For survivors of domestic violence, safety and employment are often deeply connected. Maintaining a job can provide stability, independence, and the resources needed to move toward safety, but navigating the workplace while experiencing abuse can also present significant challenges.

In this episode of Root for Each Other, we explore what it means to Employ & Empower survivors through stronger workplace protections, better-informed advocates, and more prepared employers.

Sara is joined by Samuel “Raymie” White, Legal Services Director with the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Bella Book, Program Manager and Program Attorney with Futures Without Violence's Workplace & Economic Opportunity team.

Bella leads the Advancing Safety Through Employment Rights Advocacy Project, a national effort focused on increasing awareness of employment protections available to survivors and providing advocates, attorneys, and survivors with practical tools and resources. The project brings together participants from across the country to share knowledge, explore state-specific protections, and develop resources that can be adapted for local communities.

West Virginia was represented in this national learning community by a four-person team which included representation from the WVCADV, Legal Aid of WV and Branches Domestic Violence Shelter. Together, they explored the legal protections available to survivors, the challenges survivors encounter in maintaining employment, and ways advocates can help survivors better understand and navigate their rights in the workplace.

Learn more about Building Trauma Responsive (BTR) Communities

Learn more about Futures Without Violence

Learn more about the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence

We are so privileged to have had the opportunity to speak with author and scholar Kate Price after her reading at Booktenders in Barboursville earlier this month. Join us as we discuss the dynamics of gender-based violence in Appalachia and explore some of the ways resilience blooms in unlikely places.

Kate Price is an associate research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women, a research institute at Wellesley College. She is also an advisor for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Child Sex Trafficking Expert Working Group and Global Platform for Child Exploitation Policy, and an alumni scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center. An internationally recognized child sex trafficking expert and lecturer, Price has influenced the passage of state-level children’s human rights legislation and United Nations policy. Price is the recipient of a My Life, My Choice Beacon of Light Award, a Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize medal, a Mariam K. Chamberlain Dissertation Award from the International Centers for Research on Women, and an American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship. She has worked extensively with trauma pioneers Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Body Keeps the Score, in which Price is featured, and Dr. Judith Herman. Price received her MA in gender/cultural studies from Simmons College and earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She lives in Massachusetts with her family.

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter has been providing services to victims of domestic violence in the Appalachian communities of Cabell, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam, and Wayne counties in West Virginia.

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Safety should never depend on someone's ability, yet for many people living with disabilities, barriers to safety, support, and independence remain a daily reality.

In this episode of Root for Each Other, Branches advocates Sara Blevins O'Toole, Kaitlyn Chapman, and Blue Davis explore the unique ways domestic violence can impact individuals with disabilities and the importance of creating services that are accessible, responsive, and centered on dignity.

Together, they discuss:

• Why people with disabilities experience higher rates of domestic violence.
• The unique forms of abuse survivors with disabilities may face, including coercive control through caregiving, finances, communication, and accessibility.
• How trauma-informed advocacy means adapting services—not expecting survivors to adapt to systems.
• Why Rapid Rehousing can be such a key tool in removing barriers for survivors with disabilities

Episode Notes

In this episode:

• Understanding the co-existence of disability and domestic violence.
• Recognizing barriers that can prevent survivors from seeking help.
• How Branches works to provide survivor-centered, accessible advocacy.
• Small changes that can make a big difference in creating safe communities.

Featured Guests

• Sara Blevins O'Toole, Director of Development, Branches
• Kaitlyn Chapman, Court Advocate, Branches
• Blue Davis, Rapid Rehousing II Navigator, Branches

Learn More
This episode is part of our Safety Across the Spectrum of Ability awareness series, highlighting the importance of ensuring that every survivor—regardless of ability—has access to safety, support, and opportunity.

Read the accompanying blog series on the Branches website to continue the conversation and learn how you can help build a more accessible and trauma-responsive community. Start here!

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, confidential help is available 24 hours a day through Branches. You do not have to face abuse alone. Call our hotline at 304-529-2382 to speak to an advocate.