As I started to think of the YWCA’s Week Without Violence, I was trying to imagine what a world without violence would look like. While I was trying to imagine this world, I was distracted by the alerts coming through my phone… deaths from a bar shooting, a food delivery person shot while working, unexplainedRead more
Blog
As a clinician for survivors of sexual assault, I should be in favor of this trending slogan. After all, it was popularized as a result of the #MeToo movement and, more recently, in response to Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony against Brett Kavanaugh. Both of these events have galvanized large sections of the American population intoRead more
If you know six men, the odds are that at least one of them is a survivor of sexual abuse. And if those are the statistics we have right now, chances are the number of men who have experienced or will experience sexual violence is, in reality, higher than 1 in 6. Every person whoRead more
During the weekends, I tend to watch more TV, and my viewing consists of various news shows, news reports, and Harry Potter. This past weekend, news reports were flooded with Harvey Weinstein and the stand against sexual harassment and assault. Then, on Monday morning, I found myself typing on my Facebook Status “ME TOO.” IRead more
12-Member Task Force Includes YWCA Bergen County CEO Helen Archontou June 26, 2017—On Monday, June 26, the NJ Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault released its report Addressing Campus Sexual Violence: Creating Safer Higher Education Communities in a press conference with Task Force bill co-sponsors Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle and New Jersey State Senator SandraRead more
For over 25 years, healingSPACE has been working toward the elimination of sexual violence in Bergen County, NJ. As the largest Sexual Violence Resource Center in New Jersey, we are at the forefront of the fight to end these crimes. One of our proudest achievements is our Clothesline Project. The Clothesline Project, a collection ofRead more
The crux of sexual violence is power and control. Perpetrators exert their power and control using any means necessary, leaving survivors feeling fearful, powerless, and voiceless. What happens then, when perpetrators have institutions behind them? Institutional abuse and the systemic role in rape is not a new concept. Violence against women can easily be tracedRead more
At Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) Shipping 2017, Helen Archontou, CEO of YWCA Bergen County (NJ) facilitated a March 20th workshop on sexual assault prevention and response (SAPR) as part of Seafarers’ Welfare Parallel Sessions of the North American Maritime Ministry Association (NAMMA). Provided as a service to first responders supporting seafarers’ welfare, the workshop addressedRead more
You might’ve been wondering why we’ve not said a lot about the presidential campaign. You would think, because-for the first time in our nation’s history-there’s a woman running as a major party candidate and because sexual conduct has been such a galvanizing part of the conversation that we, with our mission of women’s empowerment andRead more
“It was almost 25 years ago when I found myself in harm’s way and in desperate need to escape a violent relationship that I had endured for far too long. For some time I had known that if I was going to live, the marriage would have to end. During that last beating, when IRead more
