This year's theme of the Northern Utah Conference to End Violence is “a call for collaborative leadership.” USU President Noelle Cockett introduced the event at the Eccles Conference Center, attended by more than 300 people.
Jill Anderson, CEO of CAPSA, said it’s grown a lot from last year.
“We have nearly doubled the attendees this year than we had last year and we're really excited about the turnout and bringing a wide variety of leadership together and collaborating to see how we can improve services for survivors and our community's response,” Anderson said.
This conference also had a unique change that wasn’t seen the year before. The breakout sessions had two focuses instead of one with the idea of not only providing information for professionals in the field but also educating the general public.
Felicia Gallegos, Outreach and Prevention coordinator for the sexual assault and anti-violence Information Office at USU, was part of the planning committee and said they wanted to make it available to everyone.
“We were able to appeal to a more diverse group of people, whether you do this work every day, or you only do this work occasionally, or maybe don't do this work at all. There are sessions available for you. We have double the amount of tracks, double the amount of attendees and people are able to just get a more comprehensive conversation going,” Gallegos said.
Rabbi Avremi Zippel, Director of Development at Chabad of Utah was the keynote speaker.
Rabbi Zippel is a survivor of sexual abuse and shares his story with the goal of showing how individuals can see justice as a personal arrival point rather than a visible consequence. He also teaches how to build resilience by believing that situations can improve.
“I don't assume that everybody here today is a survivor. But I think that for the wider conference, being mindful of the fact that there is work for each and every one of us to do to make the world a better place for survivors, it's not limited to just those who are within the system per se,” Rabbi Zippel said.
He added that he believes everyone in the community has a role to play and can contribute something good.
“And I hope that everyone has the ability to find what that is and bring it into practice,” Rabbi Zippel said.
