News & Events

A recent Jezebel story profiling survivor advocate Joelle Casteix is an inspiration and reminder to everyone fighting on behalf of sexual abuse survivors, that persistence pays off. For over a decade, Joelle has repeatedly demanded that her abuser, Thomas Hodgman, be fired from Adrian College in Michigan where he works as a music professor – a similar position he held when he sexually abused Joelle at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana when she was 15 years old. Joelle was inspired by the #MeToo movement that has swept the country in recent months, to write an open letter to Adrian College and…

The holiday season is upon us and hardly anyone is exempt from the added stressors it often brings. Holidays can be particularly difficult for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. For many survivors, the holiday season can be filled with anxiety and depression, and can even open old wounds. For survivors of clergy abuse, the holiday season itself can lead to triggers and unwanted memories. As many survivors of clergy abuse struggle with regaining or maintaining their faith into their adulthood, the constant symbols of Christmas everywhere they go may also serve as a reminder of the abuse…

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of New York have until Wednesday, November 1 to file claims in the Archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Plan (IRCP). There should never be a deadline for survivors to share their truth and seek justice. Unfortunately, New York’s harsh statute of limitations does not allow for perpetrators and the institutions that sheltered them to be exposed in a court of law. Although it is imperfect, the IRCP is the only way survivors of child sexual abuse can seek justice in New York at this time. Jeff Anderson & Associates has…

In Chapter 6 of the 2002 World Report on Violence and Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines sexual violence as: “Any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.”In the same report, the WHO states, “Sexual violence has generally been a neglected area of research in most parts of the world, yet the evidence suggests that it is a public…

The recent reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault by Hollywood film producer and co-founder of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is yet another scandal that exposes a culture that became a system of secrecy. This is not the first powerful figure or institution to face allegations of sexual violence and cover-up. However, truth revealed is progress! From actor Bill Cosby, to former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, to football coaches, to Olympic Team doctors, to teachers of the Word of God, all of these men have one thing in common – power.Sexual violence is not about sex. It is all about…