Who heals the healer? This question has simmered below the surface in our movement for decades and has become increasingly urgent; in recent years, advocates working with survivors of sexual and domestic violence have been unheralded first responders, working behind the scenes in the face of the combined cataclysms of a global pandemic, national unrest, funding shortfalls, and disintegrating community safety nets.
This historical period and its fallout on survivors and advocates have resulted in monumental shifts in our movement; advocates’[1] stories about this time deserve to be told and their needs attended to. Virginia is one of 25 states and territories across the U.S. to participate in Restoryation, a national storytelling project and needs assessment among professionals working in the movement to end sexual and domestic violence.
The primary goals of Restoryation were to employ storytelling to:
- Pause and reflect on the impact of the previous three years on ourselves and our work.
- Provide an opportunity for connection and healing through sharing our experiences and bearing witness to each other’s stories.
- Name what is needed to create a thriving workforce and movement going forward.
Why use storytelling in a needs assessment?
Stories reveal, help us process, and reflect. Story circles have been part of our collective human experience across communities, cultures, and generations. The process of storytelling and the practice of bearing witness to one another’s stories is one of the most intuitive, powerful, and ancient practices we have for connecting with one another and collecting experiences.
When and how was the data collected?
Between February and May 2023, Action Alliance staff facilitated nine story circles across Virginia with 100 professionals working in sexual and domestic violence programs[2]. Ninety-seven of the participants responded to a series of surveys created by researchers from Michigan State University who specialize in conducting assessments in the field of gender-based violence.
What did we find?
The survey findings in the newly released Virginia Restoryation Report reflect a movement with an abundance of passion and commitment toward responding to and ending sexual and domestic violence, but one that is also experiencing depletion and burnout due to multiple colliding factors, including overwork, primary and secondary trauma, financial and other life-related stressors, and unsupportive work environments.
Participants who responded to the survey report being woefully under-compensated. One in 5 participants said they work more than 40 hours per week at their organization, yet half earn $50,000 or less per year. This highlights a pressing concern for workers; the average minimum livable wage in Virginia for one adult with no children is $48,000. Many of our colleagues are working more than full-time while simply not earning enough to get by on their own, much less with a family.
Want to go deeper?
The Action Alliance will host a webinar on October 3 to share the Restoryation findings in more depth. Sexual and domestic violence agencies will also receive a hard copy of the Restoryation report in the mail in October. In November, the Action Alliance will hold a second webinar to respond to questions that you may have about the report or its findings. You may register for the webinars here:
Virginia Restoryation Report: What lessons did the data teach us? (Webinar)
October 3, 2024, 2pm-3:30pm
Virginia Restoryation Report Q&A (Webinar)
November 18, 2024, 11am-12pm
What can we do to respond to the findings?
In response to Restoryation findings, as well as other recent needs assessments in Virginia and nationally, the Action Alliance is thrilled to announce that we have partnered with national and state leaders in the sexual and domestic violence field to launch an exciting new training and technical assistance initiative to improve the conditions of advocates in the movement, called the Emergence Project.
Emergence will promote practices for strengthening individual, organizational, and community 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.
Emergence launches this month and will continue through 2025. Check out the Emergence offerings through the end of this year.
[1] “Advocates” here is a collective term which includes anyone working to address or prevent sexual and domestic violence.
[2] One of the goals of the project was to ensure that stories of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) workers were elevated by “oversampling” workers who self-identify as belonging to BIPOC communities. 52% of the survey respondents self-identified as BIPOC, while 48% identified as white.
Click the images to access the Virginia ReStoryation Report and the Emergence Project Catalogue.
