June 23-24 | OCLC in Dublin, Ohio
Workshops
Day 1 Opening Plenary Session
Description: Communication in healthcare shapes trust, safety, satisfaction, and outcomes. This session explores how cross cultural communication affects the experiences of patients, families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals across a wide range of care settings. Participants will examine how differences in language, values, lived experience, expectations, age, identity, and communication style can influence interactions, decision making, and the quality of care.
Presenter: Dr. Jeremy Holloway
Bio: Dr. Jeremy Holloway is an academic educator, researcher, speaker, and founder of Tellegacy, an intergenerational initiative designed to strengthen connection, dignity, and behavioral health outcomes for older adults. His work brings together healthcare training, communication, aging, and person centered practice to help professionals improve the quality of care and the human experience within healthcare settings.
Tuesday from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Description: Survivors are often invited to share their stories—but far less often invited to help design the systems meant to support them. This 90-minute interactive workshop explores what becomes possible when survivor leadership is intentionally integrated into community response systems across advocacy, faith institutions, media, and policy spaces. Drawing on lived experience as a survivor of sexual and domestic violence, public policy and communications expertise, and leadership of cross-sector initiatives such as the Faith Rising conference, this session invites participants to move beyond crisis response and toward sustainable, collaborative systems rooted in hope, care, and shared accountability. Participants will examine how mindset, language, power dynamics, and institutional structures shape outcomes for survivors—and how shifting from survival-based frameworks to survivor-led leadership can strengthen networks, prevent burnout, and foster communities where survivors and advocates alike can truly thrive.
Presenter: Rikki Shaw
Bio: Rikki Shaw is a survivor advocate, speaker, and systems-level strategist with a background in public policy, communications, and community leadership. She is the Jane Doe plaintiff in a landmark civil rights case against New York State related to sexual violence accountability, and has appeared in multiple radio and media interviews discussing survivor-centered reform. She is the founder of Roses From Ashes and the lead organizer of the Faith Rising conference, which brings together survivor advocates, faith leaders, and service providers to build trauma-informed community responses. Rikki previously delivered a keynote at NNEDV on mindset, neuroplasticity, and resilience, and continues to work at the intersection of survivor leadership, systems change, and sustainable advocacy.
Description: How we introduce ourselves shapes how others understand and engage with the work to end sexual violence. This 90-minute interactive workshop helps participants examine personal and cultural narratives, address burden-centered responses, and craft values-based introductions that invite collective responsibility, connection, and community involvement.
Presenter: Eliza Sabo B.A
Bio: Eliza Sabo is an activist storyteller whose work spans decades in the movement to end sexual violence—beginning as a student advocate and evolving through service with La Strada (a UN‑affiliated organization), the Peace Corps (focused on human trafficking), and various prevention and intervention roles. Now an independent advocate for staff, faculty, and students at The Ohio State University, they use narrative strategy to build campus buy‑in, deepen community investment, and strengthen survivor‑centered outreach. They are also a meditation teacher, bringing mindfulness and presence into their advocacy and workshops. Their sessions help those working in the movement craft simple, powerful narratives that shift culture, mobilize allies, and expand collective impact to advance justice through dialogue, connection, and action at local and national levels.
Description: A forensic nurse and a detective will describe what a suspect exam is and explain the importance of how suspect exams can help build safer communities. A case presentation will be shared, a demonstration of a suspect exam will be performed, and best practices will be discussed. Participants will break into groups to review actual cases, and discuss the significance of each case, barriers, possible outcomes, and how each member of a multi-disciplinary team may respond to these cases.
Presenter: Angella McMahan BSN, RN, SANE-A, SANE-P
Bio: Angella is a board-certified forensic nurse examiner with over thirty years of nursing experience, including more than a decade dedicated to pediatric, adolescent, and adult sexual assault care. She holds dual SANE A and SANE P certification through the IAFN and is highly skilled in trauma-informed practice and the management of complex, sensitive cases. An experienced educator, she has trained hospital staff in sexual assault protocols, HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, and patient-centered care. During her tenure as the forensic nurse educator at University Hospital, she provided care for adult patients affected by sexual assault, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and strangulation. Angella is experienced in interdisciplinary collaboration, patient advocacy, and providing legal testimony. She continues to care for minors who experience sexual assault as a PRN forensic nurse at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Currently, she serves as the forensic education specialist for the Forensic Nursing Network, enhancing forensic nursing training statewide.
Presenter: Detective Kathryn Nunemaker
Bio:
Katie Nunemaker has served with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office for 15 years, including 8 years as a Hostage/Crisis Negotiator and 5 years in the Special Victims Unit. She’s a proud mom of two energetic boys (ages 5 and 2) and is unapologetically food motivated.
Tuesday from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Description: Data collection is essential for improving services, securing funding, and demonstrating impact. But in sexual violence services, how we collect and use data matters as much as what we collect. This interactive workshop explores survivor-centered approaches to data collection that honor lived experiences and elevate storytelling alongside numbers. Participants will examine how data can amplify survivor voices rather than reduce them to metrics. Through discussion and reflection, attendees will leave with tools to collect, interpret, and share data in ways that are meaningful, respectful, and actionable.
Presenter: Marie Montano
Bio: Marie Montano has over 15 years of experience in the field of advocacy for domestic and sexual violence survivors. She started her career at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and then obtained her master’s degree in social work at the University of Missouri-Columbia. During this time, Marie worked at the local shelter and was also part of a study to assess Missouri college and university student health center’s response to sexual assault. Marie then joined the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, where she worked in member services for over 12 years. She currently helps organizations use data through Vela to improve services, drive systems change, and uplift survivor stories.
Description: Community-Centered Support for Suicidal Youth, proposes “For Those Who Do the Work,” a Train-the-Trainer interactive support workshop grounded in the core themes of Hope, Building, and Thriving. This program is designed for mental health professionals, advocates, peer supporters, and frontline staff who serve survivors of sexual violence, individuals who may experience ongoing mental health challenges, diminished self-worth, and suicidal ideation. Those who support healing in others also deserve spaces that nurture their own hope, help them build sustainable practices, and allow them to thrive in the work rather than simply endure it. This training centers the wellness of helpers so they can continue offering ethical, compassionate, trauma-informed care without sacrificing their own mental and emotional health. The workshop fosters a supportive, reflective, culturally responsive environment where participants engage in guided discussion, journaling, small-group activities, and grounding practices that reinforce the Hope-Build-Thrive framework.
Presenter: MoPoetry Phillips
Bio: MoPoetry Phillips is an international spoken word artist, co-founder of Regal Rhythms Poetry LLC, and President of Arts Equity Collective. In addition, she serves on the Cincinnati Arts Museum Board and is a Survivor Empowerment Council Member for the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. MoPoetry Phillips has been highlighted in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Herald, Street Vibes, Urban One Radio, WCPO, WXIX, WLWT, WCVG, and WVXU Cincinnati Edition. Her passion is to unify spoken word artists to utilize their artistry to create a greater impact within the community, and to connect artists to opportunities. She leads a group of 30 with over 300 combined years in education. Eight percent of them are trauma informed certified. Together they are creating meaningful prevention curriculum including the K.C. Suicide Prevention Program; Arts Equity Collective’s Gun Violence Prevention Plan; curating the Arts Equity Collective’s Survivor’s Ball which has served over 700 people to date by providing tools to help survivors thrive; and has published the SOS Empowerment Arts & Healing, a book of visual art and over 80 poems about survivorship to help educators bring arts and healing into the classroom, and Holding the Circle, a Train the Trainers Guide for Community-Centered Support for Suicidal Youth.
Description: Rooted in the 2026 conference theme Hope, Build, Thrive, this workshop empowers nurses to transform care for individuals impacted by human trafficking through survivor-centered education. Participants will explore authentic insights from lived experiences to understand what truly helps—and what harms—during healthcare encounters. By integrating survivor voices with evidence-based practices, this session will: Illuminate gaps in current healthcare responses; Provide actionable strategies for trauma-informed, compassionate care; Strengthen collaborative efforts to create thriving futures for survivors and communities. This workshop is designed to inspire hope, build meaningful connections between healthcare and survivor leadership, and equip nurses to be catalysts for systemic change.
Presenter: Sara Johnson
Bio: Sara Johnson, BSN, RN, C-EFM, SANE-A, Forensic Nursing, OhioHealth Sara Johnson is a Forensic Nurse Coordinator at OhioHealth, where she leads trauma-informed care for patients impacted by violence. With extensive experience in sexual assault and interpersonal violence response, she is passionate about addressing complex issues such as human trafficking and developing resources that empower healthcare professionals to identify and support vulnerable populations. Her work emphasizes team resilience, community partnerships, and evidence-based strategies to improve outcomes for survivors.
Day 2 Opening Plenary Session
Description:Survival is not the end of the story – it’s the beginning of transformation. In this powerful keynote, Angie Haze challenges the idea that healing ends with survival and offers a new framework for understanding trauma and identity. Through personal story, music, and insight, she reveals how the very adaptations that helped us survive can become the superpowers that allow us to create meaningful, purposeful lives. This courageous conversation invites us to reimagine healing – and discover how transforming our wounds can help heal a divided world.
Presenter: Angie Haze
Bio:A survivor-advocate and public speaker, Angie creates transformative spaces that invite audiences to reconsider how we understand trauma, resilience, and identity. Through original music, spoken word, and guided experiential moments, her work reveals how our deepest wounds can become portals to creativity, purpose, and personal power.
She has been recognized Nationally and Internationally as a music artist winning several awards for her original music compositions and productions. She has presented her work in national forums, including delivering a TEDx Talk, and has performed at high-profile events, including opening for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
Wednesday from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Description: “Hope, Build, Thrive” begins in the body. This one-hour version of the Pleasure Education & Exposure Theory (PEET) model introduces professionals in the survivor-support field to an evidence-informed approach for reclaiming body autonomy through the integration of sensory awareness, consent practice, and pleasure-based recovery. The PEET framework bridges somatic sexology, trauma-informed care, and exposure-based learning to help survivors rebuild safe, embodied connections with their own pleasure without shame or retraumatization. Participants will explore practical tools for re-establishing internal safety cues, creating body-positive language, and applying experiential techniques that honor each individual’s boundaries and capacity. The session is interactive, emphasizing gentle awareness exercises, guided dialogue, and a framework that professionals can adapt for their own client populations or program settings. Attendees will leave with renewed understanding of the role of pleasure in resilience and actionable strategies to help survivors thrive beyond trauma.
Presenter: Debra Shade
Bio: Debra Shade is a Board-Certified Clinical Sexologist | Somatic Sexologist and founder of Shades Oasis – Ohio’s first Pleasure Education & Exposure Center and Harmony Bridge (501c3). As the creator of Pleasure Education and Exposure Transformation (PEET), Debra delivers an innovative, evidence-informed program that bridges clinical insight with experiential practice. Her engaging presentations invite audiences to reimagine sexual health and trauma recovery through a model that is accessible, research-aligned, and deeply transformative. Currently completing her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy and inducted into Omega Nu Lambda National Honor Society, Debra bridges scholarship, clinical rigor, and experiential education. Known for blending humor, compassion, and candor, Debra doesn’t just talk about healing and intimacy, she shows professionals, communities, and organizations how to practice it in real and sustainable ways.
Description: This workshop explores the enhancement of hope as a measurable, evidence-informed intervention for both providers and the individuals they serve. Participants will examine how hopelessness develops through trauma and vicarious trauma, across individual, familial, and cultural domains, and learn to recognize key indicators. The session introduces practical, trauma-informed strategies for sustaining hope within ourselves as helpers, including practices that counter burnout and compassion fatigue. Participants will also learn interventions that help survivors define hope on their own terms and rebuild belief in the possibility of change. Blending clinical concepts with accessible tools, this session offers a framework for restoring possibility for survivors and for the professionals who walk alongside them. Hope is often one of the most devastating losses from trauma, and one of the most powerful tools we can work to restore.
Presenter: Alexandria Goldie
Bio: Alexandria Goldie is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervision Endorsement (LPCC-S). She currently works as a Senior Therapist at Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center, providing trauma focused therapy services for survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking. Alexandria is passionate about providing inclusive, affirming spaces where all survivors can access the support they need to heal. Her clinical work is grounded in acknowledgement of the complexities of healing, the impacts of systemic oppression and structural barriers to recovery, and the necessity of spaces where survivors can reclaim safety and connection with themselves and others. She has training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, and other trauma-focused interventions. Additionally, she provides clinical supervision to counselor trainees. Prior to this, Alexandria has experience and training in providing counseling services for transitional aged youth in a community mental health setting.
Presenter: Shannon O’Mara
Bio: Shannon O’Mara is a counselor trainee (CT) pursuing her master’s and licensure in clinical mental health counseling at The University of Akron, specializing in child and adolescent counseling. She is a certified crisis specialist with nearly 2 years of experience supporting 988 Lifeline callers and providing crisis management services. She has supported callers of all ages struggling with various crises and hardships, including suicidal and homicidal ideation, sexual violence and other forms of abuse, non-suicidal self-injury, grief and loss, and eating disorder-related concerns. She is also certified Peer Recovery Supporter through the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health and advocate through the National Advocate Credentialing Program. She also serves as a member of the OAESV Survivor Empowerment & Advisory Council. She is dedicated to early intervention, holistic treatment strategies, and advocacy efforts to promote client-centered continuity of care across disciplines.
Focus:
Description: Non-fatal strangulation is a high-risk form of violence that often presents with subtle or absent external injury despite significant underlying harm. This session provides a trauma-informed overview of strangulation, including relevant neck anatomy, injury patterns, and key clinical red flags that should prompt further evaluation. Participants will explore best practices in forensic documentation and photography, along with considerations for multidisciplinary response to support the patient with immediate care and long-term needs. The session will also address common victim responses, including recantation, and how providers and advocates can respond in ways that promote safety, validation, and continuity of care.
Presenter: Kelsey Hurst
Bio: Kelsey Hurst, BSN, RN, TCRN, is an experienced emergency and forensic nurse who has practiced in diverse clinical settings ranging from Level I academic trauma centers to rural community hospitals and freestanding emergency departments since 2016. She has served as a forensic nurse since 2019, providing comprehensive care to victims of violence and emphasizing trauma-informed, patient-centered practice. With a strong commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration, Kelsey works to strengthen coordinated responses across the continuum of care. She currently serves as the Forensic Nurse Coordinator for the OhioHealth Columbus Region, overseeing forensic services across 13 care sites.
Wednesday from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Description: Hope is often framed as something abstract or optional, yet for survivor-leaders it is a vital leadership practice that supports sustainability and care. This interactive workshop explores how leadership emerges through influence, presence, modeling, and decision-making in moments—not only through formal titles. Centered on survivor-informed leadership, the session examines common pressures that contribute to burnout, including visibility, emotional labor, and expectations of self-sacrifice. Participants will engage in guided reflection, discussion, and skill-building activities to identify burnout signals, reframe boundaries as leadership tools, and explore how resilience and care can be shared rather than carried alone. Emphasis is placed on collective responsibility and culture-level practices that allow survivor-leaders to remain connected to purpose without losing themselves in the work. Participants will leave with practical language, strategies, and a hopeful framework for leading in ways that support both individual well-being and long-term thriving.
Presenter: Aundria Huntington
Bio: Aundria Huntington is a survivor-leader, speaker, and advocate who brings compassion, honesty, and hope into spaces where difficult conversations are often held. Her work is rooted in lived experience and shaped by a deep commitment to creating safer, more sustainable advocacy environments for survivors and those who support them. Aundria served on the OAESV survivor empowerment and advisory council, has collaborated with multidisciplinary professionals to help improve how survivors are heard, respected, and supported within systems of care. She is especially passionate about supporting survivor-leaders and peer advocates as they navigate visibility, responsibility, and boundaries without burning out. Through her speaking and educational work, Aundria invites individuals and organizations to move toward leadership grounded in care, connection, and shared responsibility. She believes survivors not only carry stories of harm, but also wisdom, strength, and hope that can help this field build and thrive.
Description: This workshop will cover the nuances of digital consent and boundaries and how advocates and preventionists can safely teach and empower their service populations to practice these in online spaces. This first half of this workshop will cover these prevention concepts, including discussion and education on growing concerns with image-based sexual violence (such as sextortion), and a heavy focus on digital footprint and “sharenting” contributions to sexual violence. It will provide verbiage for defining and addressing these concerns within service communities, empowering advocates to identify risks and impacts of sexual violence on service clients. Attendees will receive actionable prevention techniques for awareness, community education, and safety planning.
Presenter: Sloan Kyler
Bio: Sloan Kyler is a 2-year prevention educator working in Northeast Ohio to serve communities affected by sexual violence. She has developed and presented numerous age-appropriate student curriculums for local schools–including specialized anti-stalking presentations for community partners. Recently, she received her Master of Social Work from Cleveland State University and pursuing her License in Social Work.
Presenter: Kayla Stover
Bio: Kayla Stover serves as the Public Health and Prevention Supervisor at COMPASS (Sexual Assault, Education, Prevention and Support). With nearly 3 years of experience advocating for survivors of sexual violence and additional experience in community mental health, Kayla brings a strong passion for creating safer, healthier communities
Description: This workshop will focus on the effects of trauma and analyze persons’ responses after experiencing the trauma of sexual violence. The workshop will go on to discuss trauma on the brain and explore the skills needed by advocates and medical personnel to articulate normal responses to abnormal situations with the victim, law enforcement personnel, and legal professionals, through two actual sexual assault case studies. The attendee will recognize the value of effectively educating others about the normal responses to trauma during courtroom testimony after examining two different scenarios and evaluating those outcomes. This workshop will allow time for role play and a mock testimony scenario.
Presenter: Kathleen Hackett
Bio:Kathleen Hackett, MSN, RN, SANE-P has been a nurse for over 30 years with 20 years of emergency room experience, and is certified through the International Association of Forensic Nurses as a pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE-P). Kathleen is the Pediatric Forensic Program Coordinator for University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital since its launch in 2010, in Cleveland, OH. Kathleen earned her Master of Science in Nursing (Forensic Track) at Cleveland State University in 2017, and now is an adjunct facility for CSU’s Master in Nursing Science (Forensic Track) Program.
A big thank you to our sponsors:
Reach out to conference@oaesv.org for info on how to
make a meaningful impact and sponsor our conference.
This work is funded either in whole or in part by a grant awarded by the Ohio Department of Health, Violence and Injury Prevention Section,
Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Prevention Program and as a sub-award of a grant issued by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention
under the Ohio Sexual Violence Prevention and Education grant, grant award number 1NUF2CE002469-05-00, and CFDA number 93.136. This publication
was supported by Rape Crisis Funding awarded by the Ohio Governor’s office, administered by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The opinions, findings,
conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Governor or the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.