Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions on details pertaining to domestic violence. Listener discretion is advised. 

In this episode, hosts Erin and Blake talk with contributing authors, Rebecca Kotz and Annette Oltmans, about their chapters in the new CBE International publication, Created to Thrive: Cultivating Abuse-Free Communities. They discuss how forms of abuse are covert and easy to dismiss while also helping us understand how we can help and not be a fresh source of harm to victims of abuse. Leaders, friends, and those wanting to address abuse will learn a great deal from this episode.  

Be sure to pick up a copy of Created to Thrive and to connect with these other resources from our podcast guests: www.rebeccakotz.com and https://themendproject.com/.  

If you are experiencing domestic violence and would like help, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. 

Bios: 

Rebecca Kotz is an advocate, speaker, community organizer, activist, liberation educator, consultant, and writer on sexual politics and feminism. She has worked at various social change and antiviolence organizations in Minnesota. She founded and facilitates a program for convicted male offenders, Men Accountable for Sexual Exploitation. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in social justice at Prescott College in Arizona. Find more of her work at www.rebeccakotz.com 

Annette Oltmans (Founder and chairman of the board of directors of the M3ND Project) is a philanthropist and passionate human rights advocate. She is a survivor. Annette’s personal experiences of recovery and extensive field research into the topics of Original Abuse and Double Abuse® ignited Annette’s passion to found The M3ND Project in 2016. She conceptualized the term Double Abuse® naming the behaviors causing complex trauma (CPTSD) to victim survivors. In addition to this work, she serves on the board of Pepperdine University’s Boone Center for the Family and is a trustee of Northrise University in Zambia. Her writing on the topics of abuse, domestic violence, and bullying, has been published in AACC, Teen Vogue, OC Register, and other publications. 

Other Reading:  

“Are We Continuing to Sideline Women in Conversations about Abuse?” by Katherine Spearing 

“He Made Her Play the Harlot: Judges 19 through the Lens of Domestic Abuse” by Evelyn Sweerts-Vermeulen 

“Monica of Hippo: Influential Church Mother and Domestic Abuse Survivor” by Olivia Brokaw