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SafePlace

SafePlace
While earning my Psychology Degree in college, I learned about the prevalence of sexual assault in this country. My education led me to become a Peer Educator for the Student Health Center at UT Arlington. I educated fellow students on the issues surrounding acquaintance rape through seminars and round-table discussions.

In January 1998, the Center for Battered Women and the Austin Rape Crisis Center merged to become SafePlace, an Austin and Travis County community resource. That spring, I volunteered to be a rape crisis counselor. I was a member of the first 40 hour training class held at the University of Texas and one of two men. The training prepared me to assist sexual assault victims at the hospital, on police patrols and on the rape crisis hotline.

In 2001, I helped SafePlace during the development of its innovative Court Watch program. SafePlace worked with local prosecutors, judges and victim’s advocates to provide courtroom observers during sexual assault, protective order and child abuse cases. The goal of the program is to identify and eliminate systematic behaviors and policies that re-victimize the plaintiffs within the court system. SafePlace analyzed information from observers and compiled a confidential report for the court’s officers who were then in a position to be more accommodating to sexual assault survivors. The Court Watch program is a success and is modeled by other rape crises centers around the U.S. This experience provided a candid view of courtroom proceedings and the legal process.

SafePlace is a nationally recognized center serving thousands in Central Texas.