2018 Utah Sexual Violence Conference: Speaker and Session Details

Day One - April 4th, 2018

KEYNOTE: Engaging Men in Sexual Assault Prevention in the #MeToo Era – Tony Porter

I. Preventing sexual assault through digital citizenship – Carrie Rogers-Whitehead

When we talk about sexual assault, we’re not discussing the full picture unless we talk about the effects of technology. Sexual assault is not new; it was here long before the Internet. However, the Internet has amplified those negative messages and provided an echo chamber for those who feel justified in their violence against others. This interactive workshop addresses the effects of the Internet on behavior and delves into the WHYs of that behavior. Along with the discussion, this workshop provides resources and strategies to help prevent sexual assault in a digital world.

II. Merchants for Violence Prevention: Engaging Bars and Businesses in Sexual Violence Prevention – Lauren Sheehan

Many prevention efforts focus on college students; however, by doing so, we miss reaching young adults who are not in college and often at higher risk for both perpetration and victimization. Modeled after the Arizona Safer Bars Alliance and using the Upstanding curriculum, Merchants for Violence Prevention seeks to reach young adults where they spend time – bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. During this session, we will be exploring the why, the how, and the lessons learned from engaging businesses in sexual violence prevention.

III. Addressing School Push Out – Corby Eason

Attendees will learn how to improve student outcomes by developing interventions and adopting new approaches to minimize student push-out and build supportive school environments.

IV. LGBTQ Sexual Assault Survivors - Jasmine Fullmer and Lisa Hansen

This workshop is designed to provide an overview of sexual assault in the LGBTQ community and how it may differ from other communities. We will discuss what warning signs to watch out for, how to respond, etc. We will also consider how to be sensitive and inclusive towards the LGBTQ community in general.

V. What Can SARTs Do?: Clarifying the Work and Improving the Impact of Sexual Assault Response Teams – Johnanna Ganz

Nationally, SARTs vary in their aim, scope, and outcomes. Many teams are a catchall method of sexual violence response. This session addresses the realities and purposes of a SART. The content assists teams in crafting a clear view of the work the SART can undertake and prepares teams to engage in the difficult conversations of determining where and how to direct team resources—such as time, energy, and funds. Finally, attendees will walk away with a tailored blueprint to take back to their communities that will help refine the work of the SART and strengthen the impact of their work.

VI. Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) 101 – Krystal Hazlett, Steve O’Camb, and Lauren DeVries

Introduction and overview of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) statewide project. How Utah’s 2700 unsubmitted sexual assault kits are being processed, investigated and adjudicated. Topics to be covered: HB 200, Sexual Assault Kit Tracking system, mandatory kit submission beginning July 1, 2018, cold case victim notification, CODIS, multi-disciplinary case reviews, and sustainability.

VII. Strengthening Our Practice: The Ten Essential Strengths of Sexual Assault Advocates Working in Dual/Multi-Service Advocacy Agencies - Leah Green

Advocates are powerful people. We do many things and fill many roles for survivors. We are the comforting presence in times of crisis, fierce guardians for people’s rights, guides through the aftermath of violence, and agents of transformation in our communities. This workshop aims to help you find your way through the complicated and fantastic work of advocacy. It covers ten attributes or skills that are essential to dual advocates working with sexual violence survivors. This workshop includes lecture, large and small group discussion, individual work, exercises, and questions to help you practice skills and explore new areas of advocacy. This workshop is intended for new advocates and advocates in the field for a long time and is looking to strengthen their practice.

VIII. Strong Foundations for Supporting Sexual Assault Services – Valerie Davis

Often our policies do not adequately recognize the distinct needs of survivors of sexual violence or value long-term emotional safety and ongoing emotional support. In this workshop, participants will learn strategies for supporting robust sexual assault services through: regular review and revision of policies, procedures, staff structures, and agency forms, while also building staff resiliency, employing a problem-solving stance and bringing to the surface differences and encouraging the sharing of ideas to best provide a wide-range of services to survivors of sexual violence.

IX. 6 Strategies for Improving Your Working Alliance Skills – David Prescott, LCSW, LICSW

X. Reconciliation After Abuse: A clinical guide to reunification of abuse survivors, families, communities, and youthful sexual offenders – DeLynn Lamb

Reunification is a critical and challenging treatment concept. This presentation outlines a comprehensive strategy to help clinicians. It presents the phases of reunification (clarification, resolution, reintegration, reunification, and letting go. It outlines the goals of each phase with similar assignments. It also presents the parallel treatment concepts based on the assumption that clinically facilitated communication can aid survivors in healing. It the shows tasks for each phase.

KEYNOTE: Why There's Hope: What We've Learned About Treating People Who Have Abused – David Prescott

We've learned so much about treating people who sexually abuse -- from what works to who works most effectively. In a field filled with uncertainty and suffering, there are more reasons to be hopeful than ever. These include significant advances in knowledge:

Research into treatment outcomes is not where it should be, but people who complete our programs re-offend less.
We know more about the principles of effective rehabilitation than ever before. -- The most impactful part of reducing risk is turning out to be the person who is providing treatment or supervision.
The safest person who has abused is stable, occupied with a job or education, has supportive people to whom he or she is accountable, and has everything to lose by repeating past behaviors.

I. The People, United, will Never be Defeated: Participatory Activist Research Curriculum Development Strategies for Sexual Violence Prevention – Safe@Weber Panel

Few social-culturally relevant violence prevention programs have been created for minoritized student populations. Showcasing an LGBTQ+ Consent curriculum, we will present a model and toolkit, utilizing Participatory Activist Research (PAtR), that can be adapted by minoritized populations. Presenters demonstrate how PAtR facilitates social change and provides opportunities for diverse students to be centered in prevention development efforts, all while increasing protective factors, self-efficacy, and empowerment.

II. Reducing Risk, Improving Access, and Response to Victims with Disabilities – Marilyn Hammond

This presentation will describe the high rates of violence that people with disabilities experience, their barriers to obtaining services, methods to make prevention and justice programs more accessible and relevant to populations with disabilities, ways to minimize the risk of abuse/violence, and available disability resources within Utah.

III. Brief Interventions for Suicide Prevention - Andrea Hood, MS

IV. Let's Talk About Sex: Sexuality after Sexual Assault – Leah Green

It's hard for sexual assault survivors to talk about their experiences, partly because our culture doesn't support healthy discussions about sex. Sexual violence is violence done to our most intimate body parts. As rural advocates, we are not immune to feeling discomfort in talking about intimacy, sex, and sexual abuse. This workshop will focus on dispelling myths about sex that we as advocates may still believe, defining our role as advocates, and practicing being comfortable working with survivors who are exploring healthy sexuality.

V. Getting the Best Information & Maximizing Success through Rapport-Building, Open-Ended Questions & Teamwork – Heather Stewart

This workshop will focus on helping victims feel comfortable, asking them questions to elicit the most accurate information and working together as a team to maximize success. Success may be defined as healing for the victim and effective prosecution or investigative outcome. Participants will gain practical tools that can be applied in the field immediately.

VI. UCASA Mobile Application – Turner C. Bitton

VII. Trauma work with the Mid-Brain Complex PTSD: A Personal Historical Perspective - DeLynn Lamb

VIII. Wading through brain research: Using attachment theory to make sense of how to apply current brain research to the treatment of trauma in young children – Douglas Goldsmith

Our understanding of the brain has dramatically increased over the past decade. In this workshop, I will present some of the necessary findings and discuss their importance in helping parents and caregivers better appreciate children's responses to trauma. Also, I will help attendees explore appropriate attachment-focused parenting interventions to help traumatized children.

IX. The Silent Traumas of LGBTQ+ Youth in Utah: Using Self Care to Heal Ourselves and Others – Brent Pace

The presenter will begin with a description of the various populations in Utah from LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees to clients native to Utah who have been abandoned and rejected by their families and religion. Mindfulness self-care practices will be introduced as an intervention that has been proven effective in transforming one's body into an instrument of healing. There will be an opportunity to engage in movement, breathing, meditation, and even dance as a part of the hands-on learning experience. There will also be time for questions at the end of the presentation.

X. Resilience and Recovery: Using the Arts to Heal from Sexual Violence - Emily Bagley

Day Two - April 5th, 2018

KEYNOTE: ACEs and Toxic Stress - James Redford

I. Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: The Tapestry of the Evidence-Informed Approach - Gwen Knight

Sexual abuse of children in Utah is a serious issue. Community engagement is vital to primary prevention efforts. This interactive workshop is intended for individuals who design and present sexual abuse prevention curriculum or wishes to further their knowledge regarding best practice and the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention programs for children. Participants will review an evidence-informed approach to prevention education and interact with individuals who are survivors of child sexual abuse through a panel discussion. Participants will also be able to evaluate the value of prevention education for children as a tool to address sexual violence.

II. Seven Community Conversations about Violence – Deanna Ferrell, Megan Waters, and Marty Liccardo

At the end of 2017, the Violence and Injury Prevention Program organized focus groups in seven communities on social norms that contribute to sexual violence. Discussion topics included community, acceptance of violence, bystander attitudes, and gender norms. Trends and differences were found across urban and rural communities. By understanding the factors that contribute to violence in a community, we can develop strategies and put resources into motion to reduce risk. Utah Department of Health Violence and Injury Prevention Program staff will present the findings of these focus groups, examples of prevention strategies, and the theory behind them.

III. Critical Social Media Skills - Turner C. Bitton

IV. Decoding Rape Culture: Developing Media Literacy Skills for Prevention Education: Part 1 – Tyler Osterhaus

Within the sexual violence prevention movement, it is widely understood that gender-based violence and other forms of oppression are woven into the fabric of our cultural construct. This workshop will utilize multimedia, storytelling, performance art and audience interaction to introduce participants to basic media literacy concepts to develop skills for decoding Rape Culture and explore how media and media-based activities can be used to create transformative learning opportunities to spark “Aha” moments that will ultimately help us invoke a new reality of Consent Culture.

V. What Can SARTs Do?: Clarifying the Work and Improving the Impact of Sexual Assault Response Teams – Johnanna Ganz

VI. Overcoming Challenges in Sexual Abuse Cases: A Trauma-informed Response for Law Enforcement Officers – Robert Church

During the 2017 legislative session, the legislature passed HB200, codified at U.C.A. 76-5-608, which requires that all law enforcement officers be trained in trauma-informed responses and investigations of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Law enforcements officers will be trained in the following areas: (a) recognizing the symptoms of trauma; (b) understanding the impact of trauma on a victim; (c) responding to the needs and concerns of a victim of sexual assault or sexual abuse; (d) delivering services to victims of sexual assault or sexual abuse in a compassionate, sensitive, and nonjudgmental manner; (e) nderstanding cultural perceptions and common myths of sexual assault and sexual abuse; and (f) techniques of writing reports. This module will present the training law enforcement officers are receiving.

VII. Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Deep Dive – Krystal Hazlett, Steve O’Camb, and Lauren DeVries

You have received a CODIS hit, now what? Victim notification, investigation, and prosecution of cold cases. How to utilize a multi-disciplinary team for cold case reviews. Enhance victim services and support with SAKI funds. Determining resources needed for the investigation, prosecution, and advocacy for multi-disciplinary personnel.

VIII. Creative Partnerships: Moving Beyond Law Enforcement – Leah Green

Rural dual/multi-service advocacy agencies traditionally have worked closely with law enforcement, prosecution, and medical staff. While these systems have essential roles in our community, many sexual assault survivors do not see these systems as part of their healing. By expanding our idea of community partners to include housing resources, faith communities, and animal shelters we can better meet the needs of sexual assault survivors.

IX. Importance of Evaluating Sexual Risk Among Juvenile and Adult Sex Offenders – Ricky D. Hawks

Current national and Utah standards and guidelines often require sexual risk assessments to be conducted on adults and juveniles who offend sexually. Many providers lack adequate information concerning: What is risk; What are the essential elements of a sexual risk assessment; and How can a risk assessment of the offender make the victim and the community a safer place.

X. Understanding and Treating Youth Who Sexually Offend - DeLynn Lamb, MSW, LCSW

KEYNOTE: Breakdown or Breakthrough: Giving Voice to the Soul - Geral Blanchard, LPC, NCP

I. Healthy Sexuality – Lisa Diamond

Educators, parents, and clinicians have long been concerned with preventing negative sexual outcomes (such as coercion, violence, STIs, and pregnancy) but there is much less attention paid to promoting positive sexual development in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. If we don't know what we want to encourage, we are hamstrung in our efforts to prevent what we want to discourage. This workshop will review current scientific research on normative sexual development, and will devote specific attention to fostering positive sexual developmental trajectories that focus on self-care, autonomy, pleasure, and empowerment, and which help youths to identify situations in which they feel that their basic entitlement to bodily autonomy is not being respected.

II. Empowerment Evaluation for Sexual Violence Prevention – Maya Pilgrim

Empowerment evaluation puts evaluation tools into the hands of community members to monitor and evaluate their own performance to foster improvement and self-determination. This workshop will discuss principles and strategies important to incorporate participants and community in evaluating a prevention program.

III. Decoding Rape Culture: Developing Media Literacy Skills for Prevention Education: Part 2 – Tyler Osterhaus

IV. Key Strategies in Understanding and Investigating Cold Case Rapes - Jim Markey

V. Our Story-Our Truth: Women of Color Sexual Assault Survivorship - Teresa Stafford

Sexual assault against Women of Color has historically been an attack not only against their identities as women but their racial identity as well. Research indicates that Women of Color are often at elevated risks for sexual assault and that their experience of sexual assault is usually made more complicated by factors such as race, socioeconomic status and lack of culturally appropriate services. This presentation will connect the historical sexual assault of Women of Color and its implications for how society responds to Women of Color survivors today.

VI. Pornography: A Pragmatic and Playful Discussion on a Polarizing Issue - Marty Liccardo

VII. What Victim Advocates Should Know about Working Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Cold Cases - Lauren DeVries

VIII. Understanding and Treatment Child Victims who Engage in Inappropriate or Abusive Sexual Behaviors - Ryan Grant & Giulianna Garcia

This presentation will address child victims of sexual abuse who engage in inappropriate/sexually abusive behaviors. We will review the evidence for the commonly held belief that children who are victims of sexual abuse are likely to go on to become “perpetrator.” We will identify risk factors associated with victims who develop inappropriate/abusive sexual behavior problems. Then, the second half of the presentation will focus on assessing and treating of this population. This presentation may be of interest to clinicians, case managers, or child protective service providers who work with children and families who have concerns regarding sexual trauma.

IX. Bouncing Back or Bouncing Forward: Designing Intervention and Treatment Responses To Trauma Grounded in the Reality of Hope – Geral Blanchard

Trauma does not seal our fate. It does not guarantee a person's physical and emotional demise. Painful life events, more often than not, lead to PTG (post-traumatic growth) rather than PTSD. Our mindful response to events, not the events themselves, determines the heights a person will reach after adverse life circumstances. This is the realization of positive psychology.

X. My Truth: Creating Your Own Safe Ground - Paul Flack and Renee Harrison

Native American sexual and domestic violence survivors have inherited their survival medicine from their ancestors. Medicine of this variety cannot be prescribed or taught by a doctor, counselor or advocate, but these helpers can help Native survivors rediscover and strengthen their own Medicine as a foundation for recovery. The presenters create a tapestry of first-hand experiences and underlying principles that will help participants work meaningfully with Native American survivors. Survivors will leave this presentation with a better sense of their own forgotten or unused strengths that they can use to bless themselves and others in their lives.

Day Three - April 6th, 2018

KEYNOTE: Best Practices for Title IX Compliance: Strategies for Building and Maintaining Equitable Policies, Procedures, and Practices - Olabisi "Bisi" Ladeji Okubadejo

I. Developing a Peer Education Program: the Westminster College Experience – Jason Schwartz-Johnson, Marty Liccardo, and Amanda DeRito

Westminster College launched its peer education program in Fall 2015. In this session, participants will learn about the steps that Westminster has taken to establish and grow its program. Participants will learn about Westminster's bystander intervention, and healthy relationships training taught by peer educators and learn from peer educators about their experiences.

II. Legislative Update – Turner C. Bitton

III. Training for investigators and Title IX Coordinators on Investigating – Jennifer Ewan, Sova, PLLC, Jennifer Falk, and Eric Rumbaugh

Jenn Ewan, Senior Counsel and a Level II Title IX Investigator from Michael Best & Friedrich, will walk you through the Title IX investigative process. This workshop is for all Title IX coordinators, investigators, and counsel (and their teams) who are involved in the Title IX compliance and investigative process.

ALL CONFERENCE SESSION: Title IX Q&A: What to do during the Interim Regulatory Period - Lisa Petersen and Sherrie Hayashi

I. Title IX Confidential Advisor to Respondents: Perspective, Experience, and Insights – Scott Hosford, PhD

In response to the 2016 Advisory Council on Campus Response to Sexual Assault, Brigham Young University recently implemented some recommended changes to improve its Title IX processes. To ensure equity, fairness and an impartial process the university established a Confidential Advisor to Respondents position. This presentation is an opportunity to hear how BYU implemented this resource. It will also explore essential considerations other institutions may want to consider if implementing a similar resource. As a facilitated discussion, it will provide the opportunity for participants to examine and discuss how such a position might function on their campuses.

II. Title IX and Due Process: The Developing Landscape – Eric Rumbaugh

III. The Intersection of Title IX and Clery: Implementing the VAWA Amendments – S. Daniel Carter

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013’s amendments (VAWA) were designed to be complimentary to Title IX with many guidelines overlapping with the Clery Act. There are also important differences between Title IX and Clery, however. This presentation will address how the VAWA amendments intersect with existing Title IX requirements and provide practical information about developing practices that are consistent with both sets of guidelines.