By RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
Jana’s Campaign and Options Domestic & Sexual Violence teamed up to host an Ellis County Community Forum inside the Hays Public Library on Saturday to address relationship violence in the community. Both organizations aimed to educate Kansans on the needs and challenges regarding dating and domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, and gain insight on how to strengthen prevention efforts.
The forum was led by speakers Kaite Blackburn, Whitney Gershner, Anniston Weber and Meagan Zampieri-Lillpopp, who represented both groups.
Whitney Gernshner and Anniston Weber presented statistical data on relationship violence cases in Ellis County. 
Blackburn tells the backstory of how Jana’s Campaign was founded. 
Approximately 176 individuals responded to the survey, with most of them aged 25-54, female and Caucasian. 
The predominant types of sexual violence were sexual assault, coercion, physical contact and verbal harassment. 
Most of the respondents faced abuse of violence from people they knew. 
More information from the presentation. 
Meagan Zampieri-Lillpopp weighs in on how to prevent relationship violence in the Ellis County area. 
Resources for victims seeking help were written down for enhancing prevention programs. 
Jana’s Campaign and Options Domestic & Sexual Violence Services host a community forum to provide relationship violence education.
Blackburn, the executive director of Jana’s Campaign, began the forum by emphasizing how the issue pertains to Jana Mackey, a dating violence victim whose death ties into the group’s mission.
“We are a national education and violence prevention organization,” she said. “We were created in honor of Janna Mackey, who lost her life to violence perpetrated by her ex-boyfriend. We have three main programs: secondary ed, higher ed and community ed, and this work fits in all three of those program areas.”
Weber, the community engagement and sexual violence response coordinator at Options, explained her group’s work in violence prevention.
“We provide direct services to individuals who have experienced domestic and sexual violence, stalking and human trafficking,” she said. “Our services are 24 hours and they are free, voluntary, and confidential. We offer support through court, legal, and law enforcement advocacy. When somebody needs to leave an abusive relationship and is fleeing or experiencing homelessness due to abuse, we have places for them to go.”
Options recently surveyed the Ells County area’s perspectives on violence, causes of violence, and what assets can be used for support systems.
“We had 176 individuals,” Weber said. “The bulk of the information is coming from 25 to 54-year-olds. We had a majority female but a good male turnout as well. About a fifth of people responded that they’ve never experienced some type of sexual violence in their life. 12.2% of people have experienced sexual assault and 17.9% experienced coercion. Physical or unwanted physical contact is 21.9%, and verbal harassment is 27.7%.”
Weber mentioned that most individuals reported that the abuse they experienced came from people they know.
“When you think of sexual violence, our brains go to the stranger in the alley than somebody you know,” she said. “Based off of our findings, most people already knew who the person who assaulted them was, and that included youth group leaders, significant others and family members.”
Other statistics showed that 59.3% of people who were sexually assaulted were not intoxicated, while 7.7% were too intoxicated to give consent, 17% said sexual violence occurred when they were under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and 33.2% said the violence occurred when they perpetrator was under the influence.
“At Options, we say alcohol doesn’t cause sexual assault,” Weber said. “Rapists cause rape, but people use alcohol as a tool to do those terrible things.”
Gershner, the marketing and engagement specialist at Jana’s Campaign, explained the issues that relationship and sexual violence correlate with.
“[We asked if] any of these is an ongoing problem for the community,” she said. “The top one is alcohol abuse, and then drug abuse, child abuse, child neglect, child care options, access to mental health services, limited transportation, hunger and food insecurity, poverty, lack of employment opportunities and suicide at the bottom.”
Many statistics in the survey showed that relationship violence often included emotional blackmail, in which perpetrators blamed their partners or threatened suicide if the relationship ended, property destruction, stealing, strangling, pushing, grabbing and hitting.
“Those two threats are questions that also appear on the lethality assessment that the police recently implemented in Ellis County,” Options Director of Client Services Zampieri-Lillpopp said. “Those questions help indicate that the abusive relationship is particularly dangerous.”
Other statistics showed that 49.6% of victims told a friend or family member about the abuse they endured, while 21.4% met an advocate, counselor, or therapist for help and 8.7% said they reported their abuse to law enforcement, but 20.3% said they used drugs or alcohol as coping mechanisms.
“We asked if people were familiar with the services we have in the community,” Weber said. “Most people responded yes but from this data, people are not waiting to reach out for help after they experience that kind of violence.”
Blackburn stressed prevention education occurs precisely because of people’s reluctance to seek help.
“If they’re not going to direct services like Options or even reporting to authorities, family and friends need to know how to respond,” she said. “They should also offer to go with them to Options, or to make that phone call together, or go with them to local law enforcement to report that there needs to be education abroad so folks know how to respond and not victim-blame when they come forward.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship violence, dial 911 or go to https://www.janascampaign.org/ and https://help4abuse.org/ for assistance.