Meet the Advocates Transcript
[Music]
[Ashley] You are listening to Gen(der) Ed, a podcast created and hosted by Virginia Tech’s Women’s Center. Join us in celebrating the experiences, achievements, and diversity within our campus community. Our conversations will explore the intersection of gender and other identities and cover topics on leadership, equity, wellbeing, and healthy relationships.
Conversations in this episode may cover a range of topics, such gender, sexual violence and other forms of power-based violence and harassment. While we hope to have meaningful and relatable conversation, this podcast is not intended to provide therapy, legal counsel, or specific advice for meeting your unique needs around coping with personal or community trauma and discrimination. To report a bias incident, please contact the Dean of Students office at 540-231-3787 or use the reporting form found at dos.vt.edu. If you are in need of identity based support, connect with the Cultural and Community Centers at ccc.vt.edu or 540-231-8584. If you have questions, concerns, or needs related to your mental health and well being, please contact Cook Counseling at 540-231-6557 for more information. You can also make an appointment for Advocacy at the Women’s Center via email to wcsupport@vt.edu or contacting our office Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm at 540-231-7806.
[Katie] Welcome back everyone. We're thrilled to be in our second season of Gen(der) Ed. My name is Katie and I’m here with my co host Ashley.
[Ashley] Thanks for joining us today. To kick off the new school year we wanted to take some time to introduce you to some of our newest staff members. Today we have two of our advocacy coordinators here with us, Shannon Alford and Muriel Vinson. So let's start with some introductions. Shannon, can you tell us a little bit, a little bit about yourself, and why do you like being an advocate.
[Shannon] Yes. So, I am a North Carolinian born and raised from the southeastern part of North Carolina. I have over a decade of experience in higher ed serving in various roles. Majority of that time spent in student affairs and throughout my experience in higher ed have had an opportunity to serve as an advocate, more sober tenants of policy and procedures and indirectly advocating for others, mostly students; and I love being an advocate, because it gives me an opportunity to live out my purpose and passion to inspire others and to be a safe place for someone that may need help.
[Ashley] Awesome. We love that. So thank you so much for sharing. Muriel, can you introduce yourself and share with us why you like being an advocate.
[Muriel] Hello. Yes, my name is Muriel like you said, and I'm actually a Blacksburg native. So, my mom got her PhD at Virginia Tech and we moved here for that when I was about seven, and have just been connected to the town ever since. I went to Virginia Tech as an undergrad for psychology and really just never looked back. I've been working with clients since about 2017 in different settings, whether that's in their homes or at schools, and I've worked with people across different ages and my background is in something called somatic psychotherapy which you can learn about on the Women's Center website. But what I love most about being an advocate, really is just being a source of support for people who need it and don't know where else to turn and feel like they're, they just need that level of confidential trustworthy professional support. I really love being able to provide that and you know give people the reassurance and the confidence that they're not alone in what they're going through.
[Katie] Wonderful. Thanks so much, we are so thrilled to have you both on our team, and to bring your passions and experience into the work of the Women's Center and in the years to come.
So for those who don't know, can you talk about what advocacy and support services from the Women's Center look like.
[Shannon} Sure, so we provide a variety of advocacy and services here at the Women's Center. So we provide, provide a trauma informed advocacy, one on one advocacy, as well as crisis management. We also provide academic assistance to someone needs it, and connect them to the various offices on campus, whether it's, you know, reporting options if they decide to report; you know, the trauma they've encountered; maybe they would like to be connected to the Counseling Center, on whether that's Cook, or maybe counseling in the community, so we also provide them with those referrals if needed. Also we, you know, provide them with the option to meet with Title Nine, to figure out what that reporting system and investigation would look like if they opt to do so. And also provide them with a little bit of background information regarding Student Conduct meetings as well. Clients also have the option as well if they want to try to obtain a protective order, and in those cases we would accompany them to the courthouse, also serve as advocate with them if they want to report to the police department as well. and then accompany them to actual court, court proceedings. And then an additional, whether someone has encountered you know secondary violence or primary violence, we provide assistance to friends as well, friends and family members that may have family members who have been impacted by violence.
[Katie] Great, thanks for that overview Shannon. What can someone expect when they meet with an advocate?
[Muriel] Well you can expect to hear from someone either via phone call or email to set up an appointment, and generally our advocates will go over our services which Shannon just mentioned, as well as our confidentiality policy. So we are a confidential service, which is unique. Another confidential service is Cook Counseling Center. A lot of other services on campus are not necessarily confidential. So we'll go over that, and then from there, everything we offer is really directed by our clients, so in other words is client centered. We're not going to pressure people who come in, force people, you know, put any judgment or anything to move in any direction, one way or another. Really it's all about identifying what the person who's coming in identifying their needs and presenting you know the different options of how they can address whatever they're coming in for, or maybe just process. There may not need to be an additional step to take but just clarity. So, yeah, I would say for folks who come in we help them identify what their needs are, and then present some options and we just go from there.
[Katie] Right so important to remind folks that, you know, we are confidential and, and we're a space that's going to support whatever choice you need to make next and try to connect you to those resources. Who can access our advocacy services?
[Shannon] So despite our title being the Women's Center we actually serve anyone so faculty, staff and students, regardless of one's identity, if they need any type of help or assistance if they come to the Women's Center or access our services via email or phone we serve them. We won't turn anyone away. Also, with that being said depending on the need of the client. If we are not the best resource and they need to be referred out maybe to a community organization, or some other resources in the community, we will do that as well. Our top priority is our clients and their needs, and we will work with them to provide them with their options, and allow them to make the best decision for themselves.
[Katie] Great, and Muriel I know you touched on this a bit before but how would someone make an appointment with the Women’s Center?
[Muriel] So folks can call the Women's Center at 540-231-7806, to make an appointment. Another way you could make an appointment is to email wcsupport@vt.edu. I will say, when you email, we can't guarantee confidentiality so maybe don't put all of the details of what's going on in the email, and just say hey, I need to see an advocate, but you can call or email and somebody will get back to you within the next few hours.
[Ashley] Super. Thank you so much for sharing all that and we'll definitely make sure to link all this information on our podcast website as well so make sure you can get connected if you need support. So to help our listeners get to know you as advocates more and provide some insight as to what an advocacy appointment would look like specifically if they worked with you, I wanted to ask you some rapid fire questions. So to start with, in one word, how would you hope someone would feel after they meet with you.
[Shannon] My one word would be empowered.
[Muriel] And my one word would be relieved.
[Ashley] Really good words, and we hope, really positive experiences that our clients will have with you all. So, after they meet with you, they're feeling empowered, they're feeling relieved, what is your favorite tool that you use when you meet with someone.
[Shannon] I look at my favorite tool as simply listening. I know it takes a lot of courage for someone to share their story and there's power in one story. And so definitely my number one tool is listening and making sure that I'm present as I talk with the client, so that I can assess their needs.
[Muriel] And I would say my favorite tool is probably reflection and validation. So a lot of times people come in with some amount of discomfort in the form of guilt or shame or confusion. And so I really like to reflect back emotional states that that person could be feeling to provide some clarity and also validate those emotions.
[Ashley] Yes, love to hear that and so it sounds like, no matter if they meet with Muriel or Shannon you're going to be heard. And you're going to have that space for yourself to process whatever you're, you're going through. So what is unique about meeting with you, specifically as an advocate.
[Shannon] So for me, I would say, I definitely believe in saying that you can't teach someone how to care. And so one thing I would say to be unique about me is me definitely getting to know the client as an individual. So of course, folks come from various backgrounds and have various experience and definitely being intentional in building that rapport and looking at an individual for who they are and not letting maybe their circumstances, you know dictate, you know, what type of assistance or advocacy that I give them.
[Muriel] And I would say definitely my somatic background. So for those of you listening who don't know “soma” is Greek for body. So I invite a lot of awareness around what's happening in the body as we engage with what my clients' needs are, particularly in identifying triggers and helping to manage the symptoms of those triggers. So, I might ask a client, Well, when you think about that what's happening in your body, you know and, and there might be symptoms like their breathing starts to get shallow and fast or their hands get sweaty and hot or their head starts to hurt or pressure on their chest. These are super common and very normal. There's a psychological and physiological reason why our body responds this way, but a lot of times we don't necessarily consciously exercise awareness of this as a way our body is communicating to us about our emotional state and what we need in that moment to manage that, so I really love to bring that in and it seems to be a big help to folks.
[Ashley] Yes. Love that. So then our last question is, why would you encourage someone to meet with an advocate?
[Shannon] So for me, as I said before, I believe that there is power in one’s story and owning their story and their experiences and so I would encourage someone to meet an advocate, simply so they have the opportunity to be heard. Also to be in a space where it’s confidential and not to receive any judgment, and also to know that whatever they share in that space, um, you know, they will be believed, and they'll be given the best resources to become the best version of themselves.
[Muriel] Absolutely definitely echo that. I would add to just not go through whatever they're going through by themselves. That to me is the hardest, especially, especially when trauma is involved. Like I said I'm a body person so I know the impact of trauma on the body and how it can be held in the body in different ways, and how that can impact our ability to fulfill our academic responsibilities, whether students, staff or faculty. So, definitely, for me, it's to just have somebody a sounding board to talk to, to process, to externalize the experience to hopefully, you know, transform transcend it in some way and get to some point of some level of healing.
[Katie] Shannon, Muriel thank you again for taking the time to chat with us so our community could get to know you a little better, and learn a little more about our services at the Women's Center as we move into this new academic semester. To our listeners, if you're looking for advocacy and support services, please check out our website for more information. You can find us at womenscenter.vt.edu/advocacy.
[Music]
This has been episode 15 of Gender Ed, a podcast from the Women’s Center, hosted by Katie and Ashley. Thank you for listening and we hope that you join us next time.