One in 6 women and 1 in 71 men; that’s how many men and women have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.
“People are aware of it but people don’t feel comfortable talking,” said Carrie Stillionm, a crisis intervention services coordinator at Middle Way House. “Everyone that I know personally who has been assaulted hadn’t talked about it to anyone for a really long time. So I think just making that more normalized can help us in the right direction to change the culture.”
Middle Way House offers services to survivors of sexual assault such as on-scene advocacy, emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing solutions, legal advocacy, and a 24-hour crisis line. It serves six counties of southern Indiana.
“If someone has experienced an assault recently or in the past they can just come sit down and talk with someone,” Stillionm said. “They can call the crisis number and kind of talk through the situation, we can provide resources to the person, as well as just a listening ear.”
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Middle Way House has several events throughout the month to educate people about the prevalence of sexual assault in the community. Stillionm says these educational events are important to help prevent sexual assault.
“I think it’s key to educate without putting the burden on survivors and making them responsible for their own safety,” Stillionm said.
One of those survivors is Madison Smith, the Student Life Committee Chair of IU Student Government.
Student Life Committee Chair Madison Smith on why she feels greek life at IU needs to improve its sexual assault prevention training.
“I was assaulted last semester,” Smith said. “It’s something that really truly affects so many of us. I can’t even tell you the amount of my sisters who have told me what’s happened to them.”
That’s why Smith says she wrote legislation encouraging greek organizations to increase sexual assault prevention training. IU Student Government’s Congress passed the legislation unanimously in March.
“Currently all greek orgs do have to go through three mandatory trainings through the office of sorority and fraternity life and in every single one of those training it’s mentioned, but it’s mentioned as an “oh by the way” and we know it’s not an “oh by the way” in our community,” Smith said.
Smith says the best thing students can do for survivors is to believe them when they come forward and to hold other students accountable.
“If one of your friends, or your fraternity brothers, or someone on your team, or someone you don’t know is doing something that you wouldn’t do or something that you know is wrong call them out,” said Smith.
Students can also speak with a counselor from the
Sexual Assault Crisis Service Team – a special part of CAPS staffed by counselors who specialize in working with those who have experienced sexual violence. All of their services are free including crisis consultation, individual and group counseling, and assistance with referrals for medical care.
For immediate assistance, students can call the Middle Way House crisis line at (812) 336-0846 or IU’s 24-hour Sexual Assault Crisis Service at (812) 855-8900.
