way. We call this “activating the village.” By asking the right questions, listening, approaching communities with pa lens of cultural humility, and understanding the manifestation of traumas, we can build survivor-led “villages” to bolster healing through collective care.
Presenter: Shelbe Brown
Bio: Shelbe Brown has over nine years of experience as a victim advocate, forensic interviewer, and counselor. She utilizes her experience and passion for continuous learning to engage family members in meaningful ways, keep children out of foster care, and invited new counties to participate in pilot program between Ohio START and Kinnect to Family (KTF), to better serve children and their families. Shelbe successfully tailored KTF services in several Ohio counties to support START county teams in collaboration and support for families served. Before joining Kinnect in 2021, she served as the anti-trafficking coordinator at Crime Victim Services in Lima. She served as the mental health education coordinator at The University of Dayton, teaching and presenting on mental health, sexual violence, and bystander intervention. Shelbe holds both a bachelor’s degree in social justice and public policy and a master’s degree in professional counseling.
Presenter: Chloe Peterson
Bio: Chloe (she/her) brings over 3 years of experience as both an investigative and ongoing children services caseworker in Warren and Montgomery (Dayton) counties in Ohio. Chloe currently serves as the Ohio START Specialist for Kinnect to Family (KTF), bringing families and communities together to support children and caregivers through challenges when needed most. Chloe is passionate about the transformative power of Kinnect’s work to serve families in Ohio, as well as across the country, and believes all children have kin through whom connection can change outcomes positively. Prior to discovering her passion for social work and making a career change, Chloe was a paralegal working in product liability litigation concerning medical devices. Chloe holds an associate degree in paralegal studies from the University of Cincinnati and a bachelor’s degree in social work from Wright State University. She is also a graduate of the University Partnership Program for child welfare specialization.
Wednesday from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Description: This workshop is a conversational training aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by survivors of color in the context of trauma and violence. This training is a space to gather and tackle the pressing issue of violence against people of color and engage with holistic systems change. This guided conversation seeks to create a safe and inclusive space to explore the following aspects: cultural sensitivity, intersectionality, barriers to engaging, transformative justice, and allyship. This guided conversation aims to foster a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by survivors of color and inspire collective efforts to create a more supportive and inclusive environment for all survivors. It emphasizes the importance of cultural sensitivity, intersectionality, and community collaboration in building a comprehensive and effective support system by uniting voices from all corners of society to collaborate, ignite, and advance.
Presenter: Breanna Allen
Bio: Breanna Allen BCJ, MPA (she/ her) is the founder of All-En Consulting. A consulting firm whose mission is to dismantle oppression, increase services for marginalized populations, and promote the advancement of BIPOC professionals. Breanna has made it her mission that we see all survivors and all they show up with. Breanna has worked in the anti-oppression/anti-violence field for over 10 years and has led organizations’ advocacy departments in their mission to eradicate violence against all by staying survivor-centered ensuring all engagement with the stakeholders is met with an inclusive and equitable lens. Breanna is a member of the WOCC and a board member for Solace Health. Breanna has been featured on the OAESV Podcast: Teal Talk Chesapeake College Ted Talk Series: Iron Sharpens Iron and the 2022 Keynote Speaker for The University of Toledo’s multicultural graduation. Breanna gained her undergraduate degree and master’s degree in criminal justice.
Description: While Children’s Advocacy Centers and Rape Crisis Centers provide much-needed services to child and adult survivors of sexual violence, respectively, critical gaps in continuum of care as well as services for adolescent survivors. Join us for a thought-provoking panel discussion on the dynamic collaboration between Children’s Advocacy Centers and Sexual Assault Response Teams within communities. In this engaging session, experts with hands on experience will share innovative solutions, best practice strategies, and success stories on the power of collaborative initiatives aimed at fortifying the safety net and streamlined care for survivors. Discover how these two critical entities work hand-in-hand, exploring integrative approaches that amplify child advocacy efforts and enhance sexual assault response mechanisms.. Attendees can expect a rich exchange of ideas, practical takeaways, and a strengthened commitment to survivors of all ages in Ohio. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a collective conversation shaping the future of child protection and assault response in our communities.
Presenter: Celeste M. Prince
Bio: Celeste is currently the Director of Statewide Programming at ONCAC. As Director of Statewide Programming for Ohio’s child advocacy centers, Celeste leverages her varied background as a children services worker, forensic interviewer, and trafficking cases coordinator. Committed to advancing professional expertise, she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in International Psychology with a focus on trauma services.
Presenter: Nicole Kass Colvin
Bio: Nicole Kass Colvin (she/her) is the Director of Coordinated Community Responses with the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. Nicole has worked in sexual violence response and prevention since 2015, as an advocate, SART Coordinator, and RCC leadership and development at dual DV/SA agencies and CAC/DV/SA agencies. Nicole currently supports communities across the state of Ohio in developing and sustaining SARTs, CCRTs, and other community collaborations.Nicole is a registered advocate with advanced standing and a BA in Psychology.
Description:
Presenter: Libby Barteau
Bio: Libby Barteau is the Prevention Coordinator and Teen Advisory Council Advisor at New Directions where she specializes in youth leadership and community education. Libby graduated from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in 2021 with a degree in Criminal Justice and started at New Directions after graduation. Libby’s goal is to engage, encourage, and empower youth and community members to cultivate safe, equal, and non-violent relationships with themselves, their peers and in the community in an effort to be the change they desire to see in their communities. Libby enjoys Dr. Pepper, traveling, and spending time with her family.
Presenter: Lindsey Lamp
Bio: Lindsey Lamp is the Executive Director at New Directions where she has worked for the past 6 years.She has 16 years of experience in the social service field, with her first 10 at Head Start.Lindsey specializes in Empowerment Leadership, Youth-Led prevention, and community level collaboration. Lindsey’s goal is to empower those around her with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to believe in themselves and know that they can achieve anything. Lindsey is committed to providing resources for the safety, healing, and freedom of individuals who have experienced interpersonal violence while also creating an informed and supportive community. Lindsey enjoys coaching track and field, cheering on her kids, volunteering at their school, and being outdoors camping, hiking and kayaking.
Thursday from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Description:
This will be an interactive and informative session that is open to all gender identities.
Participants will be able to recognize the rigid notions of the “Manbox” and understand how it relates to the collective socialization of manhood.
Participants will develop skills and strategies to meaningfully engage with individuals at the margin of the margins and male-identified folx in their communities.
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the connection between gender-based violence and racial justice while exploring their responsibilities as aspiring allies.
Presenter: A Call to Men
Description:
So, you’ve advocated and educated hard. Now what? What role does rest have in the sustainability of your person and your purpose? Of your leadership? How do we invest in ourselves and each other to ensure we can be our best for our clients and colleagues? Too often rest and self-care are framed as an individual responsibility, rather than a collective care practice. From prevention education to advocacy and healing services, rest is a pivotal component of any healthy, successful organization. Inspired by thought leaders including Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith and Tricia Hersey, this session invites attendees to explore rest as restoration through an understanding of the seven different kinds of rest, creating a personalized plan to deepen your rest practice, and strategizing through interactive discussion about how these practices can be normalized in a variety of workspaces.
*Dalton-Smith, S. (2017). Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity. FaithWords.
Hersey, T. (2022). Rest is resistance: A manifesto. Hachette UK.
Presenter: Sarah Colomé
Bio: Catalyzed by her commitment to advancing liberatory frameworks, Sarah founded Collective Futures LLC in 2021 with the mission to build value-driven capacity for community-centered social change. With more than a decade of experience in the movement to end violence, she has bolstered the capacity of organizations as a strategist, trainer, TA provider, policy advisor, and educator. Spanning higher education, national nonprofits, and the corporate sector, Sarah has collaborated with a diverse group of partners such as Freeform, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, the Arkansas Office of the Attorney General, End Rape on Campus, and the Center for Justice Innovation. Building on her experiences as a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor advocate, Sarah currently serves the Co-Chair of Legislative Landscape and Position Statements for the Campus Advocates and Prevention Professionals Association (CAPPA), and on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education.
Description: Empathize – Define – Ideate – Prototype – Test . We all do that right? There’s a name for it – Design Thinking. Come learn how we used design thinking to bring stakeholders together to address prevention of human trafficking in Appalachian Ohio. This initiative provided a rough baseline of trafficking cases to identify potential missing populations, began to measure prevalence of familial trafficking, assessed the risk factors that correlated most highly to being trafficked, constructed a series of indicator profiles to help identify those at greatest risk, and coalesced around which response strategies our stakeholders felt would be most effective and efficient. From these insights we are starting to build a strong response and prevention network across Appalachian Ohio. But it does not stop there! As part of this workshop, you will participate in a mini-Design Thinking session to add your voice to next steps for our region and state!
Presenter: Christi Scott Bartman
Bio: Christi is the founder of Eyes Up Appalachia, an anti-human trafficking initiative focusing on the Appalachian Counties of Ohio. She operates as a compassionate catalyst to push for better ways to address human trafficking and the vulnerabilities that underlie it. In 2021 she received The Social Justice Leader Award from the University of Toledo’s Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, was a semi-finalist in the Everyday Heroes of Central Ohio and was chosen as one of the inaugural fellows for the Foundation for Appalachian Ohioan 2022.In 2023 she was awarded the Everyday Ohio Heroes Award for the Southeast Region by the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund. She served as the Co-Chair of the Ohio Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission Research/Gap and Data Analysis Subcommittee until January 2022 and continues to serve on that subcommittee. Christi is an Air Force Veteran.
Register to attend our conference!