Supporting Survivors: Summer Series Introduction

By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder

The two main goals that drive the See the Triumph campaign are to end the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence and to develop resources to support survivors. We've decided to dedicate the Summer of 2015 to the theme of "Supporting Survivors." This focus is critical to our mission at See the Triumph for many reasons, including the following:

• Survivors of abuse often feel alone and isolated, potentially due to their abuse, a lack of support available to them in their communities, or messages they learn from society that they are somehow different from other people.
• When people know someone--whether it's a friend, family, co-worker, or someone else--who is facing abuse, they often want to help and provide support, but they don't know how. We have focused on this topic a lot in the past, but we think the broad theme of Supporting Survivors this summer can also help raise awareness about more ways that people can help and support the survivors in their lives. 
• People who are currently or were previously in an abusive relationship often need a lot of support, although the support that they need varies from person to person.  There are no easy rules or simple recipe for helping someone dealing with current or past abuse, as every situation and every person is so unique. Abusive relationships can impact people in so many areas of their lives, including their friendships, work or educational goals, finances, and physical and mental health. Therefore, there's a wide range of potential needs and resources that survivors could benefit from learning about, and the more resources people know about, the better equipped they'll be to support themselves or someone else when new needs arise.

If you're interested in supporting survivors, here are a few ways you can do so:

• Learn about the dynamics of abusive relationships so that you'll understand the risks that survivors may face.
• Identify resources in your local community that are available to support survivors, and understand what they do and how survivors can access those resources.
• Commit to challenging stigmatizing representations of abuse and survivors, whether they are found in news stories or other media, legal or organizational policies, or conversations among people in your social network.
• Be bold in starting conversations about abuse. Talk about healthy relationships with children and young people so that they can learn how to be safe in their future relationships. Raise the issue of abuse in discussions within the community groups and organizations you're a part of. Reach out to someone if you're concerned they may be in an unhealthy or unsafe relationship.
• Get connected to local, national, and even international organizations that are working every day to prevent future violence, support survivors, and hold offenders accountable. Many of these organizations could use your support and talents to help further their work!
  

Throughout this summer, we'll be sharing resources and tools to help you with each of the above goals. We look forward to focusing on ways that people can support survivors, and, perhaps most importantly, reinforcing the important message that survivors of current or past abusive relationships are worthy of support. We hope that you will share your own ideas and resources with us, and we look forward to partnering with you this summer to build even more resources for supporting survivors of abuse!