Program Notes: Sharon Travis, Prevention Specialist with the Nashville Sexual Assault Center

Introduction by Amanda Lee (VP Programs)

The Sexual Assault Center (SAC) opened its doors in 1978. Our mission is to provide healing for children, adults and families affected by sexual assault and to end sexual violence through counseling, education and advocacy.

How can we help you and the ones you love?

We provide:

  • Counseling: Our therapists are specialists in the field; individual treatment plans are created using a variety of evidence-based or evidence-informed practices.
  • Education: Our primary prevention programs teach the skills needed to recognize, respond to and eliminate sexual violence.
  • Advocacy: We provide assistance regarding the criminal justice system and referrals to community resources
  • Crisis Support: Our programs provide urgent support and assistance immediately following a sexual assault.

We serve:

  • Children: Children and teenagers who have been sexually abused or raped
  • Adults: Adults who were abused as children and rape survivors of all ages
  • Families: Non-offending acregivers, family members and significant others
  • Community: Everyone who want so learn prevention skills

24 Hour Crisis and Support Line: 800-879-1999

Amanda Lee introduces Sharon Travis:

Today we have the honor of hearing from Sharon Travis. She is a Prevention Specialist at the Sexual Assault Center here in Nashville. Her professional experience spans over 20 years working with youth, parents and professionals in the area of sexual violence, sex education and youth development. Her career began working in youth development and community health education initiatives. She has had the pleasure of serving several thousand youth, parents and professionals in Nashville and the surrounding areas with both primary prevention for Sexual Assault, Comprehensive and Abstinence Sex Education. These experiences provide a unique and balanced perspective coupled with an interactive delivery that is sensitive to the needs of the audience and is rooted in best practices. Sharon has a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Tennessee State University and a Master of Arts in Civic Leadership from Lipscomb University. Her experiences include being in Prevention Education at Planned Parenthood, the Prevention Services Director for Hope Clinic for WOMEN, the Students Educating Active Leaders Team Coordinator for the YMCA of Middle TN, and a Case Manager for Life Care Family Services.

In her role as Prevention Specialist at the Sexual Assault Center, she is responsible for delivering awareness and primary prevention education to middle and high schools and college students about sexual assault and encouraging youth to be a part of the solution. The college outreach includes a Middle TN peer education program where students from local colleges come together to develop awareness programs for their respective colleges. She is here today to talk about sexual assault awareness and prevention. Please join me in welcoming Sharon Travis.

Here are some notes from Sharon’s Talk

  • Admissible Rape Kit: At this point, there is ONE location in Nashville set up to preserve the chain of custody on a rape kit.  If you want your rape kit to be admissible in court, make sure you go to Metro General. One attendee asked why this is.  Sharon responded that there are a number of factors, including the cost of executing a rape kit being more than the $800 reimbursement and the need to follow specific and controlled guidelines when a rape kit is used. Most hospitals are not currently structured to accommodate the need. There are other hospitals in Nashville working to accommodate the need for legally admissible rape kits.
  • Rape Clinic – SAC is currently remodeling to made half of their space available as a rape clinic, which will be able to provide rape kits as needed for victims.
  • Many Modes of Therapy: Sharon mentioned that the SAC has 21 master level therapists on staff, who provide therapy in a number of modes including talk, art, pet, play, hypno, EMDR, yoga, dance and more.
  • SAC has a open door policy. They do not turn anyone away for financial reasons. They work with sliding scales, they take various forms of insurance, they have fundraisers for other who can not afford any help.
  • Men: They do see males, have a male support group. Most sexual assault happens before age of 14. Once boys hit 14 they will fight back more often.
  • Demographics: Everyone is effected by sexual violence. It does not discriminate by age, race, class, sexual orientation. It’s not a women’s issue or a poor persons issue, everyone is effected.
  • Continuous Questions: Sharon often finds herself struggling with big questions like, how can we be more compassionate society? How can we not blame victims? Even if you do happen to think it may be a victims fault they were assaulted, they still need to heal.
  • High School and College: Sharon often works with high school and college aged kids and has discovered that there is a lack of conversation around consent.  When she is speaking to college kids, it’s often the first time they are able to have a real conversation around consent.  This is tough because 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will have an interaction with sexual violence by the time they get to college.