To help discover new and better best practices to fight this overwhelming issue, students are making the most of a unique domestic violence research opportunity through a three-year grant from and a partnership with Arizona State University.

UofL’s Kent School was the only school in Kentucky, and one of only 13 schools nationally, to be selected as a site. SurvivorLink provides future social workers trained in violence against women with pathways to public health-related careers.

“The students are the most critical piece,” said Heather Storer, associate professor at Kent School. “They are doing the hard work of cross-training and messaging into new arenas.”

For Sarah Boggins and D.J. Martin, two UofL Master of Science in Social Work graduates who participated in the project during its inaugural year, SurvivorLink provided them the chance to carry the knowledge they gleaned and new tools they developed into their advocacy in ways that will make a real difference.

It helped Boggins define a career niche at the intersection of social justice, youth development and domestic violence prevention.

“SurvivorLink prioritizes prevention and takes an anti-violence approach to their curriculum,” Boggins said. “It gave me an increased motivation and passion for youth work and for incorporating the prevention techniques I learned into the youth development area.”

As a first lieutenant stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, Boggins is a diversity and inclusion trainer and executive officer in the 92nd Maintenance Group. She plans to start law school at the University of Washington in summer 2023.

“Social justice is really where my heart lies,” Boggins said. “With numerous anti-trans laws coming out that affect trans youth, it is more pressing than ever to contribute to that community work and to fight the legislation that is going to further oppress and harm that community.”

Martin, also active-duty military, is a staff sergeant and interim deputy of health information management at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. As a victim advocate, she supports the training and development of the U.S. Army’s programs around domestic violence and sexual assault to address the epidemic within the military culture.

According to Martin, top levels of leadership is not where systemic change will start.

“We need to identify it and talk about it in middle management where the people are actually affected by sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence, and where the changes actually happen,” Martin said. “It is so important for us at this level to be the change that we want to see. I am prepared to go out into the world and make it a better place.”

Storer says reaction to the SurvivorLink program has been overwhelmingly positive, and the department plans to expand the cohort and eligibility for participants for the remaining two years of the grant.

“I am excited seeing the program grow and deepen, and we are hopeful to continue to learn from our students’ experiences.”

Those were the horrific words from a patient’s sister who stopped by P. Gay Baughman’s dental practice to deliver the tragic news several decades ago. 

“I was a young dentist at the time and didn’t know what to do when the patient told me during an appointment prior to her death that she’d been hit by her boyfriend, and ever since I’ve been trying to make amends for what happened,” said Baughman, a professor at the School of Dentistry.

Baughman now teaches dental students to look for signs of domestic partner abuse, educating them to ask questions of patients including whether they feel safe at home, and helping students understand what resources are available to get help quickly for individuals at risk.

Annually, Baughman and a group of dental students, including members of the student chapter of the American Association of Women Dentists, join with the PEACC Center in Take Back the Night activities, an effort to protest sexual and relational violence and honor those who’ve been victimized.

This year, UofL’s Take Back the Night events kick-off with a resource fair April 4 at the Kornhauser Library Auditorium on the Health Sciences Center Campus. Scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., the event includes representation from the , , , , and . A workshop begins at noon and will educate participants on how to help a friend who has experienced power-based personal violence. The event also provides an opportunity to honor dental school alumna , who lost her life due to relational violence.

On April 6, a resource fair will be held at the Red Barn Plaza from noon to 2 p.m., followed by the “How to Help a Friend Workshop” at  2 p.m. in the Floyd Theater. Students, faculty and staff also are invited to take part in Chalk the Walk on the Belknap Campus beginning at 1 p.m. A virtual Take Back the Night tribute begins at 7 p.m. on Microsoft Teams. Learn more on the .

“If every student is equipped to help one person, what a difference that would make,” Baughman said.

The event, held in conjunction with others like it worldwide, protests sexual violence. It included a resource fair, candlelight vigil and speakers Shannon VanLandingham of , UofL graduate Rachel Williams and Karina Barillas of .

According to Program Manager Tisha Pletcher, the event was especially profound this year, as it comes at a time of unprecedented growth in requests for services from the center.

In the last three years, the number of people seeking assistance for the effects of sexual assault and rape, domestic violence and stalking has more than tripled, growing from 28 students in the 2014/15 academic year to 102 students last year. Pletcher said 92 students sought PEACC services last semester alone.

“It’s been unprecedented, these last few years,” she said. “I think it’s due to everything we’ve seen happening locally, nationally and globally. People are speaking out in a very public way now.”

Events like the #MeToo movement, the Women’s March and high-profile sexual assault cases like that of Bill Cosby, have sparked a greater awareness and helped lift the veil of stigma and shame.

“People are seeing others who’ve experienced something similar to them, who have carried on and become successful. They see they’re not alone in this,” Pletcher said. 

PEACC was particularly busy during the weeks surrounding the high profile hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford.  

“Our numbers doubled those weeks,” Pletcher said. “We heard from numerous students who came in and said ‘I’m just so triggered by this and I need some support.’”

PEACC, which is a part of , offers a gamut of services including prevention education, community advocacy and initial crisis counseling.

Pletcher says for those seeking counseling, staff will listen and gently ask questions to discern what victims need, and help connect them with those resources, whether it’s the police or obtaining a protective order.

They also facilitate survivor network, a private group for those who have had experienced sexual violence, dating violence or/and stalking, that meets twice a month. There are 115 members.

“We let the group make it whatever the members need it to be,” she said. “We just provide the infrastructure to allow it to happen.” 

“I loved the service aspect, that instead of relaxing over spring or Christmas break, 12 to 20 people go and dedicate their time to others,” she said.

Fast forward to this year and Holder has taken on a leadership role with the program. As student co-director, Holder helped plan and lead a spring break trip to Chicago for 14 students. They spent the week working and learning from three nonprofit organizations that serve victims of domestic violence.  

“Personally, I wanted to address domestic violence because it is a chronic issue no one is immune to,” she said.  

Holder, who is an early education major, said an objective in planning the trip was to expose students to domestic violence victims from different viewpoints.

“People often have an idea of a typical domestic violence victim and I wanted to broaden that vision for all of us,” she said.

They first visited KAN WIN, a nonprofit that empowers Asian American survivors of assault and sexual violence, and helped staff prepare for their Annual Benefit Gala.

Holder said they learned about how immigrants and refugees can be particularly vulnerable for fear that leaving their abuser might affect their legal status or lead to deportation.

“These issues are hard enough as it is, but some families face additional difficulties because of their backgrounds. Leaving can be such a challenge because there are obstacles from every direction,” she said.

They also worked at Sarah’s Inn with Hispanic American women and their families.

With a judge’s permission, they sat through several domestic violence court cases, where they learned some of the legal proceedings required to get away from an abuser.

At the end of each day, the students had reflection time and debriefed their experiences together.

“Everyone could tell something that struck them,” Holder said. “These trips encourage people to find what they’re passionate about and work on that in their own community.”

For example, a student on the trip noted how many homeless people they encountered in Chicago and is now thinking about doing service work around issues of homeless and mental health.

The group always does additional service work around their chosen social justice theme in Louisville Metro, as well. This year they visited , a treatment program for victims of human trafficking, where they repainted a room where participants study to earn their GEDs.