4th Biennial Kansas Conference for the Prevention of
Sexual & Domestic Violence – Virtual

Just Another Fast Girl: Exploring Slavery’s Continued Impact on the Loss of Black Girlhood (CLE: Approved MO; Approved KS)
Mikah Thompson, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri. This session will provide a brief history of slavery’s impact on the definition of rape. During the session, we will also consider whether race continues to affect the justice system’s treatment of survivors of sexual assault.

Cultural Self-Awareness for Legal Professionals (CLE: Approved MO; Approved KS)
Mikah Thompson, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri. This session will challenge attendees to consider whether their cultural values impact the quality of service they provide to their clients. During the session, we will also discuss whether cultural differences can lead to biased decision-making.

1. Build Your Own Campus Outreach Strategy!
Rachel Gadd-Nelson, Baker University If you’re a busy advocate or educator who is tasked with campus outreach alongside all of your other important responsibilities, this workshop is geared towards giving you practical tools and strategies for building relationships with your local colleges and universities. We’ll explore the relationship between advocacy and education, how to promote advocacy values in higher education, and best practices for prevention education. This will be an interactive discussion where you can brainstorm and connect with colleagues from across the state – but don’t worry, no breakout rooms!

2. Trauma-Informed Care: The Missing Link to Wellness and Healing (CLE: Approved MO; Approved KS)
Nasim Hoomanrad, Founder and Owner, Find Love WithinThe services are trauma-informed. So are the organizational policies, procedures, and trainings. So what is missing from our learnings about trauma-informed care that keeps our organizations, programs, staff, and clients in a perpetual cycle of revictimization and retraumatization? Answer: the unpacking of what each one of us brings to the work. In this session, we will explore the missing link with trauma-informed practices and teachings within our organizations and movement. We will explore the importance of asking ourselves and our staff questions like, “What brought me to this work?” and “Why do I do what I do?,” just as much as we learn about trauma, crisis intervention, therapeutic modalities, and empowerment. It is no coincidence that we are pulled into this work and movement. There is a purpose in it for us as much as the clients we serve. We will explore ways to dive into self that feels safe, to obtain support for care, and to increase awareness of red flags to prevent burnout and vicarious trauma that perpetuates trauma within and out. We will discuss the importance of wellness in our work and the substantive difference it makes for our lives, organizations, and clients.

Stefanie Olson is the Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Program Manager for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Currently, she leads the SVPE work at KDHE with 4 community coalitions, 1 campus program and 17 schools across Kansas that are engaged in primary prevention efforts. She is a member of Safe States Alliance’s Anti-Racism and Health Equity Work Group and KDHE’s Health Equity Action Team. Stefanie lives in Topeka and enjoys reading, cooking and spending time with her daughters when they are home on breaks.

Nadiah Mohajir is a lifelong Chicagoan, Pakistani-American-Muslim, mother of three, public health professional, reproductive justice activist, and anti-sexual assault advocate.

She is the Co-founder and Executive Director for HEART Women & Girls. For the last ten years, she has led the organization to provide sexual health education and sexual violence awareness programming and advocacy to thousands of individuals, organizations, and campuses across the country. HEART has broken many cultural barriers, raising awareness and advocating for important issues such as sexual and reproductive health, sexual violence, and media literacy. HEART ultimately aims to dismantle the stigma, silence, and systems that prevent individuals from seeking information, healing, and justice.

Nadiah has worked in public health and reproductive justice for over twenty years in a variety of settings, including, but not limited to research, academics, policy, and community health. Her past work includes projects such as redesigning teen pregnancy programs, improving pregnancy outcomes in low-income communities in Chicago, running sex education programming for vulnerable youth, and evaluating innovative cross-sector partnerships in public health.

She earned her Master’s degree in Public Health in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago. Nadiah has also participated in a number of fellowships, including the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, Germanacos Fellowship, is a recipient of the Women’s Innovation Fund and most recently was selected to participate in NoVo Foundation’s Move to End Violence program. She is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2018 Chicago Foundation for Women’s Impact Award and the El Hibri Foundation’s Community Builder award. She currently serves on the executive board of directors for the National Women’s Health Network.

Navila Rashid is a Muslim, Queer, Bangladeshi-American. She’s a trauma-informed forensic social worker, community educator, and gender-based violence consultant.

She joined HEART in 2019 full-time, and is the Outreach and Community Engagement Manager. Before HEART, Navila was consulting for public defenders, government agency staff, and nonprofits to support in creating safe(r) spaces for victims & survivors either through organizational programming or 1:1 case management.

Navila Co-Founded a web-based platform, ‘The Cathartist’ for victims & survivors, allies, and co-conspirators to find a safe, judgment-free home for their storytelling as a part of their journey on coping and healing. Navila is also featured as a survivor in the award-winning documentary, Breaking Silence, where she addresses the nuances and experiences of being a survivor of sexual violence in a Muslim and South Asian community, and the journey towards healing.

She earned her Master’s in Social Work from Long Island University-Brooklyn, a Post-Baccalaureate Degree in Biology from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and a BS in Health Science and Creative Writing from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Navila currently straddles life between Brooklyn, NYC and Northern Virginia.

Nasim Hoomanrad, MSW is a nonprofit consultant, energy healer, spiritual coach, and creative. As a social worker and social justice advocate in the field of domestic/sexual violence and immigration for over 12 years, Nasim’s experience has focused on supporting survivors in accessing trauma-informed services and playing a critical role in shifting cultural and societal barriers that continue to perpetuate gender-based violence within organizations and communities.

Nasim’s experiences include developing coordinated community responses at local, state, and national levels; community engagement and collaboration to increase trauma-informed service delivery; expanding social services and social work nationally within immigration advocacy organizations; and most currently, leading a foundation-funded project expanding healing justice practices through exposure of nonmainstream healing modalities and heart-centered team engagement for nonprofit organizations.

Nasim is a facilitator and trainer on issues ranging from cultural competency and trauma-informed care to cultivating a healing justice framework into organizations’ practices and services. Nasim’s work today focuses on a healing-centered approach in her services and offerings, individually and organizationally. Nasim served on the Board of Directors for the Women of Color Network, Inc. (2014-2019).

Education earned her masters of social work from Washington University in St. Louis (2011); Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin (2008); Reiki Mastership (2018); Landmark Education.

Mo Lewis is the Prevention Specialist for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), providing training and technical assistance to state and territory sexual assault coalitions, departments of health, community programs, and other organizations working to develop and evaluate comprehensive sexual violence prevention strategies. In addition to sexual assault prevention, Mo has experience working in HIV prevention, youth empowerment within LGBTQ communities, sexual health promotion, and program evaluation. Mo is a co-author of the FLASH curriculum, a comprehensive sexual health education curriculum for middle and high school students, and co-founded a violence prevention coalition in King County, WA.

Louie Marven is a training specialist at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, developing training and resources on a variety of topics related to sexual violence prevention and response. Key topic areas include working with male survivors of sexual assault, housing for sexual assault survivors, and preventing sexual harassment at work. Prior to this role, Louie spent a decade in leadership in the LGBTQ movement, where he established a community center and developed programs to meet the needs of LGBTQ people in central Pennsylvania.

Rachel Gadd-Nelson (she/her) is the Project Coordinator for Baker University’s gender-based violence prevention and response program funded by the OVW Campus Grant. For seven years, Rachel served as the director of The Sexual Trauma and Abuse Care Center’s education and prevention program. She also has been involved in LGBTQ+ youth leadership development, disability advocacy, and sexuality education. Rachel received a Bachelor’s of Social Welfare from the University of Kansas.

Nubia Peña is the Director for the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs and was recently appointed Senior Advisor on Equity and Opportunity to Governor Cox. Ms. Peña has extensive experience as a community organizer, advocate, and ally for systematically marginalized populations and has facilitated dialogues on topics of inclusion and racial justice. Ms. Peña also designs and implements sessions on culturally relevant and gender-specific programming for youth and adolescents.

Nubia is certified by the National Juvenile Defender Center as a Juvenile Training Immersion Program facilitator and previously worked at Utah Juvenile Defender Attorneys, LLC. Additionally, she is a national consultant on the intersections of trauma and the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

Nubia has a decade of experience as a Law Enforcement Victim Advocate and currently is the Training and Prevention Education Specialist at the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA). She is also the founder and director of Royalty Rising Youth Ministry, an outreach initiative for systematically marginalized young adults.

Nubia graduated from the S.J. Quinney College of Law in 2016, where she currently serves as adjunct faculty. In 2016, she was one of 25 law students in the nation recognized by the National Jurist for her social justice activism. Ms. Peña was the recipient of the National Juvenile Justice Network 2019 Emerging Leader Award, one of Utah Business Magazine’s 2020 40 Under 40 award recipients, recognized among the 2020 Heroes for Utah Philanthropy Day, and one of Sundance Film Festival 2021 Women’s Leadership Celebration honorees.

Ester Serra Luque, Director of the Community Support Partnership. Ester has worked at Transition House since 2009 and was selected to help develop and lead our new Community Support Partnership in 2013. Following a career as a journalist in Barcelona, Ester came to Boston to attend graduate school at the Tufts University School of Law and Diplomacy. Prior to her work at Transition House, she worked at Trust House, a transitional living program for veteran women survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and researched gender and political violence in post-war Kosovo, El Salvador, and the U.S.