Artwork Submissions

Artist's Name:_______________________________ (kept confidential if so specified)

Street Address:_________________________________________ (kept confidential)

City: __________________________  State: ______  Zip: _____________(kept confidential)

Home Phone No:_________________________ (kept confidential)

Business Phone No:______________________________________ (kept confidential)

email: _____________________________________________________ (kept confidential)

URL (if applicable):_______________________________________ (kept confidential)

No. of Pieces:  one   two   three   four	

Number of Slides:  _______ (to be returned after the conference?)   yes   no	

Brief description of piece(s); especially include sizes, use additional pages if
necessary, and attach photographs:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

How piece will be delivered:___________________________________________________

How piece will be retrieved 
(picked up at conference, preferred): ____________________________________________________________

Art must be delivered for Saturday night setup!

Survivor Connections will not be held liable for loss or theft of artwork, but we will take every 
precaution to ensure that your work is cared for properly.

Reply to: Survivor Connections, 52 Lyndon Road, Cranston, RI 02905

8:30 to 10 a.m. Donovan Dining Center
Registration (even for those preregistered)

Ongoing - Donovan Dining Center, lower floor, back
Art Work by Survivors and Wall of Survivor Photos

10 to 10:45 a.m. Gaige Hall, 1st floor auditorium
Opening Remarks and Original Music
Frank Fitzpatrick, "Dancing in the Street: Losing Shame and Fear"
Announcements
Amy Maxwell

11 a.m. to 12:30, Gaige Hall, classrooms
Workshops Session 1

Title: Suffer the Children
Workshop description: Eighty-five percent of US child prostitutes have previously suffered rape, incest, or abuse. 1.3 million US children run away from violence or rape every year. Forty million children live on the streets of the world’s cities. The marketing and sexual exploitation of these vulnerable individuals in a global economy that values profit over people thrives on denial.
This workshop is an opportunity to confront that denial, break the silence and discover the truth as a tool for making a difference.
Presenter: Kate Huard
Presenter biography: Kate Huard, survivor, author, advocate; contributor to “Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault,” training manual for Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Title: Learning to Live with PTSD
Workshop description: Topics include review of the definition of PTSD; discussion of its causes and secondary damage; clinical issues of treatments such as psychotherapy, medication, self-help groups, and group therapy; and personal insights into what works and doesn’t work to get a survivor whole and well.
Especially featured will be practical and useful suggestions on coping and empowerment through visualizations, self-help techniques, and humor. Other resources for the journey back to well-being will be described as well.
Presenter: Jeannine Peterson, RNC,
Presenter biography: Jeannine Peterson is a Registered Nurse and has a Bachelor’s degree in the Administration of Justice. She is Board certified in Mental Health Nursing, and is also certified as a Legal Nurse Consultant. She is a member of CARR.

Title: Classroom Incest: Everyone’s Fight
Workshop description: Each of us has a stake in how schools care for the well-being of children. SESAME is leading the battle against complacency in public and private schools where the continuing minimization of the risk of sexual abuse of students by staff members continues. A defensive silence by school systems suggests condoning, results in victim-blaming, increases retaliation against the victim, undermines the victim’s recovery, and causes a decrease in the reporting of future abuse. A legal case history will illustrate that sexual abuse by educators does not occur in a vacuum.
Presenters: Mary Ann Werner, BA; Timothy J. Conlon, Esq.
Presenter biographies: Mary Ann Werner founded SESAME, Inc., (Survivors of Educator Abuse & Misconduct Emerge) a support, information, and referral survivor and advocacy network dedicated to the prevention of sexual abuse of students by school staff. Timothy J. Conlon is a Rhode Island attorney whose practice almost exclusively involves representation of sexual abuse victims. His Web site is at http://www.tjcesq.com

Title: Creating Kinetic Characters (for healing and art)
Workshop description: Through movement, sound, and writing exercises participants will create characters from their own experiences, emotions, and life-stories. These characters can then become part of the healing process that occurs through writing and telling our stories.
Presenters: B. A. Chepaitis
Presenter biographies: Barbara Chepaitis, writing as B.A. Chepaitis, is the author of the cyberpunk suspense novels The Fear Principle, The Fear of God, and Learning Fear, featuring Jaguar Addams, a woman who rehabilitates killers by telepathically tapping into their subconscious fears. Chepaitis is also recipient of an AWP award for her short fiction and has published short fiction and poetry in a variety of journals. She is past fiction editor of the feminist journal 13th Moon, and she directs the storytelling group The Snickering Witches. Her current projects include editing her next two novels in the “Fear” series, selling the screenplay for the first novel, and working on a collaborative novel with the other members of her storytelling group.

Title: Creating and Running a Support Group
Workshop description: Come watch or participate in a demonstration support group based on the format used by Survivor Connections, Inc. Participants will not join a support group here, but will be shown how one functions, and learn how to start one, what is necessary for readiness to join one, and how one is facilitated.
Presenters: Sara Fitzpatrick, Fred Paine
Presenter biographies: Survivor Fred Paine started the Survivor Connections suppport group in Rhode Island in 1994. Shortly thereafter, Sara Fitzpatrick - co-founder of Survivor Connections, Inc. - became co-facilitator with him.

12:30 to 2 p.m., Donovan Dining Center
Lunch on your own, and
Art Work by Survivors and Wall of Survivor Photos in a separate area

2 to 3:30 p.m.
Workshops Session 2, Gaige Hall, classrooms

Title: Spiritual and Religious Issues for Survivors
Workshop description: This workshop will explore the religious and spiritual issues faced by many survivors of sexual abuse. Topics include - rebuilding a God image, spiritual healing, justice making, righteous rage, and more. Participants are encouraged to bring questions, insights, and resources they have found helpful.
Presenters: Rev. Patricia Liberty
Presenter biographies: Reverend Patricia Liberty is the Executive Director of AEPPP, Associates in Education & Prevention in Pastoral Practice. She is an ordained American Baptist pastor.

Title: Survivors and Sexuality
Workshop description: In this workshop, presenters (gay, lesbian, and heterosexual) will discuss their ongoing journeys in reclaiming their individual sexualities as part of their recovery process. Topics addressed will include orientation, gender identity, sexual development, and the continuing process of each person reclaiming his or her sexual destinies. The effects of both ritual abuse and incest will be discussed.
Presenters: Betsy Keats, Nick Liacopoulas
Presenter biographies: Each presenter is a survivor who has experienced many years of recovery. They are not professional therapists.

Title: Taking Back Control of Your Life
Workshop description: Personal empowerment techniques to help you take control of your life and begin feeling good about yourself. This will be an honest and open discussion about how sexual abuse survivors feel, how to overcome the emotional scars and take back control. This is not a clinical approach, simply an exploration of what can work and has worked for the presenter.
Presenter: John Robitaille
Presenter biography: John Robitaille is an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse. He is a successful businessman, father and husband.

Title: Partners of Survivors of Sexual Abuse
Workshop description: Being a partner of a survivor of sexual abuse is one of the most challenging relationships you will encounter. You will have feelings of anger, resentment, inadequacy and frustration. You will be asked to get closer and then be pushed away. At the same time, remember that survivors are some of the most beautiful people the world has.
How can you develop a rewarding partnership without sacrificing so much of who you are?
This workshop will be a place for you to share with others what it is like to be involved with a survivor. The focus will be on setting boundaries, validating your feelings, having your needs met and other skills that will help you to create the kind of relationship you know, in your heart, exists.
Presenter: Marcie A. Mitler, M.Ed.
Presenter biography: Marcie Mitler, M.Ed., is a therapist with an office in Cambridge, MA. She is the founder of “Reclaiming your body,” a movement and dance class for survivors. Her practice includes individual and couples counseling, and groups for survivors and their partners.

Title: Women Survivors Bearing Witness: Create a Shirt for the Clothesline Project
Workshop description: In this hands-on workshop, each woman survivor will decorate a shirt as a personal tribute to her own journey of pain and healing. Shirts can then be submitted to the RI Clothesline Project’s ongoing display memorializing acts of violence against women. Participants MUST bring a shirt, blouse, or T shirt; paints and other supplies will be provided. This workshop is open to survivors who are women only.
Presenters: Jodi Glass, Amy Maxwell
Presenter biographies: Local activist Jodi Glass brought the Clothesline Project to Rhode Island in 1992. Amy Maxwell is a survivor and volunteer with the Clothesline Project and Survivor Connections.

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Gaige Hall, first floor auditorium
Keynote address: Author Charles Whitfield, M.D.
“The Science of Traumatic Amnesia”
Over the last several years, there has been an outpouring of studies that have shown the reality of traumatic amnesia. Dr. Whitfield will review the evolution and describe other important aspects of this basic finding in the natural history of trauma.

Dr Whitfield is a nationally known speaker and well known author of several books, including -
Healing the Child Within
A Gift to Myself
Boundaries and Relationships
Memory and Abuse
Co-dependence; Healing the Human Condition
My Recovery Plan (For Stage 2 Recovery)

4:30 to 5 p.m. (same place) Gaige Hall, first floor auditorium
Rhode Island Feminist Chorus, Katy Roth, Musical Director

Contact Survivor Connections, Inc.
52 Lyndon Rd.
Cranston, RI 02905, United States of America
Phone: 401-941-2548

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