September 30, 2022 • 34 mins
Tricia Forbes has been working in the movement for economic, social and racial justice for over 25 years. She has held many leadership positions at policy advocacy organizations across Texas to promote healing over retribution. Tricia is also one of many people who attended her first Survivors Speak event and immediately immersed herself in the movement to lift up survivors. Today Tricia leads CSSJ's Member Support Program, which offers a wide array of resources for healing and wellness, from free virtual therapy to interactive self-care and connections to local community-based resources. These services have the potential to make an enormous difference in the lives of survivors, so if you are a member or thinking about becoming a member, this is a great place to learn about some amazing resources that CSSJ has to offer.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to this week's episodeof "Crime Survivor Speak".
My name is Aswad Thomas.
I'm the national director
of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice.
We are a national networkof 90,000 victims of crime
from across the country.
To stay up to date on the latest episodes,
you can do that on YouTube,Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
(00:21):
and other streaming services.
♪ When the world gets a little too hard ♪
♪ Wipe your eyes, put away your sorrow ♪
♪ When it's war, I'llbe leading the charge ♪
♪ And I'll be stillfighting for you tomorrow ♪
Today we are highlighting oneof our amazing staff members
who has made it her missionto lift up and support others
in her community who have been impacted
(00:43):
by crime and violence.
Tricia Forbes has been working
in the movement for economic,social and racial justice
for over 25 years.
She obtained her master's in social work
from the University of North Carolina
and has led leadershippositions at numerous
policy advocacy organizations across Texas
to promote healing over retribution.
(01:05):
Today Tricia leads
our Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
Member Support Programwhich offers a wide array
of resources for healing and wellness.
Tricia has made it herlife's work to create healing
for survivors.
Tricia, welcome to the "CrimeSurvivor Speak Podcast".
Thank you, Aswad.
I'm happy to be here.
(01:26):
Awesome, thank you so much.
So Tricia, can you tell us alittle bit about your story
and what compelled you to pursue your work
in victim's advocacy?
It definitely goes backto my becoming a survivor
of sexual assault in college.
And after that firstexperience that happened
(01:46):
when I was a teenager, like many victims,
I didn't get help and wasvictimized again and again.
So I think it all stems from that
but years before I actuallydealt with my own trauma,
I did have an experience that led me
to working directly with other survivors.
(02:08):
I was living in Colorado after college
and I had a good friendin an abusive relationship
with a boyfriend.
And one day I witnessed the violence.
I moved to North Carolinanot long after that
and decided to start volunteering
at a family violence program in Asheville.
(02:29):
This was back in the early90s when we had actual beepers
to communicate to work on the crisis line.
But they hired me as thecommunity outreach coordinator
and that is how I gotstarted doing this work.
And Tricia, thank you somuch for sharing your story.
(02:51):
We hear from yourselfand so many survivors
across the country whohave experienced violence
and turned that pain into healing,
so just wanna just thank you so much
for sharing your story andalso your work over the years
and helping to support survivors.
As someone who has my master'sin social work just like you,
we would love to heara little bit more about
(03:12):
that background in socialwork and how you ended up
at Crime survivors for Safety and Justice.
Yeah, so after severalyears working in the movement
to end domestic violence, Idecided to go to graduate school
for social work at theUniversity of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
(03:32):
And just like you Aswad, I didthe macro level concentration
and I've learned aboutadvocacy and organizing
and working in the community.
So when I finished getting my master's,
I ended up here in Austin, Texas
and I've been so incrediblyfortunate to be able to work
(03:55):
on a wide range of socialjustice issues during my career.
Many of them touching onissues of violence and trauma
and healing.
My actual entry into CrimeSurvivors for Safety and Justice
was through my verygood friend Tara Tucker
(04:17):
who is the Alliance for Safetyand Justice's state director
in Texas.
We'd been friends for many years
and we were having lunchone day not long after
Tara started working at ASJand she was telling me about it
and my mind was just blown.
(04:38):
This is connecting victimsand survivors of violence
to ending mass incarceration,
stopping that cycle of violenceand connecting those dots
and creating safe communities,how do I get in there?
Because many of my years were also spent
(05:01):
doing criminal justice reform work.
And one thing that I know andI saw over and over is that
so many people who have beensystem impacted are victims
who never received help.
So I was super excited to learn about
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
(05:21):
and I have Tara to thankleading me into this work
and helping me get where I amtoday with this organization.
That's awesome, I think I'vehad those same experiences.
When I first learned about
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice,
I was just so amazed thatthere were other survivors
like myself who were healing each other,
(05:41):
providing that peer-to-peer support,
and they were organizing tochange policies in California.
Back in 2018 when wereally started to organize
crime survivors from across the country,
we invited over 50 crimesurvivors from states
outside of California to our annual event
called Survivor Speak and youall joined over 600 survivors
(06:04):
in the state of Californiafor our Survivor Speak
California event back in 2018.
Tricia, I remember yougetting off that plane,
getting off that bus and just so excited.
We love to hear from you,
did that experience thatSurvivor Speak change
anything for you and what was that like?
Aswad, profound experience for me.
(06:26):
I didn't know what to expect.
I arrived in California andscores of the other survivors
were pouring in.
It was such a friendly,welcoming, loving atmosphere
from the very beginning
and there was this level ofconnection that was automatic
(06:49):
being there with so many other survivors.
During the big dinner in the huge ballroom
with hundreds of people,there was a moment of silence
and a healing vigil andeveryone held their candles up
and it just moved me in a waythat was really surprising
(07:13):
because I've done work with survivors,
I've been in these kinds of movements,
but there was somethingso special and powerful
about the range of people in the room
with different experiences,from different communities
who were all there to build this community
and to heal together.
(07:34):
And for the rest of the two day event,
when I was in Sacramento,I followed co-founder
of the Alliance for Safety and Justice,
Robert Brooks around and Iwas like, "Robert, hire me.
"Please hire me, I wanna do this work."
And I was excited aboutthe organization already
(07:56):
but that experience of marchingwith so many survivors,
of holding hands around thecapitol, on the grounds,
just the power of it, itjust filled my heart up.
And I feel so lucky thatI was able to end up
where I am today.
(08:16):
Now I get to go to a lot ofSurvivors Speaks in other states
and watch peopleexperience the same thing.
So it's really special.
That's beautiful, youmentioned like that connection,
you have seen so many survivorsfrom across the country
and with different victim experiences,
all leaning on to each other for support,
(08:38):
all there to advocate for more healing,
for more trauma recoverycenters, for more rehabilitation.
So those of you who arelistening, I'm hoping one day
you are able to attend aSurvivor Speak event in person
or join us for our SurvivorSpeak virtual conference
which I'll talk a littlebit about later as well.
So Tricia, you started as a member.
(08:59):
You started as someone whotried to get Robert Brooks
to bring you on board to our staff
and we were able to do that.
So Tricia was excited,
how can I bring this backto the state of Texas?
Tricia, you went home and youbecame our regional manager
in the state of Texasorganizing survivors,
helping to develop chapters,
bringing survivors to the state capital
(09:21):
and also doing a lot ofmedia advocacy as well.
So you started as a regional manager
but now this year youhave a brand new role
which I'm so excited about as our senior
for our Member Support Program.
So just can you describe one,how does that feel to you
to be leading our Member Support Program
and and what kind of services and supports
(09:42):
have you been offering at Survivor Speak
and also with the generalMember Support Program.
It feels fantastic,
I know that everyone in theorganization is very excited
about our Member Support Program.
I know that the two of usare just thrilled to finally
(10:03):
be getting this off the ground.
We've had conversations aboutdifferent pieces of this
on and off since I came to CSSJ.
And so to be able tobring this to fruition
and to launch thisprogram is very exciting.
(10:24):
Of course, our members arethe heart of everything
that we do and we knowthat people are hurting,
people have experienced violence,
there is community violence,
there's collective grief in alot of communities right now.
And so we listen to the voicesof our members who have said,
(10:47):
hey, we want more support.
And we are excited to beable to start offering
a menu of tools and resources to members
that are gonna promotehealing and wellness.
And it really is a menu,we're just getting started
(11:09):
but there are so manythings that we're doing
and that we're gonna be doing.
One of the first things, weare gonna have some interactive
self care activities, Facebook Live,
programs like Wellness Wednesdays
where we may have conversations
with different kinds ofhealing practitioners.
(11:31):
Another thing that ourmembers have asked for
are spiritual support
'cause we are a verydiverse group of people
with many different beliefsbut a lot of our members
are people of faith that haveasked for some kind of avenue
to give and receive spiritual support.
And so that's somethingthat we've listened to
(11:54):
and our members reallyhelp drive all of this.
We know that our chaptercoordinators and our staff
get a lot of request fordifferent kinds of help
and resources.
A lot of people don't know where to turn
(12:15):
in their communities.
So we are going to beworking on creating state
and local resource guidesthat will be online
and searchable.
These are going to have a widerange of service providers.
We know that people whoare survivors of violence
(12:38):
may also have many, manydifferent needs, basic needs
in addition to whatever itis around there victimization
that they need help with.
So we are going to be co-creating these
with our chapter leaders,with our chapter coordinators.
And they are also goingto have community based
(13:03):
smaller organizationsthat a lot of our members
are gonna be comfortable going to it.
Maybe someone in theircommunity, it maybe someone
who's gone through the exactsame thing that they have.
I think that these resourceguides are going to be something
new and different.
We are very excited about those.
(13:26):
Another thing that youmentioned that we do
is providing trauma informed support
at CSSJ events and programs.
And we've done that ina very big way in 2022
with our seven Survivor Speaks events,
(13:47):
seven different states.
People come to those events as survivors
from all across their state.
They make it up in the middleof the night, get on a bus,
drive hours to the capitol,
to be in community with other survivors,
to talk to their legislators,
(14:08):
to have a presence at the state capitol,
to be at that policy making table.
And we want our peopleto feel taken care of.
We feel like that's our responsibility.
And so we offer a lot ofdifferent healing services there.
(14:31):
Survivor Speak is anincredible, as I said earlier,
an incredibly powerful event.
But it can also be intense,it can be triggering,
it can bring up our past trauma.
We're healing through actionand that's why we're there
but at the same same time,
(14:51):
we may need support at any given moment.
So we have licensed therapiststhat are there throughout
the day with survivors.
They are wearing blue smocks,they are easy to identify,
are pointed out to people andthey're just on the lookout
for anyone who might needa little extra support,
(15:15):
might be a brief interaction
or someone may really need tobe pulled away and sit down
and process some things.
That's pretty amazing, Tricia
and thank you for leadingjust all of that and work
from those spiritual supportcause as you mentioned,
the state and local resource guides
that will be critical for survivors,
(15:37):
especially in those communitiesthat are most harmed
by violence.
What we continue to hear and what we know
from our own directexperiences that many survivors
don't know where to go to get help.
So excited on the developmentof those resource guides
and continue to providetrauma informed support
at all of our events as well.
One thing I'm also excitedto hear from you about
(15:58):
is we also have developed partnerships.
So can you talk a littlebit about the partnerships
that we have as part ofour Member Support Program?
And these are also theresources that we provide
to our members of CrimeSurvivors for Safety and Justice
for free.
So can you share a little bitmore about these partnerships?
Absolutely.
We are excited to have launched
(16:20):
one of our brand newpartnerships last week.
It's with an organizationcalled Better Help
and they are the world'slargest therapy platform.
It is all virtual and sopeople can access a therapist
through their computer,through their tablet,
(16:41):
through their phone.
It can be phone conversations,video conversations,
there are chats, there'sindividual counseling
and group counseling.
And so the way it works is that people go
on to the Better Help siteand there is a fantastic
(17:02):
questionnaire that reallygets at the kinds of issues
people are dealing with,whether it's sexual assault
or grief or PTSD.
Also what they're lookingfor in a provider.
For example, some peoplemay be more comfortable
(17:25):
with a woman provider.
Some people maybe needa provider who is able
to work with them in Spanishor in another language.
And so it is very tailored to the needs
of the specific person.
And we made sure that out ofthe more than 40,000 therapists
(17:51):
who are part of BetterHelp's network, we made sure
that yes, they have peoplewho specialize in trauma.
They have a very diverse network of folks
who can be culturallyresponsive to our members.
And we are thrilled and very grateful
(18:12):
that through this partnership,
we are able to offer CSSJmembers these services for free.
Right now we've startedwith 150 free vouchers
for therapy for our members.
We know that so many of ourmembers, so many survivors
(18:34):
have not had any kindof counseling support,
have never had access to counseling,
may not even be really familiar
with what therapy fortrauma is or looks like.
So we're just thrilled
to be able to offer this to CSSJ members.
That is one excitingthing that we launched
(18:57):
and we just launched it last week.
That's amazing, that's amazing.
So those of you are listening,especially to our members,
we're offering free counselingsupport for you all.
So we'll have more informationon how you can access that
to our members of CSSJ as well.
So that's one partnership andand thank you to Better Help
for collaborating
(19:18):
with the Crime Survivor forSafety and Justice organization
to help us provide this muchneeded support to survivors.
Also Tricia, there'sanother exciting partnership
that I know all of our listeners out there
would be pretty happy to hear about.
So can you talk a little bit about
our Access Program as well?
Access is the world'slargest discount network
(19:40):
and there are thousands and thousands
of participating businesses.
The way it works is that through CSSJ,
our members will be able to get access
through the discount networkto thousands of discounts
(20:01):
on everything from pizza tovacations to oil changes,
movies, it's just endless,
almost anything you thinkabout that people buy
or a service that they need.
There are differentdiscounts that come up.
(20:21):
And so we are going tobe launching that soon.
We want CSSJ members toknow, hey, we care about you,
we wanna help you inevery way that you can
and this is a benefit that you get
for being part of this movement.
(20:41):
And so, I think it's gonnabe a lot of fun to see
what the specific coupons and discounts
are gonna do for people.
Hopefully, we'll be able to compare
who got the best thing that week.
And yeah, so that oneis gonna be super fun.
And I go see a lot ofmovies, I have two kids,
(21:04):
we order pizza, we eat out alot, and those things add up
and I think it's gonnabe great for our members.
I'm so excited about that.
I was just looking at going on a cruise
and I saw as part of our discount program,
now I'm able to get littlepercentage off as well.
So it's access to thousands ofretailers across the country.
(21:26):
Also local like momand pop stores as well.
So once again, this is anotherbenefit that we're offering
to members of Crime Survivorfor Safety and Justice.
So not only will you connectwith a community of survivors,
you get those resource guides,
you also get access tocounseling and therapy
through our Better Help partnership,
you also get access to discounts, right?
To save you those dollars,things that you do every day
(21:49):
and the money that you spend.
So those are excitingpartnerships that we have,
just launched those for members
of Crime Survivor for Safety and Justice.
Tricia, but I also knowthat we are organizing,
we're a advocacy organization,
we bring communities together
but we're not a direct service provider.
Can you talk a little bitabout why that's important
to share what we can offerand why we're building
(22:09):
these partnerships withother organizations?
Absolutely.
And that is very importantbecause it can be confusing
for folks but we wanna be very clear
that we are not a direct service provider.
We aren't providing therapyourselves but we do see it
(22:30):
as our role to help both createcommunity led healing spaces
as well as helping people get access.
And so our role is leveragingthe things that we can do
as a national organizationto build partnerships,
to work on things likethe really comprehensive
(22:53):
resource guides, to providepartnerships with Better Help.
So we aren't doing the therapyor counseling ourselves
but we know how much our members need it
and we wanna advocatefor those things as well.
Amazing and a lot ofwhat you all are hearing
(23:14):
come directly from our members.
We do a lot of listening to our members
whether that's phone calls,in person meetings, events,
trainings, like surveys and so,
a lot of what you are hearingcome from what our members
have been advocating for.
So we're just excited to be able to offer
all of these menu of toolsand resources for our members.
So Tricia, in addition toall of the resource guides,
(23:36):
the Better Help, the discount program,
we are also hosting monthlydrop in spaces for survivors
and hosting healing andhappy hour events for folks
in the community,
what's this like to bringgroups of survivors together
in those spaces and what kindof experiences have you had?
Well, is beautiful tobring people together
(23:58):
to share space and to heal together.
And so these virtualdrop in healing spaces
are something also thatour members have asked for.
One silver lining of COVID is that
it has brought us togethermore through technologies
(24:21):
in ways that not as many ofus would've used in the past.
And so our members, a lotof people around the country
are more comfortable gettingon calls through Zoom
and the drop-in healing spaceevery month is a safe space
for people to come as they are
(24:45):
and to share what they're going through,
what is on their hearts.
A couple of our membersare facilitating these
who are clinicians who have done
a lot of community healingcircles and healing work.
And so we are able monthlyto hold this space.
(25:07):
Last month the topic wasgrief and we had people there
in all stages of grief whowere able to come and share
some of their pain then alsoleave with some strength
and hope from other people.
(25:28):
And people also aftersharing are gonna be able
to leave with some tools,with a grounding exercise,
with something that is going to help them
outside of that call.
They can take somethingand leave with that.
So those are just going to grow and grow.
(25:50):
Hopefully, more and moreof our members will come.
And also Aswad, we nowhave a couple of fantastic
call leaders who are goingto be doing the monthly
drop-in healing spacesmonthly in Spanish as well.
In addition,
(26:10):
many survivors also needdifferent wellness modalities.
Can you talk a littlebit about the other type
of supported services thatwe provide to survivors?
Wellness and healingneeds to be holistic
and we've talked about Better Help,
we've talked about thetherapist that we had available
(26:31):
at the Survivor Speaks event.
We also have different modalities,different ways of healing
such as yoga and meditation.
We had chair massage, everyoneloves a chair massage, right?
(26:51):
There are a lot of differentthings that can contribute
to our healing and wellnessand so we really want
to bring these into the MemberSupport Program as well.
We've been able to do thatthrough Survivor Speaks
(27:11):
and it's something that wewant to continue to build
in the future for bothour virtual online things
such as the Healing HappyHours and Wellness Wednesdays
but also at other CSSJ events.
And Aswad, you mentioned thatearlier in my tenure at CSSJ,
(27:34):
I was organizing survivors in Texas
and there were so many timesthat I came across people
who were for example, yogainstructors or who do reiki
and they've said, Iwanna work with survivors
or I'm a survivor myself.
We've had some folkscome to chapter meetings
(27:57):
and participate at Survivors Speak
and guiding healing art projects.
We know that art and music arereally important for healing.
So I just wanted to mentionthat we see healing and wellness
as something that needsto be very holistic
(28:19):
and people like different things.
We all heal in differentways but we're committed
to making those things partof the Member Support Program
as well and we need help.
We want to know if we've got listeners,
if we've got members outthere who are interested
(28:40):
in providing this kind ofholistic wellness presentations,
offering their services,whatever it may be,
we want to partner withthem and work with them.
One of the things that Iheard from several people
(29:00):
who got chair massage,
a lot of the people whocame to Survivor Speak
had never had a massage.
They said, in my community,self care isn't something
that I have known about or hasbeen a priority in my life.
We wanna make thatcommitment that number one,
(29:22):
when people come to CSSJ events,
we are taking care ofthem in a holistic way
but also looking for creativeways to integrate these things
into everything that we do atCSSJ to support our members.
(29:44):
Awesome, that's amazing.
You heard Tricia, if you are a clinician,
if you are a wellness practitioner,
you're a company organization
that would like to support survivors,
text a word SUPPORT to1-888-458-0382 to learn more
about our Member Support Program
and get involved and collaborate.
(30:06):
Tricia, before we closedout today's conversation,
something amazinghappened in your hometown
in Austin, Texas.
The city designated $1 million to open up
the city's first trauma recovery center,
the first trauma recoverycenter in the state of Texas.
Thanks to your advocacy andyour leadership for years
(30:26):
in Austin and the state.
Why is it important for crime survivors
to have a trauma recoverycenter in Austin?
It is so exciting thatthe city of Austin did that.
It is essential that wehave trauma recovery centers
in all of our communities.
(30:48):
Even in cities like Austinthat have some really wonderful
services, not everyone has access.
People who are victims of gunviolence, community violence,
family members of peoplewho have lost loved ones
to violence don't alwayshave a place to go.
(31:10):
And it's a real gap in theservices that we currently have.
So we are very excited.
People are excited to hearabout it in Austin too
because they may not have a police report
and they may not therefore have had access
to victim compensation
(31:30):
but they could walk intoa trauma recovery center.
And I wanna make sure to sayhere that it is our members
in Austin who really made this happen.
In particular, our twochapter coordinators,
Jill Henderson and Clarence Watson,
they have also been working on this.
We've been on so many phonecalls with policy makers,
(31:54):
with community partners.
We've had op-eds, letters to the editor.
We've gone to countlesscity council committees
and meetings.
And so this is the kind ofthing that we do at CSSJ
when we work together.
So we are thrilled aboutthe Trauma Recovery Center.
(32:17):
Advocating for Traumarecovery centers is one way
that we support ourmembers, our survivors,
and the new Member SupportProgram is just another layer
to that that I feel veryblessed and fortunate
to be a part of.
Wow, Tricia, this isincredible how we've grown
(32:42):
over the past few years ofstarting with six members,
right now we have 90,000survivors across the country
and just being able to offerthese tangible resources
and support to our members.
Shout out to our CSSJ Austin,Texas chapter and our members.
Shout out to the amazing TaraTucker and shout out to you,
(33:02):
Tricia, for just your leadership
and helping to not only leadour Member Support Program
but getting the City of Austin's first
trauma recovery center whichwe also will be expanding
to other cities across thestate of Texas as well.
I just wanna appreciate youTricia, for your leadership
and also the othermembers and coordinators
who's helping create thesespaces for our survivors
(33:24):
which will help so many peopleduring the healing journey
and also know that they don'thave to go through it alone.
So we're excited about our CrimeSurvivor Safety and Justice
Member Support Program.
If you wanna learn more
about Crime Survivors Safety and Justice,
go to our website at www.cssj.org.
(33:45):
But Tricia, thank you so muchfor being on today's episode
of the "Crime Survivor Speak Podcast".
Thank you so much to everyonewho's out there listening
to today's episode.
Once again, to learn more about
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
Member Support Program,
you can text the wordSUPPORT to 1-888-458-0382.
(34:10):
To become a member of CrimeSurvivors for Safety and Justice
or join our email list,visit us at www.cssj.org
to join our local chapter nearyou or our national network.
Remember, you can tune into allpodcast episodes on YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, andother streaming platforms.
(34:33):
As we say at Crime Survivorsfor Safety and Justice,
we are healing through action.
When survivors speak, change happens.
Thank you again Tricia,for being with us today.
Thank you for having me.
(bright upbeat music)
Welcome to this week's episodeof "Crime Survivor Speak".
My name is Aswad Thomas.
I'm the national director
of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice.
We are a national networkof 90,000 victims of crime
from across the country.
To stay up to date on the latest episodes,
you can do that on YouTube,Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
(00:21):
and other streaming services.
♪ When the world gets a little too hard ♪
♪ Wipe your eyes, put away your sorrow ♪
♪ When it's war, I'llbe leading the charge ♪
♪ And I'll be stillfighting for you tomorrow ♪
Today we are highlighting oneof our amazing staff members
who has made it her missionto lift up and support others
in her community who have been impacted
(00:43):
by crime and violence.
Tricia Forbes has been working
in the movement for economic,social and racial justice
for over 25 years.
She obtained her master's in social work
from the University of North Carolina
and has led leadershippositions at numerous
policy advocacy organizations across Texas
to promote healing over retribution.
(01:05):
Today Tricia leads
our Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
Member Support Programwhich offers a wide array
of resources for healing and wellness.
Tricia has made it herlife's work to create healing
for survivors.
Tricia, welcome to the "CrimeSurvivor Speak Podcast".
Thank you, Aswad.
I'm happy to be here.
(01:26):
Awesome, thank you so much.
So Tricia, can you tell us alittle bit about your story
and what compelled you to pursue your work
in victim's advocacy?
It definitely goes backto my becoming a survivor
of sexual assault in college.
And after that firstexperience that happened
(01:46):
when I was a teenager, like many victims,
I didn't get help and wasvictimized again and again.
So I think it all stems from that
but years before I actuallydealt with my own trauma,
I did have an experience that led me
to working directly with other survivors.
(02:08):
I was living in Colorado after college
and I had a good friendin an abusive relationship
with a boyfriend.
And one day I witnessed the violence.
I moved to North Carolinanot long after that
and decided to start volunteering
at a family violence program in Asheville.
(02:29):
This was back in the early90s when we had actual beepers
to communicate to work on the crisis line.
But they hired me as thecommunity outreach coordinator
and that is how I gotstarted doing this work.
And Tricia, thank you somuch for sharing your story.
(02:51):
We hear from yourselfand so many survivors
across the country whohave experienced violence
and turned that pain into healing,
so just wanna just thank you so much
for sharing your story andalso your work over the years
and helping to support survivors.
As someone who has my master'sin social work just like you,
we would love to heara little bit more about
(03:12):
that background in socialwork and how you ended up
at Crime survivors for Safety and Justice.
Yeah, so after severalyears working in the movement
to end domestic violence, Idecided to go to graduate school
for social work at theUniversity of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
(03:32):
And just like you Aswad, I didthe macro level concentration
and I've learned aboutadvocacy and organizing
and working in the community.
So when I finished getting my master's,
I ended up here in Austin, Texas
and I've been so incrediblyfortunate to be able to work
(03:55):
on a wide range of socialjustice issues during my career.
Many of them touching onissues of violence and trauma
and healing.
My actual entry into CrimeSurvivors for Safety and Justice
was through my verygood friend Tara Tucker
(04:17):
who is the Alliance for Safetyand Justice's state director
in Texas.
We'd been friends for many years
and we were having lunchone day not long after
Tara started working at ASJand she was telling me about it
and my mind was just blown.
(04:38):
This is connecting victimsand survivors of violence
to ending mass incarceration,
stopping that cycle of violenceand connecting those dots
and creating safe communities,how do I get in there?
Because many of my years were also spent
(05:01):
doing criminal justice reform work.
And one thing that I know andI saw over and over is that
so many people who have beensystem impacted are victims
who never received help.
So I was super excited to learn about
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
(05:21):
and I have Tara to thankleading me into this work
and helping me get where I amtoday with this organization.
That's awesome, I think I'vehad those same experiences.
When I first learned about
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice,
I was just so amazed thatthere were other survivors
like myself who were healing each other,
(05:41):
providing that peer-to-peer support,
and they were organizing tochange policies in California.
Back in 2018 when wereally started to organize
crime survivors from across the country,
we invited over 50 crimesurvivors from states
outside of California to our annual event
called Survivor Speak and youall joined over 600 survivors
(06:04):
in the state of Californiafor our Survivor Speak
California event back in 2018.
Tricia, I remember yougetting off that plane,
getting off that bus and just so excited.
We love to hear from you,
did that experience thatSurvivor Speak change
anything for you and what was that like?
Aswad, profound experience for me.
(06:26):
I didn't know what to expect.
I arrived in California andscores of the other survivors
were pouring in.
It was such a friendly,welcoming, loving atmosphere
from the very beginning
and there was this level ofconnection that was automatic
(06:49):
being there with so many other survivors.
During the big dinner in the huge ballroom
with hundreds of people,there was a moment of silence
and a healing vigil andeveryone held their candles up
and it just moved me in a waythat was really surprising
(07:13):
because I've done work with survivors,
I've been in these kinds of movements,
but there was somethingso special and powerful
about the range of people in the room
with different experiences,from different communities
who were all there to build this community
and to heal together.
(07:34):
And for the rest of the two day event,
when I was in Sacramento,I followed co-founder
of the Alliance for Safety and Justice,
Robert Brooks around and Iwas like, "Robert, hire me.
"Please hire me, I wanna do this work."
And I was excited aboutthe organization already
(07:56):
but that experience of marchingwith so many survivors,
of holding hands around thecapitol, on the grounds,
just the power of it, itjust filled my heart up.
And I feel so lucky thatI was able to end up
where I am today.
(08:16):
Now I get to go to a lot ofSurvivors Speaks in other states
and watch peopleexperience the same thing.
So it's really special.
That's beautiful, youmentioned like that connection,
you have seen so many survivorsfrom across the country
and with different victim experiences,
all leaning on to each other for support,
(08:38):
all there to advocate for more healing,
for more trauma recoverycenters, for more rehabilitation.
So those of you who arelistening, I'm hoping one day
you are able to attend aSurvivor Speak event in person
or join us for our SurvivorSpeak virtual conference
which I'll talk a littlebit about later as well.
So Tricia, you started as a member.
(08:59):
You started as someone whotried to get Robert Brooks
to bring you on board to our staff
and we were able to do that.
So Tricia was excited,
how can I bring this backto the state of Texas?
Tricia, you went home and youbecame our regional manager
in the state of Texasorganizing survivors,
helping to develop chapters,
bringing survivors to the state capital
(09:21):
and also doing a lot ofmedia advocacy as well.
So you started as a regional manager
but now this year youhave a brand new role
which I'm so excited about as our senior
for our Member Support Program.
So just can you describe one,how does that feel to you
to be leading our Member Support Program
and and what kind of services and supports
(09:42):
have you been offering at Survivor Speak
and also with the generalMember Support Program.
It feels fantastic,
I know that everyone in theorganization is very excited
about our Member Support Program.
I know that the two of usare just thrilled to finally
(10:03):
be getting this off the ground.
We've had conversations aboutdifferent pieces of this
on and off since I came to CSSJ.
And so to be able tobring this to fruition
and to launch thisprogram is very exciting.
(10:24):
Of course, our members arethe heart of everything
that we do and we knowthat people are hurting,
people have experienced violence,
there is community violence,
there's collective grief in alot of communities right now.
And so we listen to the voicesof our members who have said,
(10:47):
hey, we want more support.
And we are excited to beable to start offering
a menu of tools and resources to members
that are gonna promotehealing and wellness.
And it really is a menu,we're just getting started
(11:09):
but there are so manythings that we're doing
and that we're gonna be doing.
One of the first things, weare gonna have some interactive
self care activities, Facebook Live,
programs like Wellness Wednesdays
where we may have conversations
with different kinds ofhealing practitioners.
(11:31):
Another thing that ourmembers have asked for
are spiritual support
'cause we are a verydiverse group of people
with many different beliefsbut a lot of our members
are people of faith that haveasked for some kind of avenue
to give and receive spiritual support.
And so that's somethingthat we've listened to
(11:54):
and our members reallyhelp drive all of this.
We know that our chaptercoordinators and our staff
get a lot of request fordifferent kinds of help
and resources.
A lot of people don't know where to turn
(12:15):
in their communities.
So we are going to beworking on creating state
and local resource guidesthat will be online
and searchable.
These are going to have a widerange of service providers.
We know that people whoare survivors of violence
(12:38):
may also have many, manydifferent needs, basic needs
in addition to whatever itis around there victimization
that they need help with.
So we are going to be co-creating these
with our chapter leaders,with our chapter coordinators.
And they are also goingto have community based
(13:03):
smaller organizationsthat a lot of our members
are gonna be comfortable going to it.
Maybe someone in theircommunity, it maybe someone
who's gone through the exactsame thing that they have.
I think that these resourceguides are going to be something
new and different.
We are very excited about those.
(13:26):
Another thing that youmentioned that we do
is providing trauma informed support
at CSSJ events and programs.
And we've done that ina very big way in 2022
with our seven Survivor Speaks events,
(13:47):
seven different states.
People come to those events as survivors
from all across their state.
They make it up in the middleof the night, get on a bus,
drive hours to the capitol,
to be in community with other survivors,
to talk to their legislators,
(14:08):
to have a presence at the state capitol,
to be at that policy making table.
And we want our peopleto feel taken care of.
We feel like that's our responsibility.
And so we offer a lot ofdifferent healing services there.
(14:31):
Survivor Speak is anincredible, as I said earlier,
an incredibly powerful event.
But it can also be intense,it can be triggering,
it can bring up our past trauma.
We're healing through actionand that's why we're there
but at the same same time,
(14:51):
we may need support at any given moment.
So we have licensed therapiststhat are there throughout
the day with survivors.
They are wearing blue smocks,they are easy to identify,
are pointed out to people andthey're just on the lookout
for anyone who might needa little extra support,
(15:15):
might be a brief interaction
or someone may really need tobe pulled away and sit down
and process some things.
That's pretty amazing, Tricia
and thank you for leadingjust all of that and work
from those spiritual supportcause as you mentioned,
the state and local resource guides
that will be critical for survivors,
(15:37):
especially in those communitiesthat are most harmed
by violence.
What we continue to hear and what we know
from our own directexperiences that many survivors
don't know where to go to get help.
So excited on the developmentof those resource guides
and continue to providetrauma informed support
at all of our events as well.
One thing I'm also excitedto hear from you about
(15:58):
is we also have developed partnerships.
So can you talk a littlebit about the partnerships
that we have as part ofour Member Support Program?
And these are also theresources that we provide
to our members of CrimeSurvivors for Safety and Justice
for free.
So can you share a little bitmore about these partnerships?
Absolutely.
We are excited to have launched
(16:20):
one of our brand newpartnerships last week.
It's with an organizationcalled Better Help
and they are the world'slargest therapy platform.
It is all virtual and sopeople can access a therapist
through their computer,through their tablet,
(16:41):
through their phone.
It can be phone conversations,video conversations,
there are chats, there'sindividual counseling
and group counseling.
And so the way it works is that people go
on to the Better Help siteand there is a fantastic
(17:02):
questionnaire that reallygets at the kinds of issues
people are dealing with,whether it's sexual assault
or grief or PTSD.
Also what they're lookingfor in a provider.
For example, some peoplemay be more comfortable
(17:25):
with a woman provider.
Some people maybe needa provider who is able
to work with them in Spanishor in another language.
And so it is very tailored to the needs
of the specific person.
And we made sure that out ofthe more than 40,000 therapists
(17:51):
who are part of BetterHelp's network, we made sure
that yes, they have peoplewho specialize in trauma.
They have a very diverse network of folks
who can be culturallyresponsive to our members.
And we are thrilled and very grateful
(18:12):
that through this partnership,
we are able to offer CSSJmembers these services for free.
Right now we've startedwith 150 free vouchers
for therapy for our members.
We know that so many of ourmembers, so many survivors
(18:34):
have not had any kindof counseling support,
have never had access to counseling,
may not even be really familiar
with what therapy fortrauma is or looks like.
So we're just thrilled
to be able to offer this to CSSJ members.
That is one excitingthing that we launched
(18:57):
and we just launched it last week.
That's amazing, that's amazing.
So those of you are listening,especially to our members,
we're offering free counselingsupport for you all.
So we'll have more informationon how you can access that
to our members of CSSJ as well.
So that's one partnership andand thank you to Better Help
for collaborating
(19:18):
with the Crime Survivor forSafety and Justice organization
to help us provide this muchneeded support to survivors.
Also Tricia, there'sanother exciting partnership
that I know all of our listeners out there
would be pretty happy to hear about.
So can you talk a little bit about
our Access Program as well?
Access is the world'slargest discount network
(19:40):
and there are thousands and thousands
of participating businesses.
The way it works is that through CSSJ,
our members will be able to get access
through the discount networkto thousands of discounts
(20:01):
on everything from pizza tovacations to oil changes,
movies, it's just endless,
almost anything you thinkabout that people buy
or a service that they need.
There are differentdiscounts that come up.
(20:21):
And so we are going tobe launching that soon.
We want CSSJ members toknow, hey, we care about you,
we wanna help you inevery way that you can
and this is a benefit that you get
for being part of this movement.
(20:41):
And so, I think it's gonnabe a lot of fun to see
what the specific coupons and discounts
are gonna do for people.
Hopefully, we'll be able to compare
who got the best thing that week.
And yeah, so that oneis gonna be super fun.
And I go see a lot ofmovies, I have two kids,
(21:04):
we order pizza, we eat out alot, and those things add up
and I think it's gonnabe great for our members.
I'm so excited about that.
I was just looking at going on a cruise
and I saw as part of our discount program,
now I'm able to get littlepercentage off as well.
So it's access to thousands ofretailers across the country.
(21:26):
Also local like momand pop stores as well.
So once again, this is anotherbenefit that we're offering
to members of Crime Survivorfor Safety and Justice.
So not only will you connectwith a community of survivors,
you get those resource guides,
you also get access tocounseling and therapy
through our Better Help partnership,
you also get access to discounts, right?
To save you those dollars,things that you do every day
(21:49):
and the money that you spend.
So those are excitingpartnerships that we have,
just launched those for members
of Crime Survivor for Safety and Justice.
Tricia, but I also knowthat we are organizing,
we're a advocacy organization,
we bring communities together
but we're not a direct service provider.
Can you talk a little bitabout why that's important
to share what we can offerand why we're building
(22:09):
these partnerships withother organizations?
Absolutely.
And that is very importantbecause it can be confusing
for folks but we wanna be very clear
that we are not a direct service provider.
We aren't providing therapyourselves but we do see it
(22:30):
as our role to help both createcommunity led healing spaces
as well as helping people get access.
And so our role is leveragingthe things that we can do
as a national organizationto build partnerships,
to work on things likethe really comprehensive
(22:53):
resource guides, to providepartnerships with Better Help.
So we aren't doing the therapyor counseling ourselves
but we know how much our members need it
and we wanna advocatefor those things as well.
Amazing and a lot ofwhat you all are hearing
(23:14):
come directly from our members.
We do a lot of listening to our members
whether that's phone calls,in person meetings, events,
trainings, like surveys and so,
a lot of what you are hearingcome from what our members
have been advocating for.
So we're just excited to be able to offer
all of these menu of toolsand resources for our members.
So Tricia, in addition toall of the resource guides,
(23:36):
the Better Help, the discount program,
we are also hosting monthlydrop in spaces for survivors
and hosting healing andhappy hour events for folks
in the community,
what's this like to bringgroups of survivors together
in those spaces and what kindof experiences have you had?
Well, is beautiful tobring people together
(23:58):
to share space and to heal together.
And so these virtualdrop in healing spaces
are something also thatour members have asked for.
One silver lining of COVID is that
it has brought us togethermore through technologies
(24:21):
in ways that not as many ofus would've used in the past.
And so our members, a lotof people around the country
are more comfortable gettingon calls through Zoom
and the drop-in healing spaceevery month is a safe space
for people to come as they are
(24:45):
and to share what they're going through,
what is on their hearts.
A couple of our membersare facilitating these
who are clinicians who have done
a lot of community healingcircles and healing work.
And so we are able monthlyto hold this space.
(25:07):
Last month the topic wasgrief and we had people there
in all stages of grief whowere able to come and share
some of their pain then alsoleave with some strength
and hope from other people.
(25:28):
And people also aftersharing are gonna be able
to leave with some tools,with a grounding exercise,
with something that is going to help them
outside of that call.
They can take somethingand leave with that.
So those are just going to grow and grow.
(25:50):
Hopefully, more and moreof our members will come.
And also Aswad, we nowhave a couple of fantastic
call leaders who are goingto be doing the monthly
drop-in healing spacesmonthly in Spanish as well.
In addition,
(26:10):
many survivors also needdifferent wellness modalities.
Can you talk a littlebit about the other type
of supported services thatwe provide to survivors?
Wellness and healingneeds to be holistic
and we've talked about Better Help,
we've talked about thetherapist that we had available
(26:31):
at the Survivor Speaks event.
We also have different modalities,different ways of healing
such as yoga and meditation.
We had chair massage, everyoneloves a chair massage, right?
(26:51):
There are a lot of differentthings that can contribute
to our healing and wellnessand so we really want
to bring these into the MemberSupport Program as well.
We've been able to do thatthrough Survivor Speaks
(27:11):
and it's something that wewant to continue to build
in the future for bothour virtual online things
such as the Healing HappyHours and Wellness Wednesdays
but also at other CSSJ events.
And Aswad, you mentioned thatearlier in my tenure at CSSJ,
(27:34):
I was organizing survivors in Texas
and there were so many timesthat I came across people
who were for example, yogainstructors or who do reiki
and they've said, Iwanna work with survivors
or I'm a survivor myself.
We've had some folkscome to chapter meetings
(27:57):
and participate at Survivors Speak
and guiding healing art projects.
We know that art and music arereally important for healing.
So I just wanted to mentionthat we see healing and wellness
as something that needsto be very holistic
(28:19):
and people like different things.
We all heal in differentways but we're committed
to making those things partof the Member Support Program
as well and we need help.
We want to know if we've got listeners,
if we've got members outthere who are interested
(28:40):
in providing this kind ofholistic wellness presentations,
offering their services,whatever it may be,
we want to partner withthem and work with them.
One of the things that Iheard from several people
(29:00):
who got chair massage,
a lot of the people whocame to Survivor Speak
had never had a massage.
They said, in my community,self care isn't something
that I have known about or hasbeen a priority in my life.
We wanna make thatcommitment that number one,
(29:22):
when people come to CSSJ events,
we are taking care ofthem in a holistic way
but also looking for creativeways to integrate these things
into everything that we do atCSSJ to support our members.
(29:44):
Awesome, that's amazing.
You heard Tricia, if you are a clinician,
if you are a wellness practitioner,
you're a company organization
that would like to support survivors,
text a word SUPPORT to1-888-458-0382 to learn more
about our Member Support Program
and get involved and collaborate.
(30:06):
Tricia, before we closedout today's conversation,
something amazinghappened in your hometown
in Austin, Texas.
The city designated $1 million to open up
the city's first trauma recovery center,
the first trauma recoverycenter in the state of Texas.
Thanks to your advocacy andyour leadership for years
(30:26):
in Austin and the state.
Why is it important for crime survivors
to have a trauma recoverycenter in Austin?
It is so exciting thatthe city of Austin did that.
It is essential that wehave trauma recovery centers
in all of our communities.
(30:48):
Even in cities like Austinthat have some really wonderful
services, not everyone has access.
People who are victims of gunviolence, community violence,
family members of peoplewho have lost loved ones
to violence don't alwayshave a place to go.
(31:10):
And it's a real gap in theservices that we currently have.
So we are very excited.
People are excited to hearabout it in Austin too
because they may not have a police report
and they may not therefore have had access
to victim compensation
(31:30):
but they could walk intoa trauma recovery center.
And I wanna make sure to sayhere that it is our members
in Austin who really made this happen.
In particular, our twochapter coordinators,
Jill Henderson and Clarence Watson,
they have also been working on this.
We've been on so many phonecalls with policy makers,
(31:54):
with community partners.
We've had op-eds, letters to the editor.
We've gone to countlesscity council committees
and meetings.
And so this is the kind ofthing that we do at CSSJ
when we work together.
So we are thrilled aboutthe Trauma Recovery Center.
(32:17):
Advocating for Traumarecovery centers is one way
that we support ourmembers, our survivors,
and the new Member SupportProgram is just another layer
to that that I feel veryblessed and fortunate
to be a part of.
Wow, Tricia, this isincredible how we've grown
(32:42):
over the past few years ofstarting with six members,
right now we have 90,000survivors across the country
and just being able to offerthese tangible resources
and support to our members.
Shout out to our CSSJ Austin,Texas chapter and our members.
Shout out to the amazing TaraTucker and shout out to you,
(33:02):
Tricia, for just your leadership
and helping to not only leadour Member Support Program
but getting the City of Austin's first
trauma recovery center whichwe also will be expanding
to other cities across thestate of Texas as well.
I just wanna appreciate youTricia, for your leadership
and also the othermembers and coordinators
who's helping create thesespaces for our survivors
(33:24):
which will help so many peopleduring the healing journey
and also know that they don'thave to go through it alone.
So we're excited about our CrimeSurvivor Safety and Justice
Member Support Program.
If you wanna learn more
about Crime Survivors Safety and Justice,
go to our website at www.cssj.org.
(33:45):
But Tricia, thank you so muchfor being on today's episode
of the "Crime Survivor Speak Podcast".
Thank you so much to everyonewho's out there listening
to today's episode.
Once again, to learn more about
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
Member Support Program,
you can text the wordSUPPORT to 1-888-458-0382.
(34:10):
To become a member of CrimeSurvivors for Safety and Justice
or join our email list,visit us at www.cssj.org
to join our local chapter nearyou or our national network.
Remember, you can tune into allpodcast episodes on YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, andother streaming platforms.
(34:33):
As we say at Crime Survivorsfor Safety and Justice,
we are healing through action.
When survivors speak, change happens.
Thank you again Tricia,for being with us today.
Thank you for having me.
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