Empowered Women Breaking Down the Bystander Effect

Hello friends!

We started our day at 9:30 a.m. visiting the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, an organization that’s mission is to care for victims of any kind. We had the opportunity to focus on the sexual assault department and how they help survivors. We met Chantel who is an advocate for victims of sexual assault. She spoke about what the facility consists of and their mission and vision as an organization.

Then she gave us an educational tour of the building. Two areas we found the most impactful were the 211 call center, where dispatchers receive incoming calls for a variety of situations from paying your electric bill to suicide prevention.  We found it powerful how these dispatchers are strong enough not only to hear the calls, but also make an active effort to help. The second area we found to be impactful was the examination room, where rape kits are administered. We had the opportunity to see what a rape kit consists of and were able to get a glimpse of the emotions that the victims might be feeling.

After lunch, we were given a presentation on Green Dot, which is a bystander training program. We started off with a focus group discussing situations of sexual assault, domestic assault, and child abuse from our personal experiences and relating it back to our own community. We discovered that there are three categories of ways to help as a bystander: direct, delegate, and distract. We both felt we could most relate to the concept of distraction. After receiving this presentation, we feel compelled to apply what we learned to create a safer environment at our Erie campus.

We concluded our time with the Crisis Center with some light service by creating packets for direct and secondary victims of assault. Although this may seem like a tedious task, they were very appreciative of our small act of kindness.

To end our day, we came together and reflected as a group. We went through our highs and lows of the day, listened to “Warrior” by Demi Lovato, wrote our reactions to some positive and negative images that relate to the trip, and lastly, listened to a powerful speech given by Halsey at a Women’s March.

We end today feeling empowered.

-Bailey and Petra :)