Elizabeth Reid / Abuse Support and Affinity Group
Fri 5:00pm - 5:50pm
Venue: Front Porch
Co-Creators
Type of Experience: Conversation
Content Type: A safe space for survivors
As a domestic violence crisis counselor, I learned to look for themes of power and control with my clients: who in this situation has power? Who wants control? And what will they do to maintain it? Soon I started to see these dynamics everywhere. Abuse survives in systems that support it. They make up our political and economic institutions as well as our religious organizations. Abuse affects us individually and systemically. In many ways, living in modern American society is to exist in an abusive relationship. It’s easy to identify abuse dynamics when looking at a man who hits his spouse. But those same dynamics are present with the chair of the board of elders who keeps running off preachers or a politician who uses name calling to get the upper hand. I’ll start with a (very) brief introduction, focusing on interpersonal violence and religious abuse. Then I’ll facilitate an affinity group for folks who have directly experienced abuse. In order to maintain a safe space for victims, I will form two circles, with folks directly impacted on the inside and folks who want to listen silently in a wider circle on the outside.