Progress!!!

Since returning from San Francisco in July for the Futures Without Violence Campus Leadership Training, progress has been made and changes have already been set in motion! I'll summarize some of the most exciting changes and happenings since returning from San Francisco: 

1) I developed curriculum surrounding domestic/dating violence and appropriate social work response. Then I met with the Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work, Dr. Jean East (who is absolutely amazing by the way), to discuss the possibility of implementing this curriculum into one of the mandatory first year classes (either the practice-based class or the clinical class), so that every social work student would be educated about the highly prevalent issue of domestic/dating violence and how to positively respond as a social worker. As social workers, many of our current and future clientele in clinical or community practice will have experienced or will be experiencing domestic violence, so it is extremely important for us to know how to respond. Dr. East explained she would discuss the possibility of the curriculum insertion with the curricula committee; however, because the Graduate School of Social Work's curricula committee was already tasked with removing ten weeks of content that hadn't included much domestic violence curriculum historically, she couldn't promise that there would be room for curriculum additions among all of the cuts they had to make. On September 18th, I received an email from Dr. East explaining that the Graduate School of Social Work has decided to use my curriculum and PowerPoint in the practice class starting this quarter already! Furthermore, the faculty will be expanding on domestic/dating violence next quarter in the clinical classes! All first year students in the two year program are required to take both of these classes, so by implementing this curriculum, there is a guarantee that all incoming two-year program students will at least have the opportunity to learn more about domestic violence dynamics and helpful responses! 

2) Besides the curriculum implementation, Dr. East also agreed to allow me to facilitate trainings through workshops or brown bag lunch and learns for the Graduate School of Social Work. 

3) I met with the Center for Advocacy, Prevention, and Empowerment's (CAPE) Program Director, Dr. Gillian Kaag, to discuss possible partnership opportunities for the year. Dr. Kaag offered me opportunities to assist with first-year orientation, the Parent Resource Fair, and Resident Assistant training. She also was excited about my ideas for trainings for students, faculty, and staff. Because all of the resources I would be creating would be referring community members to the CAPE office, Dr. Kaag is also excited about me creating material that she will then get printed through the CAPE office to distribute throughout campus. We also discussed event opportunities throughout the year. 

4) After a few bumps in the road with misunderstandings with administration about my position and several strings of email correspondence, I eventually had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Patti Helton, the University of Denver's Associate Provost of Student Life. This meeting went as well as it possibly could have, and Dr. Helton offered me support in my desire to create a future without violence at DU. 

In addition to the above, here is an update on the status of some of the other parts of my campus plan: 

Assist with first year orientation sessions educating new students about sexual violence and available resources--Done--and it went very well! We showed a video about how students ask for consent at DU that I had co-produced and edited this spring (you can check out the video here: Consent Is Sexy Video) and had really great discussions about the definition and importance of the presence of consent in any sexual act. We focused a lot on bystander intervention and creating a community where "being the person leading the drunk person up the stairs into a room" is the uncool thing to do, not where intervening is the uncool thing to do. We empowered students to take control over the safety of the community by creating standards as a class. We also talked about available campus resources and hopefully reduced the stigma of reaching out for support. 

Talk with parents at the Parent Fair during orientation--Done--The most interesting, reaffirming, unfortunate, but not surprising thing that happened while I was at the Parent Fair was the large number of parents who would walk by my booth or dismiss me by saying things like, "I have a son, so this doesn't apply to me." I should have counted how many parents made that exact comment or a comment similar, but if I had to guess, I would say I heard that from probably 12 different parents. Of course I would attempt to engage them in a discussion surrounding ways someone could be involved or affected by this issue and victimology; however, it definitely exemplified one of the many reasons we need so much more education surrounding interpersonal violence in our society in general! 

Train Resident Assistants in Behind Closed Doors on how to respond to a potential dating violence situation--Done--and I loved every second of it! I often forget that overall safety is sometimes an afterthought for most people, so we spent a lot of time talking about different interventions and the possible effects after the RA leaves and the door is closed again. 

Develop and distribute outreach materials and educational materials, reaching out to survivors of sexual assault and domestic/dating violence to connect them with campus resources and to support loved ones of survivors who may be affected--Development is done; Distribution is in process. At DU, facilities management decisions are split by each building, so I have spent time contacting each building's facility manager and have received positive, supportive responses from most! So what do these outreach materials look like? Well I have created several different materials. For example, there is a flyer on "How to Help a Friend Who Has Experienced Sexual Assault" and one on "How to Help a Friend Who is in an Unhealthy Relationship." I also created a flyer explaining what services the CAPE office offers. Part of the outreach delicacy is figuring out how to provide outreach materials while balancing how to make sure people feel safe taking those materials. A lot of times privacy can be a huge issue! With the thought that there is more privacy and therefore more safety in a bathroom setting, I have created posters to be posted in bathrooms (preferably on the inside of bathroom stalls) with rippable tabs listing contact information for CAPE on the bottom. These posters ask questions, validate feelings/experiences, and offer resources. There are ten versions, each asking different questions, but I have attached two of the versions here:

*Marketing design credit to Jane Hood, Independent Marketing Coordinator; you can contact her at janeinthehood@gmail.com* 

There have been many exciting things accomplished, but I have so much more left to do! Please continue to follow my progress and let me know if you have any questions! I would also love to hear about what you are doing on your campuses or in your communities to contribute to a future without violence! Thank you all for all of the support you have already shown me! 

All my best,

Kristin