Speaker: Virginia Duplessis; Associate Director of Health at Futures Without Violence

For nearly three decades, gender-based violence has been recognized as a public health issue. More recently, the public health field has acknowledged how systems of oppression and injustice have contributed to health disparities; with a disproportionate impact on survivor health and wellbeing. This session will frame our gender-based violence prevention efforts through a health equity lens, with the goal of creating equitable access to the resources necessary for survivor wellbeing and self-determination. The presenter will explore strategies for creating the social conditions against gender-based violence at the individual, relationship, community, and societal level; such that survivor health outcomes are not the result of interpersonal or structural oppression.

Speaker: Arlene Vassell, Founding Director of TooREL Institute for Social Change

In a world where racial inequities and systemic injustices continue to create barriers for individuals and communities to flourish and thrive, it is essential for each of us to confront the biases that shape our own perspectives and actions.

How do we contribute to the injustices and oppressions experienced by many - but not all.
What is your role in perpetuating systemic oppression?

In this thought-provoking session, the presenter will invite participants on a transformative journey to deeply examine personal biases and the systemic inequities that exist within their workplaces and communities.

Through reflective questions and activities, we will explore the ways in which our actions or inactions uphold existing power structures and hinder the social transformation that we all desire. The presenter will share strategies for confronting biases and institutional racism, emphasizing the importance of equity and accountability. Participants will leave this session inspired to transform their communities into spaces where every person is seen, heard, valued, and respected, fostering environments where all individuals are thriving rather than merely surviving.

Speaker Bio: Ashleigh Klein-Jimenez (she/her), MPA; Director of Prevention at ValorUS

This session will highlight the remarkable advancements in the IPV prevention movement over the past several decades. Attendees will explore what prevention efforts looked like in the past, the valuable lessons learned along the way, and how these insights are shaping our future strategies. Together, we'll celebrate our progress and ignite enthusiasm for the path ahead in creating safer communities for all.

Presenter: Sloan Thompson, Director of Training & Education at EndTAB

Description: More and more, individuals are living their sexual and romantic lives online, which means that the digital world is becoming the site of an increasing amount of sexual abuse. In this session, we will explore several common forms of image-based sexual abuse, including nonconsensual intimate image sharing, cyberflashing, and sextortion scams. Participants will learn how these unique forms of violence impact the lives of victims, how to respond to incidents and support survivors, and how to employ simple and accessible strategies to prevent future harm.

Presenters: Courtney Hyland, Associate Director of Prevention Education & Vimarsha Sital, Bilingual Prevention Education and Outreach Specialist at The Retreat
Description: Led by prevention educators from The Retreat, this workshop will focus on key topics in youth programming to promote healthy relationships for teens. We’ll discuss digital challenges, boundary-setting, and conversation starters for parents and youth-serving adults. The session will highlight insights from high school students in The Retreat’s Teen Leadership Council, a community service program on Long Island’s East End. Participants will learn instructional strategies and activities for use with youth, including online workshop topics and digital tools, as well as ways to support teens with appropriate language and resources.
Please let us know if you have any questions.

Presenter: Rus Funk, MSW & CSE; Activist, Consultant, Trainer at Rus Funk Consulting
Description: All available evidence suggests that a vast majority of men regularly view pornography. Generally speaking these men view mainstream pornography. The messages and values that men internalize as a result of viewing pornography has significant (although largely ignored) implications for efforts to engage and mobilize men and boys to prevent gender-based violence.
This interactive workshop will provide an overview of what we know about men’s experiences of viewing pornography. Note: we will focus primarily on heterosexual men and their experience of viewing mainstream pornography. We will further explore the implications for our prevention efforts and explore some ways to engage men to critically reflect on their pornography viewing habits and how it might conflict with our goals of promoting healthy sexuality.

Presenter: Ashleigh Klein-Jimenez (she/her), MPA; Director of Prevention at ValorUS
Description: This workshop session will explore effective strategies for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) while highlighting the connections to various social justice issues such as Reproductive Justice and Economic Justice. Participants will discover a range of practical tools and resources that can enhance their prevention efforts, no matter where they are in their journey. The session will foster engaging discussions on how to create supportive environments and empower communities to take action against violence.

Presenter: Sloan Thompson, Director of Training & Education at EndTAB
Description: The digital landscape is evolving every day, and each new technology comes with its own unique risks and harms. As prevention and response professionals, we need to stay up-to-date with new developments so we can support survivors of digital violence in all of its forms. In this session, we will learn about some of the latest advancements in the digital world - such as generative AI, voice cloning, AI companion apps, and more - as well as simple and effective strategies for responding to abuse and preventing future harm.

Presenter: Sara Miller-Hornick aka Miss Couple
Description: This workshop will aim to provide a nuanced understanding of BDSM- distinguishing healthy kink from abuse. We will discuss the principles of Risk Aware Consensual Kink (RACK), risk factors for abuse or re-traumatization, as well as safety considerations with a particular focus on the increase in “choking” behaviors. The session will also introduce the Relationship Power Inventory (RPI) as a tool to assess power dynamics, offering insights and practical tools to support those involved in kink relationships while ensuring safety and consent.

Presenter: Arlene Vassell, Founding Director of TooREL Institute for Social Change
Description: This workshop will continue the conversation started during the plenary session facilitated by Arlene Vassell and will provide participants with an opportunity for reflection, visioning, and action planning. We will continue to explore the vital connections between racial equity, liberation, and violence prevention.

Participants will be introduced to the Roots, Equity, and Liberation (REL)™ framework, which extends beyond traditional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practices. The REL framework empowers service providers to confront and address the root causes of racial inequalities, systemic biases and institutional racism, in order to create safe and thriving communities. The REL framework emphasizes the importance of prioritizing and integrating equity, accountability, healing, and wellness across all levels of the social ecological model, ensuring a culturally attuned and holistic approach to violence prevention.

The facilitator will offer concrete and tangible tools and strategies intended to disrupt unfair and harmful practices and policies, and create safe, inclusive and welcoming environments for all survivors, advocates and preventionists. Together, we will cultivate a shared commitment to fostering inclusivity, equity, justice and healing in our prevention efforts.

Presenter: Virginia Duplessis, Associate Director of Health at Futures Without Violence
Description: Building on the health equity plenary, this session will continue the conversation on how to operationalize health equity principles into our daily work by providing new tools to increase the capacity of advocates to promote survivor health. Following this session, participants will be better able to define health equity as part of gender-based violence prevention and intervention, have practical tools to integrate health equity into their daily work, and identify next steps for creating partnerships with local health organizations.