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In the wake of the #MeToo movement, community based sexual assault and rape crisis programs across Colorado are struggling to meet the needs of survivors.

Erinn Robinson, press secretary for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, said the social movement has opened the floodgates to survivors coming forward, and sexual assault service providers are grappling with the influx.

“We’re humbled and honored to be (helping survivors), but I think the conversation that we’re having culturally and as a society is also putting an additional demand on sexual assault service providers,” she said.

The state has experienced a steady rise in reported non consensual sex crimes for the last five years, and Colorado now has the fifth highest rate in the country. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported a 28% increase in reported cases from 5,442 in 2013 to 6,975 cases in 2018.

Read the complete interview here.

We are bombarded daily with news stories that negatively impact our mind, bodies, and souls with secondary trauma. Miriam Schiff interviews Dr. Janine D’Anniballe,  Director of Trauma Services and Moving to End Sexual Assault at Mental Health Partners, about learning what secondary trauma is, how it feels, and how to build our own resiliency.

Listen to the complete interview here.

Lafayette-based Moving to End Sexual Assault, a program of nonprofit Mental Health Partners, announced Friday it received a $33,299 grant to support survivors from traditionally underserved populations.

The one-year grant is out of the office of the federal Victims of Crime Act that seeks to help victims through means other than punishing criminals.

Moving to End Sexual Assault, MESA, was awarded the funding to conduct support groups for sexual assault survivors who identify as LGBTQIA, with the latter two letters including intersex and asexual individuals, as well as older people and immigrants to the United States.

Read the complete interview here.

A professor at the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business surveyed women from 2016 to 2018 and found that they experienced sexual harassment less often, but gender harassment more often.

Stefanie Johnson, an associate professor in the school, credits both of the results to the #MeToo movement, which is a movement against sexual assault and harassment that began in 2006 and was popularized through use of the hashtag on social media in 2017.

Gender harassment, or a show of hostility toward women, increased as a backlash to the #MeToo movement, Johnson theorizes.

Janine D’Anniballe, director of rape crisis center Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA), said she has also seen backlash to the #MeToo movement. She agrees with Johnson and thinks it’s a reaction from men who feel threatened by the movement and shift in power.

Read the complete interview here.

Fievel, Moving to End Sexual Assault’s first four-legged employee, is celebrating his one-year anniversary as the crisis center’s facility dog.

The golden retriever lab mix plays no small role in MESA’s mission, which is to provide support and services to survivors of sexual assault. Since Fievel’s May 2018 arrival at the Boulder- and Broomfield-based center, he has assisted more than 700 clients.

MESA’s partnership with an assistance dog began more than two years ago, when MESA Director Janine D’Anniballe took action on her vision to implement a furry friend to comfort clients in the midst of dealing with their respective traumatic experiences.

Read the complete interview here.

The issue of asking for consent before any physical interaction appears to at the forefront of the news today.

We are witnessing rape trials and judges allowing alleged rapists to walk away with probation or no more than a slap on the wrist.

What impact does it have and message is it sending to both our male and female communities?

Host Miriam Schiff is joined by Janine D’Anniballe, Ph.D. a licensed psychologist and a nationally recognized expert in sexual assault and traumatic stress, and treatment for survivors.  Dr. D’Anniballe currently serves as the Director of Trauma Services at Mental Health Partners in Lafayette, Colorado.  She also has been the Director of Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA), the rape crisis center serving Boulder and Broomfield Countiesin Colorado for the last 20 years.

Listen to the complete interview here.

Every year in April, MESA – and sexual assault prevention organizations across the country – promotes Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), which is used to shine a spotlight on what Janine D’Anniballe, Director, refers to as an “epidemic crime.”

Read the complete interview here.