Why the Joyful Heart Foundation?

I have had this question asked several times since I have announced this journey. The answer is easy...I believe in the work they are doing.

The Joyful Heart Foundation was started in 2004 by Mariska Hargitay, who is known for playing Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. After learning the statistics of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse in the United States, she began receiving fan letters of people telling her their stories of survival, some for the very first time. Many letters stated that they wish they had "Olivia Benson" as their detective for their case. Survivors were looking for connection, hope, healing and were instead met with shame and isolation. So Mariska Hargitay created the Joyful Heart Foundation as a organization with a mission to "transform society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse by building a world that prioritizes survivor's healing."

They have 3 key initiatives: Heal the Healers, End the Backlog, and Image-Based Abuse Initiative.

Heal the Healers: this is a grantmaking program that provides critical support for secondary trauma among professionals working on the frontlines for survivors. They offer training opportunities, staff activities, and small capital/equipment, such as daylight lamps and new furniture for offices. Currently, I work in an adoption agency as a financial specialist, but before I became the finance person...I was an office admin. As an admin, part of my job was to read the case plans for each of the children we had in care and redact all identifying information. In doing this, I was reading their stories of abuse, neglect, assault. I saw the impact that these stories had on the workers who were working first hand with the children. I think that this initiative is one that is very important. It sees the people that are often forgotten about, the ones on the frontlines helping survivors. It lets them know that they are seen and cared for too.

End the Backlog: When a survivor is sexually assaulted, and it is reported, they have the option to have a rape kit performed. This is 4 to 6 hour process where the survivor is photographed and swabbed. They have an invasive exam of their entire body for left behind DNA. The evidence is then collected and preserved in a kit. These rape kits should be tested immediately, but it is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of rape kits sitting on shelves, untested, in police departments around the United States. These are referred to as the Rape Kit Backlog. I Am Evidence is an Emmy winner for best documentary that focuses on the Backlog and the work the Joyful Heart is doing to get these rape kits tested. I highly recommend checking out this website to learn more about the backlog and how you can help in this initiative: www.endthebacklog.org

Image-Based Abuse Initiative: Image based abuse is a form of technology-facilitated abuse, which uses an individual's intimate image to harm, manipulate, and control them by distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images without the individual's consent. These images can be real or AI generated. The Joyful Heart Foundation is working with policymakers and law enforcement to bring about new policy and action to help survivors heal.

As you can see, the Joyful Heart Foundation isn't just changing policies, it is changing the way the world sees and responds to survivors. They are making the world safer place for survivors to tell their stories. As Olivia Benson says "Healing begins when someone bears witness. I saw you. I believe you." That's exactly what the Joyful Heart Foundation is doing. It is seeing survivors, believing survivors, and making the changes needed to continue to help survivors heal.

Credit: www.joyfulheartfoundation.org

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