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”

Survivor-Centered Care: New Research on the Horizon

by Amber Fredrick, TSS Group Member, 2nd Year Graduate Student In my time as an advocate, I have spent many long nights in emergency rooms and early mornings in court rooms working with survivors to get the care they need. In navigating these complicated systems that often leave survivors feeling confused, overwhelmed, and frustrated, IContinue reading “Survivor-Centered Care: New Research on the Horizon”

Sharing Research, Discovering Momentum

by Courtney McCrimmon, 4th Year Graduate Student From Bench to Bedside and Beyond: Advancing Translational Science in Traumatic Stress Studies — that was the theme for the 40th Annual International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Meeting in Boston, MA this past September. The ISTSS Annual Meeting offers a forum for researchers to share evidence-basedContinue reading “Sharing Research, Discovering Momentum”

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”

Looking for Change in All the Wrong Places

A lifetime or so ago, I sat around a conference table with folks from the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (RMvlc) and several community- and system-based agencies who worked with crime victims and survivors in Denver. The group was interested in responding to a solicitation from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to makeContinue reading “Looking for Change in All the Wrong Places”

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”

When Wearing Jeans is Practice for Building a Better World Together

I love Denim Day. And I’ve finally figured out why. Denim Day comes around once a year during April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month – typically the last Wednesday of the month. Maybe you were among the people last week around the globe (including my home state of Colorado) who arrived in schools and workplaces, parks and stores, livingContinue reading “When Wearing Jeans is Practice for Building a Better World Together”