June 26th- June 27th 2024
9:00 am – 3:15 pm each day (Agenda (PDF))
Virtual
Late Registration: June 17th – June 25th
Survivors & Students*: $49 | Members: $249 | Non-Members: $349
*Survivor and Student Members not otherwise associated with an organization or agency
Language access is available upon request (please register by June 14th to ensure interpreter availability)
This conference will be recorded. Register to access the recordings after the conference.
8.25 NCHEC CEU’s for CHES®: $50 in addition to the registration fee
Not a Member? Apply to join our coalition!
Register
Our movement was built on grassroots activism, with people opening their homes to loved ones who were experiencing abuse, coming together to create safe houses and resources for more people, and creating a culture where society recognizes that abuse is unacceptable
We’ve made great progress towards ending domestic violence. This year we’ll be gathering to deepen our roots and revisit the values on which it was created— transformation and liberation. This conference is all about providing the education, skills, knowledge, strategies, and tools we can use to grow.
We’ll be having critical conversations to ask ourselves questions like:
- To prevent domestic violence, how can we partner with intersectional efforts to build collective power?
- How can we meet survivors and families where they are?
- What systemic and policy changes can we make in our community?
We’ll also be discussing questions that have come up since our movement has become an established field:
- How can we shift power within our efforts to underrepresented voices frame our approach?
- How are our organizations encouraging, identifying, and supporting emerging leaders?
- How can we offer support that isn’t dependent upon the survivor leaving or the one who caused harm going to jail?
Join us for two days of inspiring workshops, networking, conversations, and growth. We can’t wait to have you join us in our collective pursuit of transformation and liberation.
We’re excited to announce our Virtual Statewide Domestic Violence Conference has been approved for a total of 8.25 entry-level CECH for CHES®!
The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence is designated as a provider of Category 1 continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.
Workshop Session 1
ReBoot: Healing and Accountability for People Who Cause Harm
Nefta Pereda, Chief Program Officer, Radiant Futures
The presentation introduces ReBoot, a 4-week program designed for individuals causing harm in domestic violence situations. It explores seven character virtues-Acceptance, Integrity, Personal Responsibility, Courage, Purpose, Flexibility, and Gratitude-fostering healing and personal growth. The implementation process is detailed, emphasizing weekly sessions structured around self-reflection, discussion, and homework. Impact and promising results are highlighted through testimonials and preliminary data, showcasing transformative journeys. Challenges such as addressing resistance and ensuring continued support beyond the program are acknowledged, along with future directions to enhance ReBoot’s reach and accessibility. The significance of ReBoot in addressing domestic violence is emphasized, inviting collaboration and support. The presentation ends with remarks on the journey towards healing and accountability, followed by a Q&A session to engage further with the audience.
Together is where we save lives: Talking about domestic violence & firearms
Pamela Mejia, Director of Research and Associate Program Director, Berkeley Media Studies Group
We can’t talk about safety, justice, or liberation – for Black and Brown people or for anyone in California – unless we’re also talking about how to address domestic violence involving firearms. But despite the wealth of evidence, when we talk about domestic violence, we don’t often talk about firearms – and when we talk about firearms, we don’t often talk about domestic violence. This workshop will focus on how advocates can change the conversation.
Intersecting Paths: Bridging Generational Gaps in DV Advocacy
Lizette Roeder, Bilingual DV Response Coordinator, AZ Coalition to End Domestic Violence
As of 2024, domestic violence direct services programs are providing crucial support to individuals spanning six generations: traditionalists, baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, Gen Z, and even Gen Alpha. This workshop emphasizes the importance of feeling comfortable in interacting with individuals from different generations within the context of domestic violence advocacy. As we know, domestic violence can occur at any life stage, and understanding the intergenerational lens is an important component of providing trauma-informed care. Join us to explore strategies for effectively engaging with and supporting survivors from diverse generational backgrounds, fostering empathy, strengthening protective factors, and enhancing our collective impact in the healing journey of all individuals we support, regardless of age.
How Emerging Mobile Technology is Transforming Traditional Service Delivery
Kara Wasser, CEO/Founder, OhanaLink Technologies
We know that emerging technologies, in large part, hold the answers to addressing the increasing numbers of domestic and sexual abuse incidents across the United States. Meeting victims where they are on their mobile devices – is critical to effectively address the rising demand for services. Service providers will better understand how accelerating the adoption of innovative, safe mobile technologies can empower and enable advocates to increase agency effectiveness and improve the quality of access to services for victims.
In addition, the workshop will address how transforming the traditional agency service model, redesigning how services are being provided and how centralization of services can DECREASE operational costs while also paving the way to INCREASE their capacity to serve additional numbers of victims/survivors in their respective communities.
Workshop Session 2
Finding Financial Freedom from Coerced Debts
Rachelle Neshkes, Senior Attorney, Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice
Kenneth Gonzalez Santibanez, Legal Advocate, Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice
For years, survivors of domestic violence have suffered enormous financial losses as a result of intimate partner violence. Advocates across the country have asked law enforcement to make reports of identity theft for fraudulent debts. These are debts or charges that were made without the survivor’s knowledge or consent. But these are not the only types of charges ruining the financial credit of survivors. An additional group of debts are incurred by a survivor with their consent, but through duress, intimidation, threat of force, force, fraud, or undue influence.
California SB 975 begins to help survivors recognize and resolve those coerced debts. For debts taken out on or after July 1, 2023, it identifies these coerced debts as fraudulent.
Our workshop will educate attorneys and non-attorney legal advocates on how they can use SB 975 to improve their credit by disputing coerced debts and removing them from a survivor’s credit reports.
Healing the Healers: From PTSD to PTG OR “PTG in Domestic Violence”
Jennifer Barbosa, Director of Outreach & Education, WomenShelter of Long Beach
Nadia Parada, Executive Director, Cornerstone of Hope International
We know PTSD, but what about Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG)?
Perhaps you, your clients, or someone you know who has gone through domestic violence has now found a new appreciation of life, personal strength, and even new career possibilities? Do you know what this transformative process is called?
Is it possible to THRIVE and be in a better position in life after going through one of the most traumatic experiences: domestic violence?
There are only a few books written about it but it is very prevalent in the domestic violence field. We know leaders in the field, staff, and survivors that are living proof of PTG. Let’s acknowledge, celebrate, and empower them!
Professionals with lived experience must be uplifted and equipped to not only cherish PTG for themselves but also integrate it the healing journey of those they serve.
SAPHAL (South Asian Parents: Heal & Learn): Supporting AAPI Parent Wellness
Mullai Sampath, Prevention & Community Education Specialist, Narika
The overall goal of this workshop is to encourage participants to reflect on healthy family relationship promotion in a culturally responsive context. The workshop will open up with facilitated discussions on parenting narratives within collectivist cultures, and how these narratives can be broken through by utilizing empowerment based approaches. Participants will then be introduced to SAPHAL & SAPHAL’s core modules, and how it may be accessed by them & the individuals/families/communities that they work with. Participants will also be given copies of SAPHAL materials, including a healthy relationships workbook and facilitator’s guide.
Game-Changing Strategies: Empowering Unaccompanied Minors Against Violence
Krissia Retana, Prevention Division Manager, Peace Over Violence
Oursession aims to provide participants with essential tools and practices to establish safe, inclusive environments conducive to fostering healthy relationships and respectful behavior among unaccompanied minors.
Drawing from successful programs implemented by Peace Over Violence, we will delve into the root causes of violence and demonstrate how knowledge can drive change and prevent sexual and domestic violence. Moreover, we will tackle the specific obstacles and barriers survivors encounter in seeking justice and maintaining positive momentum in their healing journey.
Peace Over Violence will showcase its strategic use of soccer to engage recently arrived minors and their caretakers. In partnership with LAFC, POV built confidence and provided violence prevention education through sports, utilizing the game to educate youth on issues like power and control, healthy communication, and fostering healthy relationships.
Workshop Session 3 sponsored by Vela
Reimagining Justice: Advocating for Criminalized Survivors of Violence
Ellen (Ellie) Williams, esq., Director, Justice for Incarcerated Survivors Program at the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Selena Faith, Coordinator, Justice for Incarcerated Survivors Program at the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Survivors of domestic violence are too often criminalized as a result of the abuse that they experience. They face substantial challenges within the legal system that lead to frequent arrest and conviction, harsh sentences, and significant barriers to obtaining their release post-conviction. this workshop will explore how and why survivors are criminalized, offering information about the evolution of this problem, including history of the anti-violence and mass incarceration movements, and information about intersectionality with other pertinent topics such as race and gender. Further, this section will present information about what charges are frequently brought and what scenarios lead to survivors being criminalized. Lastly, the workshop will present information about the particular challenges criminalized survivors face in the legal system (and potential for systems/policy change) and provide concrete tools that professionals can utilize in the scope of their work.
Polyvictims: The issue with cult victims and domestic violence
Amber Gray, CEO, Gray’s Trauma-Informed Care Services Corp
Tabitha Chapman, CEO, The Freedom Train Project Inc
This workshop aims to equip professionals with specialized strategies for prevention and intervention tailored to polyvictims of domestic violence, focusing on those emerging from cult environments. Participants will gain insights into the profound psychological conditioning and manipulation used by cults, which differs significantly from other forms of domestic violence. The training will cover identifying signs of cult influence, understanding the unique psychological and social challenges faced by cult victims, and developing tailored support strategies. Interactive sessions will include case studies, group discussions, and role-playing exercises to practice new skills. The workshop will also address the importance of rebuilding trust and autonomy in victims, so that they can survive and thrive after their experiences.
Identity as Empowerment: Cultural identity as a source of healing
Nefta Pereda, Chief Program Officer, Radiant Futures
Recognizing our identity as a source of empowerment and resiliency, we find our power through reclaiming our stories by learning, sharing, and honoring our distinct histories as BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) people and communities, while also unlearning dominant narratives and practices that historically are used to silence our distinct histories. We will do this through discussing the connection between our bodies, our traumas, and our emotions; sharing and honoring our histories, and discuss how we can build community together through understanding interconnectedness. Survivors of domestic violence and all traumas can learn to identify those aspects of their identities that have survived and proven resilient in the face of identity oppression, and take that to further heal our own selves and our communities.
Safely home: Communicating about domestic violence, homelessness, and VOCA
Pamela Mejia, Director of Research and Associate Program Director, Berkeley Media Studies Group
Domestic violence and homelessness are inextricably linked, but they’re often framed as separate and disconnected issues. If we want the public and policymakers to fully understand California’s housing crisis we must shine a light on the role of domestic violence in fueling it, the critical work that prevention advocates and service providers do to keep Californians safely housed – and now, what needs to happen to keep survivors housed in the midst of cuts to VOCA funding.
During this session Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) and the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence will facilitate a discussion about resources and recommendations to support advocates as they communicate with funders, policymakers, and the media about domestic violence and homelessness against the backdrop of funding cuts.
Mothyna James-Brightful: Echoes of Change: The Power of Storytelling
“Echoes of Change: The Power of Storytelling” is a transformative session designed for professionals in the non-profit sector dedicated to addressing domestic violence. Through the lens of trauma-informed storytelling, attendees will explore the profound impact of their work and learn how to communicate their organization’s mission and achievements effectively. From grant writing to community engagement, this session offers practical insights and real-world examples to empower participants to shape narratives that resonate with audiences and drive meaningful change. Join us in harnessing the power of storytelling to create a culture of empathy and understanding, uphold the dignity of every individual on their healing journey.
Maestro Jerry Tello: Stori-healing: Our Journey Towards Recovery Our Sacredness
We all come from a Sacred story that is the continuation of our ancestors journey. Along the path are the blessings and the challenges that can either reinforce our sacredness or wound our spirits. The power of our story and our ability to acknowledge, understand, heal and transform those life lessons into sacred teachings that can allow us to interrupt cycles of trauma and reground us and all our relations in circles of health and healing. Maestro Tello will guide us, through this process of story and therapeutic reflection of the 4 stage process of Transformational Healing.
Theda New Breast: Heal so you can hear what’s being said without the filter of your wounds
A storytelling format of Tribal experiences from 1960-Now. Hurt people Hurt People and Healing People Heal People. Role of Ancestral Knowledge, Rites-of-Passage, Cultural Identity, and Sobriety play in violence Prevention and Healing! Stories of how Native Women heal, how Native Men heal, and how LGBTQ2S heal will be shared.
Sponsors:
Sponsor the conference
Sponsors have the opportunity to connect directly with hundreds of advocates, community members, and survivors actively engaged in their communities including survivors and victims of crime. Please email Valarie at Valarie@cpedv.org for more information about sponsorship opportunities.
Questions? Please contact us at conference@cpedv.org.
This conference was supported by funding awarded by State Grant #BW23 26 1577 through the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES).
