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.

In this episode, we sit down with Stephanie Hurley Collier, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Tri-State, to discuss why trauma-responsive services matter across every sector — including mentoring programs serving vulnerable youth.

Stephanie shares how meaningful, professionally supported mentoring relationships can help children build confidence, resilience, and connection, especially when organizations intentionally create environments that recognize and respond to trauma. Together, we explore what it means to move beyond simply serving youth and toward truly understanding the experiences many children carry with them every day.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• What trauma-responsive care means in practice
• Why mentoring relationships can be life-changing for children facing adversity
• The importance of safe, supportive adult connections
• How organizations can integrate trauma-responsive principles into their services
• The role community members play in helping youth reach their full potential

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Tri-State is part of the nationwide Big Brothers Big Sisters network, creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.

Research and best practices in mentoring continue to show that trauma-responsive approaches help organizations better recognize the impact of trauma, respond appropriately, and reduce the risk of re-traumatization for children and families.

If you’d like to get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Tri-State — whether by becoming a mentor, donating, or supporting their mission — you can learn more on their website.

You can also learn more about the organization’s mission and programs through their About page.

If you’re interested in learning more about or supporting the Building Trauma Responsive (BTR) Communities initiative through Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, you can find more information here: BTR Communities Initiative Information

You can also explore more about Branches’ ongoing trauma-responsive advocacy, community education, and podcast initiatives through their website.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and we were so excited to participate in Contact Crisis Center's SAAM Book Club reading Nobody's Girl, the posthumous memoir of Epstein survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre. In our newest episode of Root for Each Other, CONTACT advocates Jo and Elijah join us to further discuss the book from an advocacy perspective. Join us as we explore this account and the overall impact of public perception on the realities faced by Human Trafficking survivors we see in our daily work.

What does it look like when a business community leads with compassion?

In our newest podcast episode, Megan Archer, President of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and Anna Adkins, with the Huntington Area Convention & Visitor's Bureau join us to talk about how Huntington is building trauma-responsive practices into local businesses and how that work is making a real difference.

We’re proud to feature this conversation as part of our effort to create resources that support understanding, healing, and connection whenever our listeners need them

In this episode, we’re joined by students from Marshall University’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications who spent the fall semester researching the state of trauma responsiveness in Huntington as part of our BTR (Building Trauma Responsive) Communities initiative. Together, we unpack what they discovered, where our community is making progress, and where gaps still exist. Most importantly, we explore what these findings can teach us — and how they can help shape a more trauma-informed future for Huntington.

Food insecurity is a major barrier to safety in that a survivor has to be assured they can feed their children if they leave. In this episode, our advocates discuss how it is more expensive than ever to provide groceries and how that both affects and directs advocacy services. Join us for a conversation about how the basic human needs of food and safety threaten the well-being of our neighborhoods.

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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