Transcription:

Angela: A content warning for our listeners general discussions of sexual violence, including impacts of trauma and healing modalities will be discussed. If you need support or resources, please visit survivors.org

Hello and welcome to the very first episode of the survivors.org podcast. I'm your host, Angela Rose, the founder of PAVE, Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment. This episode and this whole series is sponsored by our friends at Color Street Nails. Color Street is a creative beauty brand with limitless possibilities. We are so grateful that you've joined us today and for episodes moving forward.

I wanted to take a minute to tell you what you're going to hear from our survivors.org podcast. You're going to learn different modalities of healing, different ways for survivors to thrive after trauma. You're going to hear from survivors and mental health experts and celebrity talent, all with a passion for healing after trauma and not just healing from trauma, but thriving after trauma.

So just a little bit about my own background as the host, we thought you should know a little bit about me personally. I've been in the movement of shattering the silence of sexual violence for 25 years. Out of my own journey of overcoming sexual assaults and kidnapping, I was able to found the national nonprofit called PAVE, which stands for Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment and PAVE works across the country and abroad to not only help survivors thrive after trauma, but we also have a focus on prevention. And so our three pillars of PAVE is education and training, social advocacy and survivor support. And this podcast is not only for survivors and their families, but for anybody who's interested in learning more about this, because every single person knows somebody who's been impacted by sexual assault.

According to the CDC, one in four girls and one in six boys will be impacted by sexual trauma before the age of 18. That means every single person in this country knows someone personally who's been impacted by this, but oftentimes we don't know what to say or what to do. And so we have a lot of information on PAVE's website. We've got free courses at PAVE University on how to be a supportive friend or family member. We have courses on consent and bystander intervention. PAVE is in schools across the country teaching about healthy relationships. And also the K through 12 space we're very passionate about, but also in college and on military bases, as well as in corporate America. We have trainings for first responders and law enforcement. And just this last year, we launched an incredibly powerful new program called the Kobe Certified Support Dog program where our support dogs are in police stations across the country, not just to help law enforcement officers, which of course is important, but when survivors go to report at these police stations, these dogs are trained to help survivors feel supported during the reporting process, which oftentimes can be very difficult. So we're very excited about that.

You can learn more about PAVE's work at shatteringthesilence.org. And if you need help or healing, we have a lot of holistic healing modalities and some exercises you can do at home as well as thousands of resources for you. And that can be found at survivors.org.

We hope that you enjoy this podcast series. We are so grateful that you joined us. And please remember to love yourself, support each other and together we can change the world. Thank you. for all survivors and their loved ones. Tuning in. Please remember that you are not alone and it's not your fault.

If you need support or resources, please visit us at survivors dot.