Alverno Forum Will Explore the Impact of Care After Sexual Assault

April 11, 2019

For those who have experienced sexual assault, the trauma is relived over and over as they navigate their way through the aftermath. Whether they're seeking medical help, talking with counselors or advocates, or reporting the assault to police and working with prosecutors, the repeated reliving of the experience can be an ordeal.

At this forum, the panelists will share their research, experience, and expertise as they explore the impact of care after sexual assault. The goals of the discussion are to:

• Enhance our understanding of the various agencies and processes involved after a sexual assault.
• Identify key research to guide change in the systemic response to sexual assault.
• Have a dialogue that promotes ongoing quality of care for individuals affected by sexual assault.

Strategize approaches for collaboration between agencies to provide support and advocacy for individuals affected by sexual assault and their families.

Presenters include:

• Sameena Mulla, PhD, associate professor of anthropology at Marquette University. Mulla won the 2017 Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropology Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology for her work on sexual assault intervention in the United States.
• Laci Oyler, MA, LPC, counselor at Alverno College. Oyler previously worked at The Women's Center and as a crisis counselor at the Sexual Assault Treatment Center where she provided advocacy to child and adult survivors of sexual assault and abuse.
• Michelle Zapinski, certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Aurora Behavioral Health Center. She is a trained sexual assault nurse examiner treating both pediatric and adult survivors of sexual assault.
• Melinda Hughes, MEd, MBA, LPC, SAC, founding program director of the Healing Center and former chair of the Milwaukee Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). She currently teaches in Alverno College's Community Psychology master's program, and will moderate the discussion.

The Alverno Forum series seeks to join community leaders in discussing cutting-edge topics that have a daily impact on the lives of people in our community and beyond. The next discussion in this year's series takes place on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m. in the Bucyrus Conference Center inside the Sister Joel Read Center. The Alverno Forum series is free and open to the public. For more details, please visit our website at alverno.edu/forum.