Raising Our Voices

In this episode of Raising Our Voices, host Rita is joined by Robin Funsten, conflict consultant and leadership development coach, to explore transformative justice and accountability beyond punishment. Together, they discuss how accountability can shape everyday relationships, workplaces, and responses to sexual violence and human trafficking, while centering survivors and fostering meaningful change.

Transformative Justice Resources

Free Online Resources

• TransformHarm: A comprehensive collection of transformative justice resources, readings, and tools curated by Mariame Kaba.
  https://transformharm.org/

• Creative Interventions Toolkit: Practical tools for addressing interpersonal violence through community-based accountability.
  https://www.creative-interventions.org/toolkit/

• Toward Transformative Justice (Generation Five): A foundational guide to transformative justice and addressing sexual and domestic violence.
  https://www.transformativejustice.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/G5_Toward_Transformative_Justice.pdf

• Ending Child Sexual Abuse: A Transformative Justice Handbook: Practical approaches to addressing child sexual abuse through transformative justice.
  https://transformharm.org/tj_resource/ending-child-sexual-abuse-eng/

• Pods and Pod Mapping Worksheet (Mia Mingus): A tool for identifying support networks and building community accountability.
  https://batjc.org/files/Pods-Pod-Mapping-Worksheet.pdf

• Leaving Evidence (Mia Mingus): Essays and reflections on transformative justice, accountability, and community care.
  https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/

• Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective Resources: A collection of transformative justice readings, tools, and audio resources.
  https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/

• Mandatory Reporting Is Not Neutral: Resources examining mandatory reporting, survivor experiences, and harm reduction.
  https://www.mandatoryreportingisnotneutral.com/

Recommended Books

• Until We Reckon by Danielle Sered

• We Do This 'Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba

• Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement, edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

• Fumbling Towards Repair: A Workbook for Community Accountability Facilitators by Mariame Kaba and Shira Hassan

• The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr

In this episode of Raising Our Voices, Rita sits down with Diana Sierra, former CEO of the YWCA, to discuss sexual violence prevention and advocacy within Latine communities. We explore how values like resilience and a strong work ethic can be sources of strength while sometimes making it harder to reach out for support. Diana also discusses barriers facing Latine survivors, including the challenges created by today’s social and political climate. In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, we also celebrate the strength, culture, and contributions of Latine communities while considering how the sexual violence movement can better support Latine survivors.

Season 2 kicks off with a conversation between Our Voice Executive Director Rita Nugent and Deanna Harrington, Coordinator of Statewide Capacity at the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA). Together they unpack the "Red Zone," the high-risk period between move-in day and Thanksgiving when first-year college students face elevated rates of sexual violence, and why prevention efforts need to focus on the people who cause harm rather than the people who experience it. Rita and Deanna cover authentic bystander intervention, what enthusiastic consent really looks like, sexual coercion, and how parents and students can prepare before week one on campus.

Rita talks with disability advocate Ray Hemachandra about why people with intellectual and developmental disabilities face such steep risk for sexual violence and trafficking and why the threat almost never comes from a stranger. They dig into how compliance training backfires, what real consent education looks like within the IDD community, and why seeing disabled people as full, sexual human beings is where prevention actually starts.

For a full Transcript of this Episode, click HERE.

In this episode of Raising Our Voices, host and Our Voice Executive Director Rita Nugent sits down with Josie Seay, Executive Director of Blue Ridge Pride, to explore the intersection of queer advocacy and sexual violence work. Together they discuss why LGBTQ+ individuals experience sexual violence at higher rates, how individuals can support the movement, and why collaboration between organizations like theirs is essential to building safer, more inclusive communities for everyone.

In this episode of Raising Our Voices, Rita sits down with Chase Moss, Community Advocate at Our Voice, for a conversation about digital safety, online exploitation, and how technology can both increase risk and support prevention. Together, they explore grooming, stalking behaviors, AI-related harms, and practical ways to stay safer online without living in fear.

In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this episode explores the intersection of these movements and the full spectrum of abuse, including physical, emotional, and sexual harm.

Featuring Claudia Burke from Mountain Child Advocacy Center, we discuss why understanding these connections is essential to prevention and how communities can better support children and survivors.

In this episode of Raising Our Voices, Rita speaks with Our Voice Counseling Director Natalie Breit about the deep impacts of trauma and how experiences of harm can live in the body as physical sensations, emotional shifts, and neurological responses. Together, they explore why these reactions happen and how survivors can begin to gently recenter and regulate when feeling elevated or activated.

In this episode, Rita speaks with Amanda Gopal, Executive Director of The Hundred Movement, for a trauma-informed conversation centered on the lived realities of human trafficking survivors. Together, they explore why survivors often respond the way they do after exploitation, examining trauma responses and survival behaviors through a compassionate, non-judgmental lens. The discussion challenges harmful myths by reframing these responses as adaptive strategies shaped by prolonged coercion and harm, while also unpacking how trauma impacts the brain and body, disrupts safety and trust, and makes healing non-linear. Rita and Amanda reflect on what survivor-centered healing can look like, emphasizing patience, autonomy, and support systems that honor survivors’ experiences.

Human trafficking is often misunderstood. In this episode of Raising Our Voices, we break down common myths about trafficking and talk about what it actually looks like in our community.

We explore the difference between sex and labor trafficking, challenge the idea that trafficking always involves kidnapping or extreme violence, and explain why many survivors are trafficked by people they know, often close to home. We also discuss the important distinction between consensual sex work and trafficking, and how communities can play a role in prevention and awareness.

Disclaimer: We want to acknowledge some audio quality issues in this episode and apologize for any distractions. Thank you for sticking with us!