Will you be a part of building a new, innovative response to interpersonal violence in our community?

Reflective Advocacy seeks to build capacity in community groups to address organizational crises with the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to reduce, prevent and transform interpersonal harm.

We believe that informed and well-equipped individuals and organizations can identify and respond effectively in the early stages to change the conditions that allow interpersonal violence to escalate.

Survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence first disclosures are typically to leaders in their natural social systems, and unfortunately, these groups are usually unequipped to respond appropriately.  Poor responses to these disclosures exponentially increase the impact of trauma and often enable or embolden further violence.

Reflective Advocacy does what mainstream organizations cannot do--we work with groups to appropriately support all involved, including the person who caused harm.  We do not address these issues from a binary, punitive model, and we believe that with the right tools, communities are capable of keeping each other safe, of holding folks accountable and of providing paths toward personal and collective transformation.  

In her 13 years as an advocate, our founder heard thousands of survivors wish someone compassionate, informed, and boundaried would engage with the person harming them.  Over and over, they sought resources outside of the punitive and retraumatizing criminal justice system but found none.  Time and again, survivors at extremely high risk of homicide shared how they had disclosed their situation in the early stages of the relationship, but the often well-intended but ill-informed response from their community further isolated them.  Our courts are packed with interpersonal violence cases, but very few of the folks seeking protection will find it there, the folks causing harm will occassionally find punishment, but none of them will find an opportunity for meaningful accountability and transformation, and the communities that these folks are part of will not have the opportunity to learn how they can reduce this violence going forward.  Reflective Advocacy creates a new path informed by survivors and with belief that we, collectively, can do better.

Reflective Advocacy leans into the deeply intersectional work of Miriame Kaba and other abolitionist feminists to seek a new response to interpersonal violence.  Instead of waiting until it escalates to life-threatening situations and then trying to punish the person causing harm, we build up communities to intervene early, wrap the survivors in meaningful safety and support, and create paths to transform the harm.

Please show your support by giving today.  Your gift will help us build the foundation of this work.  With it we will build our online presence, meet legal requirements, obtain insurance, develop materials, foster partnerships, pay membership dues, and begin reaching out to groups who could benefit. 

We're ready to work, have already contracted with our first client, and are excited to see what's possible with your support.