by Courtney McCrimmon, TSS Group Member During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, it’s important to recognize the impact of sexual violence in Black women’s lives. Consider that: After intimate violence, barriers to disclosing can disproportionately impact Black women, hindering access to support. These barriers are often shaped by intersecting factors. For instance: For Black women who have been sex trafficked, challenges accessing services continue long after the sexual violence. Unfortunately,Continue reading “Sexual Violence in the Lives of Black Women: #SAAM2026”
Tag Archives: #metoo
Taking Trauma Research Public, #SAAM2026 Edition
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (#SAAM). Translating the awareness that we build each April into action is essential to preventing and responding to sexual assault in our communities. Our Traumatic Stress Studies (TSS) Group team believes that research has an important role to play in translating research into action. But that research has toContinue reading “Taking Trauma Research Public, #SAAM2026 Edition”
Making Sense of Silence after Abuse: Understanding Research on Betrayal Trauma
Survivors don’t owe anyone their stories. Yet, when women do decide to share their stories years later, the delay can be used to sow doubt — to wonder why it took so long to for them to disclose what happened. Research on betrayal trauma can help people understand silence. And research on institutional courage canContinue reading “Making Sense of Silence after Abuse: Understanding Research on Betrayal Trauma”
Changing the Conversation in the Wake of the Epstein Files: #Iwas15
All too often, conversations about intimate violence — from child abuse to sexual assault — find their way to some version of victim blame and disbelief. It turns out that blame and disbelief are linked with myths and misperceptions about intimate violence. That means that there’s a role for researchers and practitioners to play inContinue reading “Changing the Conversation in the Wake of the Epstein Files: #Iwas15”
Survivor-Center Care Matters: New Preliminary Findings
by Amber Fredrick New research from our Traumatic Stress Studies Group aimed to answer questions about the real-world impact of survivor-centered care, championed by victim-service providers. For instance, is survivor-centered care was linked to important survivor outcomes – from empowerment and PTSD symptoms to people’s intention to seek help in the future? To answer suchContinue reading “Survivor-Center Care Matters: New Preliminary Findings”
Denim Day 2025
Join our team this Denim Day in renewing (or trying on for the first time!) your belief that a different world is possible — one without sexual violence. To read more on Denim Day and change, check out my 2024 post, “When Wearing Jeans is Practice for Building a Better World Together.” And for more onContinue reading “Denim Day 2025”
A Season of Change: October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Change is hard. That’s the story we tell ourselves. Though it’s not the whole story. Change can also be energizing, validating, exciting. Irresistible, even. Of course, when it comes to domestic violence, change definitely seems just plain old hard. After all, intimate partner abuse remains stubbornly common, with evidence pointing to increases in recent years.Continue reading “A Season of Change: October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month”
Hearing My Words in Someone Else’s Voice
One day, shortly after hard copies of Every 90 Seconds arrived with their periwinkle covers to my doorstep, I rounded the corner into the office I share with my spouse and stopped short. I heard familiar words — words that sounded a lot like my words — in someone else’s voice. The voice was SusanContinue reading “Hearing My Words in Someone Else’s Voice”
#SAAM Remix
Last week wrapped up Sexual Assault Awareness Month (#SAAM) for 2024. During SAAM, I shared images on social media that amplified themes from Every 90 Seconds about moving from individual awareness of the problem of sexual assault to collaborative action. With this remix, the images now appear together in the gallery below. Behind the scenes,Continue reading “#SAAM Remix”
Leveraging March Themes to Inspire Action
A lot gets packed into the 31 days of March — and I’m talking about more than just March Madness and the wild spring-to-winter-and-back-again weather in Denver. After all, March plays host to both Brain Injury Awareness Month and Women’s History Month. Both offer us terrific opportunities to invite new people into conversations about ourContinue reading “Leveraging March Themes to Inspire Action”
Trauma Research Notes 