Letter to the Editor - Flanagan

Edi­tor:

Sex­ual assault is a crime that affects every­one in our com­mu­nity. Often we are del­uged with sto­ries, facts, and fig­ures out­lin­ing the ter­ri­ble real­ity that sex­ual assault plays in indi­vid­ual lives, fam­ily sys­tems, the work­place and soci­ety at large. While being made aware of the facts and per­sonal toll of this vio­lent crime is essen­tial, it is also use­ful to offer sur­vivors an empow­er­ing and inspi­ra­tional expe­ri­ence where they can bond with other survivors.

HelpLine of Delaware and Mor­row Coun­ties SARN pro­gram (Sex­ual Assault Response Net­work) spon­sors a free annual retreat for female sex­ual assault sur­vivors. This spe­cial day focuses on pro­mot­ing pos­i­tive well-being prac­tices in a safe, con­fi­den­tial, and sup­port­ive envi­ron­ment. The focus is not on indi­vid­ual sto­ries or the topic of sex­ual assault, rather the explo­ration of hands on tech­niques to directly aid in cop­ing and recov­er­ing from the effects of trauma that occur to some extent after any sex­ual assault, whether the trauma was in the past, or more recent.

This year’s topic is “ART AS A PATH TO HEALING.” Par­tic­i­pants will have the oppor­tu­nity to dis­cover a vari­ety of ways art may inform their heal­ing process. A licensed ther­a­pist who uti­lizes art in the ther­a­peu­tic process will be on hand to lead an art project that requires no artis­tic skills. This year’s retreat will be held Sat­ur­day, Nov. 12 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in Delaware County, loca­tion dis­closed upon reg­is­tra­tion. Please use the con­tact infor­ma­tion below to reg­is­ter for this day of relax­ation, edu­ca­tion and camaraderie.

If you, or some­one you know, may be inter­ested but can­not attend on this par­tic­u­lar day, please note that HelpLine’s SARN pro­gram also offers a monthly sup­port group for sex­ual assault sur­vivors as well. Reg­is­tra­tion is also required for this infor­mal, con­fi­den­tial and sup­port­ive group. Although both of these oppor­tu­ni­ties high­light our work to directly serve female sur­vivors, we also serve male sur­vivors as this is a largely under­served pop­u­la­tion. Any male in need of sen­si­tive and con­fi­den­tial ser­vices may con­tact me directly, or call our hot­line where both male and female sur­vivors have access to spe­cially trained advo­cates who assist sur­vivors of sex­ual assault. As the Coor­di­na­tor of the SARN pro­gram at HelpLine, I pro­vide long-term advo­cacy to those who have expe­ri­enced sex­ual assault. And as always, any com­mu­nity mem­ber may call our hot­line at 211 or 1–800-684‑2324, for cri­sis inter­ven­tion, and/or infor­ma­tion and referrals.

Nora Flana­gan

Sex­ual Assault Response NetworkCoordinator

HelpLine of Delaware and Mor­row Counties,Inc.

740.363.1835 x105

Posted by Staff Reports on Nov 1 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.