You’re Safe Here: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence
July 15, 2025 | Episode 43
Producer’s Note: The following is an AI-generated transcript of The Wellness Conversation, an OhioHealth Podcast
SPEAKERS: Lindsey Gordon, Marcus Thorpe, Terra Purdy, Moriah Banks
Olivia Weiss 0:00
Thanks for tuning in to the wellness conversation. This episode includes discussions of sensitive topics, including sexual assault, abuse and violence. These subjects may be distressing or triggering for some listeners, if you or someone you know, needs support, SARNCO offers a 24 hour statewide sexual assault Helpline at 844-644-6435,
Marcus Thorpe 0:18
Welcome to the wellness conversation, an Ohio Health podcast, real quick. We'd love if you could like, favorite, rate and subscribe. We want to make sure that this grows our conversation with anybody who wants to listen. I'm Marcus Thorpe, one of your co hosts.
Lindsay Gordon 0:49
Yes, and I'm Lindsay Gordon, when you rate or subscribe, it supports us in a big way to keep that conversation going. So thank you so much. All right, let's dive in. I do want to say first, some of the information that we're going to talk about today in this episode is going to be sensitive for some audiences, so just take that to heart as we dive in.
Marcus Thorpe 1:07
Yep, we have great guests today. Terra Purdy is the manager of the Ohio Health sexual violence services and Moriah Banks Volunteer Coordinator for SARNCO, which stands for the Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio. We are so glad you're both with us. You're going to offer some great information. Insight to this conversation. It really is an important conversation, too. So first and foremost, we appreciate you both being here today.
Terra Purdy and Moriah Banks 1:30
Thank you. We're glad to be here.
Marcus Thorpe 1:30
Terra, let's talk about sarnco, long rich history of really working and saving people. It's amazing work you do. How has the work and the history evolved over time with the needs of our communities.
Terra Purdy 1:44
So SARNCO In a few iterations, it's been around for 45 years. 2025 is the 45th year. It was not a part of Ohio Health until 1990s and when it became a part of Ohio Health. There was a helpline. That's what it was, and we actually still have the same helpline coordinator to this day. Wow, from 1996 Deb green, thank you so much for all of your service throughout it's just been around for so many years, we've added things, as you said, to kind of expand with the community. We've added our statewide helpline in 2016 and that covers all 88 counties of Ohio. We are currently working to add the text feature to our statewide helpline. So right now we have chat and we have talk, and by the end of this year, we should have text we have a number of programs prevention outreach, besides our regular hospital intervention, and also we do in schools, training of prevention. So that is an amazing thing that we've added kind of throughout the years. We have advocacy on college campuses. Ohio State, for example, we have an office down there. We do advocacy at Ohio Dominican. So we've really just kind of spread out throughout the community and just found ourself in places where people need us.
Marcus Thorpe 3:10
I've been with Ohio Health for almost 10 years, and when I first started, one of my responsibilities was working with the SARNCO team. And it's amazing to see the work that you do, and the involvement in the school part of it, I love too. So super proud of the work that everybody's doing. It's so needed, and thank goodness we have great people that are working there like both of you.
Lindsay Gordon 3:32
Yeah. Speaking of the schools component, I want to give a shout out too to Cameron young. He's done a few interviews for us lately when there's some topic that's real heavy in the headlines, and journalists will reach out and say, How can parents talk to their kids about this? And that's where he comes in, and he says, Look at we're teaching kids at early ages, in an appropriate way, how they can protect themselves number one, but then also be a good friend to someone who confides in them, and how to get that friend help. I have goose bumps thinking about it, because I just think about for my own kids, right? These are tough conversations, and sometimes parents just don't know how to start those conversations or when to start those conversations. So I think that's a huge part of the work that you do, and the prevention piece of it.
Terra Purdy 4:18
Yeah, absolutely. We believe that consent can be taught at any age, any level. We do our training, and one of the big portions of training is consent, and that's one of the things we do. I believe I asked one of our volunteers to borrow her pen during the training, during the consent portion, and she said yes, and handed me the pen, and I said, That's how easy consent can be taught.
Lindsay Gordon 4:38
Amazing. Yeah. Oh so great. And then Mariah for SARNCO, volunteers are also vital to the operations and supporting our community. So if you want to talk a little bit about the work that you do to support that and why volunteers are so important,
Moriah Banks 4:55
yes, volunteers are so important because they can reach the community parts of the. Community that we can't they fill in the resource gaps. They're the ones that are on the ground, running, as they say, providing free services for survivors and CO survivors in the community. And it's also important, because we can't reach everyone. You know, if we have volunteers in different counties, even for the help line, they're able to assist locally, we have volunteers that are able to connect with survivors and CO survivors in the hospitals, and so they are like the key to us being able to provide support. And it's easy to volunteer. We do a 30 minute virtual, very informal, just like a conversation, like we're having about sexual violence, why they want to be a volunteer. We don't ask about personal history, but we do know that even if you haven't experienced sexual violence yourself. You know someone who has and so we just like to ask questions like that, just to prepare them for the training, because there's a lot that you're going to learn at the training. It's 40 hours. It's also nationally accredited. I like to say that because it just we're proud of ourselves, right? And so once you get through the 40 hour training. Then you go through some other steps, through Ohio Health, just to meet the standards of Ohio Health. And then you get to pick what service Lane you'd like to volunteer in, which, again, we have helpline, hospital outreach, which is one of my favorites. Everybody loves outreach, yeah.
Lindsay Gordon 6:37
I mean, that sounds amazing, and it's got to be really rewarding. Is there a need for volunteers?
Moriah Banks 6:42
There's always a need for volunteers. There's a need for volunteers right now.
Marcus Thorpe 6:46
That's the easiest question you'll ask her all day.
Lindsay Gordon 6:49
Yeah, I love that. Well, you never know. I think this is a good time, right? Because it's summer, things slow down, sometimes, in some cases, for some and people might be thinking, Well, how could I invest that time back into doing something good? And it's probably not a long term commitment. You could probably dedicate, you know, six months, a few months, just Can it work like that?
Moriah Banks 7:09
So we actually just finished up our June training. In order to be a volunteer, you have to go through the full 40 hour training. And so we just finished up our June training, we have another training coming up in October that are weekends. And typically that works better for folks. Even if you are in school and you're not working a full time job, the weekends typically work better for folks. And so if you are interested in becoming a volunteer, we would love to have you. We would do a volunteer or we would do a volunteer interview prior to the months of training, and then we would get you set up for the training in person.
Marcus Thorpe 7:46
I think it would be awesome to live in this perfect world where there wasn't a need for sarnco, right, that absolutely your goal is to almost put yourselves out of work, but that's not going to happen. And so we need to utilize your skills that you're here. So I want to get into really the important topics, like survivors of sexual assault, the reason why it's important for them to feel seen, to feel safe, to feel supported, especially in those moments right after trauma Terra, let's start with you. Why are those components so critically important in those early stages?
Terra Purdy 8:23
So to answer that, you kind of have to look like at the statistics first, based on CDC information and results every other woman, so half of women and one in three men will experience some form of sexual violence that involves physical contact in their lifetime. So even if you are not a survivor, you're a co survivor, because I guarantee you know someone who has been assaulted. So when you look at those numbers, you know that there's a need for this work. And strangely, because we live in a society that, you know, there is rape culture, where a lot of things are accepted, a lot of things are brushed over, survivors aren't believed, and things like that. And this is a crime. This is an actual crime, and we need to treat survivors of this like we treat survivors of other crimes. So we need to give that same type of support. We need to believe, we need to empower the survivors to speak out, if they wish to speak out, to seek help via the hospital, to seek help with the police, however they feel comfortable with receiving help, however they feel comfortable healing, they need that support. So we need to advocate for them as well.
Lindsay Gordon 9:38
Do you think those numbers are also just the floor, not the ceiling, of what's happening, because people are afraid to report what's happened.
Terra Purdy 9:47
Absolutely. most survivors, I believe there's only, like 32% that actually report. And in our training, we talk about, you know, the legal system and things like that. And. Is, out of every 1000 survivors, only 301 support report. And if you go through the whole gamut of the legal system, only about 25 ever see jail time.
Lindsay Gordon 10:14
Oh my gosh, but we do have new technology now in our emergency department.
Terra Purdy 10:19
Absolutely, we do.
Lindsay Gordon 10:20
Which I think was just bubbling up. I was just writing the news release when we were back scheduling this podcast episode. And now the word's out there. And so Terra, if you kind of want to talk a little bit about that, because that is a key component in helping to get those cases to move forward. For survivors,
Terra Purdy 10:36
Absolutely. So just as of July 9, 2023 the SANE program, which is the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, it moved over under the purview of Ohio Health sexual violence services. So I managed that as well. And one of the new things that we got in 25 emergency rooms throughout Ohio Health are cortex flow cameras. Our associate manager for the forensic nursing program, Cheri Ford, did an amazing job going and making sure that everyone got trained on these and these cameras are state of the art. They before. The process was a little clunky. It's a little clunky everywhere. It involved a regular colposcope, like you have at the doctors. It involved a digital camera, and, you know, the sane is trying to hold the camera and the COVID scope, and it kind of prolongs the exam. And let's be honest, no one wants to be there in the first place, right? So this camera, actually, it's on its own stand. You can take multiple pictures, and it's so great because our areas in the region, they actually do pediatric sane exams. So you can do a video, and then you can still shot of that video, because everyone knows who has children. Children do not stay still. So this camera really, really helps with that, and the zooming in, the contrast lighting, it's all there. So it really reduces the time that a survivor has to sit there in this exam. An exam is typically one of, you know, the tougher parts of all of it, because you're reliving it. You're giving a narrative, because your narrative guides the forensic nurse into what they're gonna pictures of and things like that. So it was really great that Ohio Health supported this, put in hundreds of 1000s of dollars to get these colposcopes and to make sure that all of our Forensic Nurses are trained and that we have these readily available for survivors.
Lindsay Gordon 12:21
Yeah.
Marcus Thorpe 12:22
Mariah, I want to talk about the importance of conversation. Why having a conversation like this is important? Right? You don't hear a lot of podcasts. They're going to get into this kind of conversation and topic. But why do you think it could help somebody who's maybe gone through this, but also to help inform people who haven't but they do need to know about what's going on and what's proper and consent and these kind of things. Why are these conversations important?
Moriah Banks 12:50
I mean, you don't know what you don't know. You know I You would be surprised how many outreach events I've been to, and people have never heard of SARNCO. They don't know who we are. They don't know the services that we provide. And I'm always just mind blown that we have all these free services and we aren't able to meet the need because people don't know. And so if we're able to just reach one person today, one person is listening, and they can get the resources that we're providing today, then we've reached someone, because that person can then tell someone else.
Marcus Thorpe 13:24
I think about how many times you've probably heard I wish I would, I wish I would have heard that, or I wish I would have known where to go or what to do, and I just didn't do anything because I didn't know. That's got to be heartbreaking.
Moriah Banks 13:34
Yes, it is. And this is why I keep swag items and other marketing things in my car. I go to a restaurant, offer them the coasters that we have. I'll put the flyers out. I'll give them our helpline number. We need to get it out. Everyone needs to know. Everyone. Yeah, yeah.
Lindsay Gordon 13:51
Let's talk more too about how to equip someone like, let's serve as the resource right now, like, for someone listening. How do we equip someone to navigate this with a loved one or a friend. So let's start with traumatization. What does that look like, and how can we avoid it with what we say and how we act?
Terra Purdy 14:10
So trauma presents in a lot of different ways. I mean, you could have anger, you could have, you know, crying, you could have everything is fine and just kind of deadpan. So one of the ways that anyone can start with supporting a loved one is just by believing them. If they confide in you, if they disclose to you, even when it's something from you know, 20, 3040, years ago, just believe them. Secondly, ask them how you can support them in that let them take the lead, because that's what it's all about. It's all about consent and control, giving them the power over their story, back over their body, back over the things they want to do. So that would be the big first two steps. Very simple. Just believe them and say, What do you need from me? What can I do to support you?
Marcus Thorpe 15:00
I remember when I was a reporter and I would do a story on a rape or something like that, or I would talk to someone who has gone through that horribly traumatic experience, I would get nervous as a reporter, not knowing what to say or using the right verbiage, or those kind of things. And I think there's such value for people understanding what could trigger someone by even saying something when you call a victim versus a survivor, right? There is a certain lexicon that people need to be thinking about when it comes to this. Talk about the importance of that, and then how the RE victimization can really come into just someone's ignorance of how to talk about these kind of things, too.
Terra Purdy 15:44
So mostly we use survivor because it gives the power back to the person. And it's saying that, you know, you've survived this horrible, traumatic experience, which a lot of people don't sadly, you know, there's a lot that, whether it be from the experience itself, whether it be after them taking their own lives, a lot of people don't survive something like survive something like this, and for them to have the strength to survive that, that's what we need to remind them of that you did. You're here with us. You're telling me this, you've survived it. So that's why we kind of use that language of Survivor instead of victim. Some people do prefer victim, because they're in that part of their healing, and they want people to understand that this is something that was done to them and they had no say in it. So some people do. Typically, we let that person kind of choose their own language for themselves and self describe. But I think a big thing is to be careful. Is victim blaming. Sometimes you know you don't even know that you're doing it. You'll have somebody say, Oh, well, but you went out with him, right? Or, you know, you were at that party and you drank that, right? And just trying to get more information out. But that, in a sense, is victim blaming, because you're kind of putting it on their actions. Their actions led them to this. So we want to stay away from that. Let them tell the story how they want to tell the story, because it's their story to tell, and let them choose the verbiage that they want to use, because they're describing what happened to them.
Moriah Banks 17:04
And it's also important to let them know that it's not their fault. You didn't deserve this. This was not your fault. And because imagine being assaulted, they're feeling so much shame, and then they're being questioned, and then how the questions are being asked are re traumatizing them, and it's not make it's not setting a safe space for them to even share. And so they need to know that it's not their fault, and they need to know that they're believed.
Marcus Thorpe 17:32
I think that's why the training that goes into this is so important for this the same nurses, for the volunteers, for those that are on the other end of the helpline, of knowing the right things to say, to allow someone to feel seen and to feel safe and to share because they know they're not being judged. I love that. That's part of the training that goes into all of this too.
Lindsay Gordon 17:52
So then, what role will SARNCO play in helping a survivor reclaim their voice? You know, say they've confided in their support system. But can sarnco help build that support system and make it greater?
Terra Purdy 18:07
Absolutely. That's why we have so many service lines within SARNCO. So the first step is whether you're a survivor or a co survivor, whether the assault happened yesterday or 30 years ago. Sar and CO can help you call the help line. We have resources. We have referrals. We can do safety plans if you're feeling unsafe. We also have safety equipment, so like new locks or window bars or alarms, things like that. This is all free of charge, so we send it to the survivor. Survivors can call us and talk to us. You can be anonymous. You could, you know, give us your whole life story. It doesn't matter. We're there to support you and whatever you wish to do. So we will give you kind of resources and options. If you want to report to the police, you know, we know the time frame. If you want to just do an exam and want it to be an anonymous kit, we can tell you about that time frame. So we have all of that information. We have resources. And if you're a survivor and you're struggling with something like housing or food insecurities on top of this, we understand that that is a lot. So we have a lot of community partners, and we can connect you directly with community partners in a warm hand off to get help and to get resources so that this is another thing that's not on your plate that you don't have to worry about, and we can help you work through the trauma that you just experienced or experienced many years ago.
Moriah Banks 19:31
And not only do we have the help line, we also have hospital advocates that are dispatched to the hospital when someone reports sexual assault, so that advocate can then go there and be their support system, offer their resources while they're there, connect them with aftercare, which is another service lane that we have, and also connect them with our support group. So there's so many resources for survivors. They just need to know that they exist. And so if you are out there, if you've been assaulted and. And you are feeling nervous about reporting, if you feel safe enough to go to a hospital, you can go to a hospital, and maybe a an advocate could meet you there. They go through your options with you, and then just provide some supportfor you while you're there.
Marcus Thorpe 20:19
I think what's the amazing thing that we've seen? You know, we were both journalists previously, and you've worked in this space both for an awful long time, is that sometimes the environment can bring back some feelings to whatever's going on, or a case that makes national news, how closely do you all have to pay attention to what's going on in this world? That could be that one thing that maybe somebody hasn't thought about something for 10 or 15 or even, you said, 30 years, and there's that one instant where all of a sudden, you know, the help line is probably going to get calls. Do you pay attention to those trends?
Terra Purdy 20:54
Absolutely, we actually have a process for that. When there are large news stories like right now in national news. You have the Diddy trial and things like that. We actually have a standard of work where we send out to our advocates, both helpline and hospital, to let them know that, you know, this is a big event. This is everywhere. It's kind of, you know, being pushed on every news station and things. And this is very re traumatizing for some people. So you may see an influx. We had some incidents in Cleveland where there was a lot on the news about, you know, someone doing sexual assaults. And we sent that out to our helpline advocates, because they do cover that county. They cover Cuyahoga County. And we said, hey, this is on the news. People are seeing this. This could be re traumatization. This could encourage them to speak up about something that happened to them, no matter when it happened. So just be prepared. And our advocates at the hospital, in the helpline or automatically prepared for that, and they were able to kind of help people, direct them to the resources they needed, and honestly support them with knowledge about the things that are going on.
Lindsay Gordon 22:02
I'm just so amazed. I mean, you're a true Angel. Every time I hear Terra speak and do an interview, I'm just like, oh my gosh, because the work that you do, both of you, is so heavy, and you take those stories to heart, and they stay with you. How do you continue to provide this care while also not letting it affect you.
Terra Purdy 22:25
Well, Moriah is the queen of resilience and self care. She teaches our self care that we teach to our volunteers and to the advocates and to the staff. So.
Moriah Banks 22:36
Yeah, I do teach about building resilience and secondary trauma during the training. Secondary trauma is something that anyone could experience working in close proximity with a trauma survivor, and so one of the things that I incorporate is dancing. I'm dancing at home, but I'm also during our training, incorporating small moments, six minutes or less of chair dancing. So chair dance, yes, so comfortable, right? So you don't have to be uncomfortable and stand. You can still sit and do the motions. See, I'm getting excited thinking about it, yeah, because trauma lives in your body, so you gotta like it, like, get it out of there. So like, move dancing and other types of somatic movement, like stretching, yoga, journaling. For advocates specifically, we hold a case discussion to where it's still confidential, but advocates can join to talk about maybe some cases that they've had in the hospital or on the helpline, just to get support from coordinators and other other advocates. But yes, that is a big thing that we are. I don't want to say stressing, but like stressing that self care is so important, you have to take care of yourself. You have to establish a self care practice if you're going to keep doing this. That's literally the only way I'm able to still be in this 10 years later.
Marcus Thorpe 24:00
Yep, somebody might be listening. And we've talked about the help lines, and let's share some of those numbers. I think they're really important for people. And we're obviously going to put this inside of the body of this this podcast too. So if you can't find it, you're like, Oh, I know they've talked about this. Let's share some of those numbers and some of the websites where people can find you in the services available,
Absolutely. 844-Ohio-help is our helpline. That is a 24 hour 365 days a year, staffed helpline. Ohio Health Advocates, we go to 20 I believe it's 23 now, emergency rooms all in central Ohio, but if you are in one of the regions for an Ohio Health Hospital, we even started having advocates at Grady now. So we are supported by other kind of rape crisis centers to have advocates at those hospitals as well. So Mansfield Marion, they all have advocates. Www.sarnco.com. Is our webpage where you can find any information about us. You can get the application to be an advocate. Volunteer if you wish. So all of that is there. And also, like I said, if you come into, especially any of the central Ohio, Ohio health hospitals and you want to have an advocate or speak to a forensic nurse, just ask when you're there, and they'll triage you immediately, and you will get the support that you need.
Yeah, the partner organizations within like the SARNCO family are just so important because obviously you can't do it by yourself. You have to have others. And the communities here in central Ohio and in the region have really stepped up and supported and are great advocates for our advocates. So we love to see that too.
Lindsay Gordon 25:37
Yeah, before we wrap, but just want to give you one last moment to kind of share. If there's a survivor who's listening right now, what message would you have for them, or is there anything else you'd like to say that we didn't get to.
Moriah Banks 25:52
We believe you. It's not your fault. Any and everything that you're feeling right now is normal. And at songco, we're here to support you. Please reach out.
Terra Purdy 26:05
And most importantly, you're not alone. Millions of people experience this, and we are here to support you in whatever you need and whatever path you want to take towards healing.
Marcus Thorpe 26:18
Yep, you're so strong and safe, and we appreciate what you do for all those that come in contact with you, and we're really appreciative of you being on the wellness conversation today. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you both and we thank you for joining us. If you want to read more about this podcast episode, or if you want to find links to resources of anything we've talked about, it's all going to be available on our podcast page at ohiohealth.com/the wellness conversation.
Lindsay Gordon 26:41
And be sure to check back next month when our conversation turns to all things minimally invasive procedures for women, pain does not define us. So if you have questions about that, send me an email to lindsay.gordon@ohiohealth.com and we will answer your questions on that episode as always, thanks for joining us.