Your Voice Matters.
Experiencing a crime has the potential to change a person, a family, and a community…forever. Shame, fear, and embarrassment can understandably keep survivors silent. Sadly, this is also how abusers continue to abuse and why society does not see how rampant and destructive violence is in our community.
Your Story Matters.
You don’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed. You are not alone.
Survivors’ voices, experiences, and stories are the most powerful way to share the impact of crime and engage the community to help with prevention and intervention. Palomar is often asked to speak at events or in response to current events on behalf of survivors in our community. And while we can talk about statistics and generalities, sharing the real human impact that violence and abuse has on our community can be transformative. Of course, we know these stories intimately—we see the faces of dozens of survivors and their children every day. But to protect our clients’ safety and privacy, we will not share anything without their express consent. We also know that many people have been impacted by crime before Palomar opened and that some survivors do not wish to seek services. All these voices have a right to be heard.
Your Story Can:
Inspire action. Connect people with our cause. Influence change. Let other survivors know they are not alone.
If you are a survivor and are ready to share your story, we would love to hear from you. For your physical and emotional safety, we ask the following:
- You be at least 3 years removed from the situation and/or perpetrator.
- You do not have any pending civil or criminal cases related to the situation and/or perpetrator.
- You carefully consider the potential risks and benefits of sharing your story, especially if you are still in contact with the perpetrator—for instance, if you have shared custody of a minor child, court-ordered visitation, etc.
You Control Your Story.
There are many ways survivors express trauma and healing, which means there are many ways you can share your story: writing, photographs, audio or video recording, testimony, poetry, music, art, images or paintings, letters, etc.
- If provided, we may share photos of your injuries or audio clips of your 911 call(s) during training and educational presentations.
- If available, we may share portions of your written story during training and educational presentations.
- If possible, we may ask to interview you and share audio only or audio/video recordings of the interview during training and educational presentations.
- If interested, we may provide your contact information to news outlets and others requesting contact with survivors willing to speak out.
- If interested, we may share parts of your story in an upcoming section of our website.
We will NEVER share any of your information without making you aware of what we would like to share and where we would like to share it and providing you the opportunity to decline. You ALWAYS have the right to ask us to stop sharing your story.
