THE CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD 100% ONLINE USING STATE-OF-THE-ART VIRTUAL CONFERENCING SOFTWARE

Can’t attend the live conference? No Problem! All sessions will be recorded and available to view on the conference platform 3 months after the event. You can still get CEs for viewing recorded sessions. 

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We are grateful to our generous sponsors who make the Puzzles conference possible! Are you interested in sponsoring this year? 

Schedule at a Glance

All Concurrent Breakout Sessions will be live with most recorded so that attendees can access the sessions on their own time for up to 3 months after the conference.

All times are Eastern Standard Time

Thursday, December 12

11-11:15am Morning Games

11:30-12:45pm Breakout Session IV

1:15-1:35pm Poster Sessions

1:45-3pm Breakout Session V

3-3:30pm Reclaiming authenticity, professionalism and community while working in the sexual violence field with Alisa Zipursky

Workshops & Poster Sessions

Keynote Speakers

Your Story, Your Terms

Through a blend of poetic performance and oral sharing, “Your Story, Your Terms” will discuss the healing power of storytelling while ensuring all who consider sharing their stories are making an informed decision when doing so.

Ayanna Gay is a writer, storyteller, spoken word poet, and digital content creator from Goldsboro, North Carolina, by way of Durham. Specializing in what she’s dubbed as “a(rt)dvocacy” (the merging of art and advocacy), Ayanna is dedicated to fostering meaningful impact and provoking thoughtful dialogue. Ayanna’s storytelling encompasses various topics, but mostly prioritizes the many facets of womanhood, mental and spiritual wellness, and the Black experience. In April 2021, Ayanna was crowned the #1 woman slam poet in the world at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Dallas, TX. Leveraging her gift of words in the digital age, Ayanna has now garnered over 470,000 followers on Tiktok & IG combined. Still, Ayanna’s motto is “I don’t wish to be famous, I just want to be heard.”

Mindful Movement for Collective Healing

In this restorative yoga session, participants will experience the power of mindful movement, breathwork, and meditation as tools for personal healing and collective action. By integrating trauma-sensitive practices, we will create a safe space to explore the connection between body, mind, and spirit while fostering resilience and empowerment. Participants will gain practical strategies to incorporate mindfulness and embodiment techniques into their daily life, ultimately supporting personal and community healing. Join us as we collectively move, breathe, and heal in pursuit of a safer and more just campus environment.

Adia Daniels is a Columbia-based yoga facilitator with over 350 hours of teaching experience. Her trauma-informed and culturally responsive approach fosters physical, emotional, and mental wellness & connectedness for individuals and groups. Adia also has 20 years of experience in interpersonal violence prevention and advocacy, including work with the Department of Justices Office on Violence Against Women. She is passionate about integrating individual and societal healing with wellness practices to build safer communities. Adia earned her Bachelors in Psychology from the University of South Carolina, Masters in Education from Old Dominion University, and 200-hour yoga certification from Asheville Yoga Center. She lives in Columbia, SC with her amazing son and three dogs.

Know More, Do More: Recognizing and Responding to Stalking on Campus

Stalking is a prevalent, dangerous, and often misunderstood crime, and individuals ages 18-24 experience the highest rate of stalking. This session explores the dynamics of stalking, focusing on the highly contextual nature of the crime by discussing common tactics used by perpetrators, the co-occurrence of stalking with domestic and sexual violence, as well as practical strategies for building stalking into a coordinated community response (CCR).

Kendra Eggleston (M.A.) is the Training & Campus Specialist for the Stalking, Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC). In her role, Kendra specializes in working with colleges and universities to develop effective campus stalking resources. Kendra designs and delivers dynamic trainings to equip students, staff, and faculty with tools to recognize and respond to the unique dynamics of campus stalking and advocate for victims and survivors on campuses.

Kendra has a longstanding passion for advocacy in higher education. Prior to joining the SPARC team, Kendra served as Assistant Director of Student Advocacy Services at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), overseeing the Relationship Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention (RVSP) Program. In this position, Kendra developed educationaltrainings and programmed campus outreach events aroundsexual and relationship violence prevention and victim/survivor support for the UTA campus and Tarrant County community. She also had the privilege of mentoring a team of Peer Educators, college students who were leading the movement to end campus gender-based violence and advocating for their peers who identify as victims and/or survivors. Additionally, she supported other programs under Student Advocacy Services, including the LGBTQ+ program, the Maverick Food Pantry, and the Emergency Assistance Program, as well as served on the Behavior Intervention Team. Before UTA, Kendra worked at Hill College as the Perkins Grant Coordinator, supportinghistorically underserved community college students pursuing career and technical education degrees. Kendra also served as the Academic Coordinator at College Living Experience in Austin, Texas, where she provided academic advocacy and independent living support for college students on the autism spectrum.

Kendra received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Arts in Counseling from St. Edward’s University. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University, with a goal of enhancing her knowledge and skills tocreate significant and lasting change in the movement to end gender-based violence. Kendra is based in Arlington, Texas.

The Role of the State Crime Lab in Sexual Assault Investigations

You know what a rape kit is, but do you know what happens once it gets to your state crime lab for testing? Have you ever spoken to these scientists? Are they on your CCRs and SART’s? With over 40 years of combined experience, we invite you to learn from two seasoned administrators working in the Forensic Biology Section at the NC State Crime Lab. They will address the workflow of sexual assault cases through the laboratory from processing to CODIS. Suggestions for including these vital professionals into your community work will be addressed.

Michelle Hannon has been with the NC State Crime Laboratory since 2004 assigned to the Forensic Biology section. Michelle is currently a supervisor in Forensic Biology, coordinating the outsourcing of sexual assault kits, the STIMS Administrator and assists the NCSBI Cold Case Investigator Unit.

Amanda Overman has been with the NC State Crime Laboratory for over 20 years. Her first experience was as an intern in the Forensic Biology Section. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Clinical Laboratory Science, she was hired by the lab as a DNA Database Analyst. Amanda processed Convicted Offender samples for CODIS in this role. She then pursued a position in the casework section. As a Casework DNA Analyst, Amanda worked a wide variety of cases and testified to the results in court when needed. Amanda has served as a Supervisor and the CODIS Administrator for North Carolina during her tenure with the lab.

Reclaiming authenticity, professionalism,and community while working in the sexual violence field.

We are inundated with conflicting messages about how we should act in order to make political change, build community, and support survivors. Using her own experience writing the groundbreaking Healing Honestly, Alisa Zipursky will illustrate the way professionals are pressured to emotionally detach themselves from their work while simultaneously being pressured to disclose personal experiences with trauma. Participants will examine how rape culture impacts the ways we are expected to show up in this work and, together, we will reimagine the concepts of authenticity and sustainability in our field.

Alisa Zipursky is a storyteller, writer, facilitator and childhood sexual abuse survivor. Her work focuses on offering emotional support to other young survivors healing from sexual trauma. She is the founder of HealingHonestly.com and Author of Healing Honestly: The Messy and Magnificent Path to Overcoming Self-Blame and Self-Shame

Benchmarking Prevention and Survivor Advocacy Practices Across the United States — A panel discussion

Although there has been increased attention to campus interpersonal violence due to survivor activism, #MeToo, and Title IX advocacy, there is limited information on survivor advocacy services and prevention and awareness programming practices on college and university campuses. We recruited participants from 155 U.S. institutions of higher education responsible for advocacy and/or prevention services on their campus. We used a community participatory action approach in partnership with the Campus Advocacy and Prevention Professionals Association to develop and disseminate a survey regarding campus prevention and advocacy services. Our panel of researchers, researcher-practitioners, prevention educators, and advocates will share findings from this first large-scale benchmarking study of campus prevention and advocacy programs, discuss implications of findings, and engage in a group dialogue on contemporary considerations and next steps.

Panelists:

• LB Klein, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin – Madison 
• Holly Lovern, Gender Violence Services Coordinator, UNC Chapel Hill
• Ashley Slay, Associate Director of IPV Prevention, Boston University

Beyond Food Metaphors- Shifting Our Consent Conversations — A panel discussion

“Yes means yes,” “no means no,” the FRIES model, and “Tea Video”- while all being helpful frameworks and starting points to educating on consent have not resulted in an end to sexual violence and harm. Join us for a panel discussion on the use of previous models and verbiage and how to envision what could be a more intersectional and responsive way to educate on and prevent sexual violence and harm for all individuals.

Panelists:

• Destiny Green, Prevention + Community Education Manager, Safe Connection

• Baylee Mammenga, Community Outreach + Engagement Specialist/Victim Advocate, YWCA St. Louis

• Jacob Stern, Guys Group Facilitator/Prevention Educator, Safe Connections

• Emily Stoinski, Community Education Coordinator, Safe Connections

NACP + NBCC CE’s + OVW Approval

Office on Violence Against Women

We invite OVW Grantees from the Campus, Culturally Specific Services, Transitional Housing, Culturally Specific Sexual Assault Services, STOP formula, SASP formula, Coalitions, Disability, and Underserved programs to register. Grantees are required to submit a GAM to get approval specific to their awards in order to attend this conference.

Scholarship Opportunities

Chrysalis Network is grateful to offer you the opportunity to apply for any of our 3 scholarship options. Applications are due by November 15, 2023, and notifications will be made by Friday, November 22, 2023. Please note, if you apply and do not receive a scholarship, we will offer you the early registration rate.

Harassment Free NC Scholarship

5 AVAILABLE

A registration scholarship open to anyone interested in attending Puzzles.

Harassment Free NC is a Raleigh, NC-based partnership between Chrysalis Network, and Seven & Nine Consulting Inc. committed to creating environments where sexual harassment is not tolerated. They are proud to provide 5 registration scholarships.

All applications will be kept confidential among the small group of reviewers from the Puzzles Advisory Committee.