April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Final
Monday, April 13th, 2015 -- 11:54 AM
-April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.I spoke with Melissa Geldernick, the Sexual Assault Advocate for the Personal Development Center.
Melissa offered this advice to anyone that may have experienced assault or abuse.
She said, "My biggest piece is just to make sure that they've got people in their life that they can trust, that they can go to. Make sure you have those support systems because that's going to keep you ground as much as you can be."
"It's hard. A lot of times, the people that we see, we're the first person they're telling their story too. And I'm a stranger. I never met these people, so why would they want to share their story with me? That's just kind of silly."
"But we come at it in such away, that our training and our experiences allow us to be non judgmental. We take every story as it is. We just want to make sure that people are safe and they're in environments where they feel like they can flourish and give back to the community and be community partners."
"So, I just want them to know that we know that there's barriers. And we know that some people are not going to support them. And some people are not going to believe their stories. That's not how we function. We want to give the power and the control back to them that has been taken from them. We just want them to feel empowered. That they can get back on their feet, stand tall again, be part of the community and not have that label written across their forehead."
If you'd like to learn more about the PDC, their upcoming events, sexual assault or domestic abuse, you can call their office for more information.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.