Lessons From a Facilitator and a Daughter

During my gap year after my undergrad, I had the pleasure of facilitating weekly support groups for survivors of narcissistic abuse at my local women’s center. The stories the participants shared and the strength of the women to dedicate time to meet and engage in discussions on tough personal topics were moving. But one persistent issue that stuck with me throughout months of facilitating these sessions is the number of women who shared how they never knew of organizations such as this women’s shelter and wished they had signed up for these earlier. If they had, they might have made better choices.

This frustration wasn’t just through an outside lens but hit close to home. As the daughter of an IPV survivor, I can’t recall the number of times I witnessed my mother in utter disarray as she received a flood of resources from women’s organizations, shelters, and other services. While the thought was appreciated, too often, the resources were irrelevant or lacked a trauma-informed approach. Moreover, she would frequently receive misinformation on the types of resources and the services they provided or learn about resources she wished she had seen earlier, which led to feelings of anxiety and frustration.

My mother was not just another busy woman. Like many survivors, she needed to deal with the complexity of IPV - (which demanded a different mindset and approach) - and juggle the demands of everyday life while also managing the intense trauma and the worsening health outcomes that followed.  

The lack of inclusive resource awareness and accessibility for IPV survivors is a persistent public health issue. Moreover, IPV survivors are not just IPV survivors – they also have unique gender identities, ethnicities, and communities they relate to. Many resources provided to survivors do not take that into consideration. As a result, underrepresented populations such as ethnic and sexual minorities, low-income individuals, and those with disabilities typically face inequities in access and awareness of these resources.

While tackling the inequities within IPV is an incredibly daunting task, I recognized that I wasn’t helpless. There must be a better and more efficient way to solve the gap between resource awareness and accessibility for survivors.  

My project focuses on building an app that serves as an IPV resource toolkit, consolidating resources across the state of Michigan on one central platform. The app will group resources into five critical areas of need for survivors: law; finance; food, clothing, and shelter; children; and mental health. Users will have the option of filtering resources based on location and proximity, ratings, age group, target race or ethnicity, free or subsidized resources, and whether the resource is disability friendly. Through a user-friendly design, the app aims to simplify the ease of resource flow for survivors, while also encouraging inclusivity.

It’s been two years since I had a vision to create an app that would solve this stubborn challenge. However, given my lack of expertise in app development (or anything more than what I can see on my screen), it was a challenging feat to do on my own, and I frequently got discouraged about where to start. As a result, I placed the idea on the back burner. When I got to the School of Public Health and received the email for the Health Equity Challenge, I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to bring the vision to light and that I would have the support to collaborate with others to make this a reality.

I’m incredibly grateful to my mentor, Dr. Zeoli, for all her contributions, expertise, and support throughout developing my proposal, and to the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence for collaborating with me on this project. Finally, a big shoutout to The MolinaCares Accord and the Health Equity Challenge team for this opportunity, as well as providing us the chance to meet nine other incredibly talented and driven students. This challenge provided me with the chance to see health equity in action, highlighting the profound impact of creativity and passion in promoting better health for all.