May Rico, Executive Director of Haven Women’s Center of Stanislaus | Register for Shifting the Lens Today

“We work with survivors to heal the effects of abuse. We work with systems to change the societal attitudes that cause abuse to happen to begin with. But for people who choose to use violence? As a society, we throw them away or ignore what they did. We don’t know how to respond other than with one of those two extremes. Healing is not found in extremes. We have to find another way. We have to find a way that centers the experience of the survivor in safety and empowerment while providing a path for the person who abused that includes accountability and redemption should they choose to walk it.”