A two-year assessment about the impact of the pandemic on sexual and domestic violence agencies across Virginia and the nation (see Restoryation Project report) revealed that the sexual and domestic violence movement in Virginia is at a critical crossroads. We are responding to the urgency of this moment with a new body of work focused on healing, resilience and sustainability.
What is this moment?
On the one hand, our people in the movement continue to hold an abundance of passion and commitment toward responding to and ending sexual and domestic violence. On the other hand, workers are also experiencing depletion and burnout due to multiple colliding factors. These factors include overwork, primary and secondary trauma, financial and other life-related stressors, and unsupportive work environments. Many of these stressors have been brought about by drastic reductions in both public and private funding. Now is the time to respond to this historic moment so we may (re)build strong and whole organizations that will carry this work into the future.
We can make a choice to continue to be agents of change in the lives of survivors for generations to come; that choice requires us as a movement to transform ourselves. It is time to invest our energy and resources into building healing-centered practices for ourselves, our organizations, and our communities.
To this end, the Action Alliance is thrilled to announce that we are partnering with national and state leaders in the sexual and domestic violence field to launch an exciting new training and technical assistance initiative called the Emergence Project.
The Emergence Project will bring people together to (re)connect and to achieve things we may not be able to do alone. It will help us build robust practices for sustained wellness, connection, and power within our movement. We will learn and practice these essential skills…skills that are needed to transform a movement from exhaustion to flourishment.
This kind of transformation requires a multi-faceted approach; with this in mind, we have designed the Emergence Project so that you may participate in a wide variety of practices across individual, organizational, and community levels.
How will the individual, organizational, and community approaches work?
- Emergence: Individual will focus on a series of wellness opportunities intended to deepen individual practices for balance, stillness, and health. There will also be opportunities to identify and interrupt habits that prevent us from thriving in our work. We will offer individual and group coaching virtually, as well as in-person gatherings that will help us recenter our own wellness and wholeness and deepen connection with others in the field.
- Emergence: Organizational will promote wellness, resilience, and sustainability within sexual and domestic violence agencies by building practices that focus on connection, resilience, trauma stewardship, and hope. We will offer group sessions virtually as well as in-person gatherings to help participants develop strategies to practice wellness and thriving within the context of organizational life.
- And finally, sexual and domestic violence agencies will invite 1-2 community partners to become a Community Impact Team to participate in Emergence: Community, to focus on strategies to build deeper connection, greater alignment, and greater impact within your community. We will offer virtual and in-person gatherings as well as bespoke team coaching sessions beginning in 2025 to create measurable impact on at least one complex problem facing your community.
Check out the Emergence 2024 Catalogue
The Emergence project launches this month and continues throughout 2025. Take a moment to download this catalogue of Emergence offerings for September-December 2024. It describes the many ways in which you can participate, whether you want to focus on individual, organizational, or community wellness… or all three!
And mark your calendars for October 22-25 for in-person intensives, devoting specific dates to each of the levels—individual, organizational, and community.
The Emergence catalogue contains registration links for all events through the end of the year. You are welcome to choose any or all offerings.
Contact us for further information
Please reach out to us at training@vsdvalliance.org for more information about registering or Kate McCord, Associate Director, at kmccord@vsdvalliance.org for more information about the Emergence Project.
We look forward to seeing you online or in person at the next Emergence gathering. Together, we will explore practices for strengthening connection, wellness, and wholeness, from the inside out — and in the process, build a stronger, more powerful, and more sustainable sexual and domestic violence movement in Virginia!
Why a cicada for the Emergence mascot?
The 2024 emergence of two broods of Cicadas in Virginia is a powerful inspiration for our own emergence from the darkness of the past few years.
When cicadas emerge, they make a BIG noise. Their lives above ground are short, urgent, and fierce. They create what is called a “cascade,” disrupting their communities in small ways that crash through entire ecosystems, creating positive change. Those small, cascading changes include aerating soil and helping plant life to thrive, providing an abundant food source for current and future generations of birds and animals, and moving nutrients throughout the ecosystem, leading to more robust health and wellness for flora and fauna alike.
Nature is a powerful teacher. Like the cicadas, we can grab onto the urgency of this moment. We can emerge from a period of isolation and division to come together in a powerful way and disrupt the ecosystems that support and promote violence in our communities. Like the cicadas, we can bring fierce spirits to our work on behalf of future generations.
Download the Emergence catalogue:
