Hope Harbor starts new podcast, comments on Stalking Awareness Month
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – January is Stalking Awareness Month, and Hope Harbor is raising awareness on this and other topics in a unique way: a podcast called “Still Not Asking For It.”
“Part of our mission at Hope Harbor is to push empowerment, but also to push prevention and education for survivors… and a lot of the ways we do that is getting out in the community and talking to people face to face. But there’s a lot of people that we (see) and there’s only so many advocates. So we decided to kind of revamp this podcast idea. We had it several years ago, and then it just kind of fell down the priority scale,” Director of Advocacy Mallory Clark says.
The podcast is aimed to help those affected by domestic or sexual violence in the community.
Clark says it’s going to be a chance to hear about what Hope Harbor does and discuss topics that aren’t normally talked about during a typical conversation.
“The idea behind the podcast is really just to raise awareness, bring awareness to the issues that we’re facing in our community and in the world… and have an opportunity for advocates to speak directly about their experiences. This way, we can talk more about Hope Harbor, what it is that we do, and also topics that maybe we don’t always get the most time to talk about like in a face to face, whole five minute interaction,” Clark says.
One of those topics is stalking, and with January being Stalking Awareness Month, it’s important to be aware of the signs of it, which most may not even recognize.
“Most people are stalked by someone who either knows them or puts a lot of time into researching them. The abuser will find a way to send a message to their victim that would not resonate with me as a threat or a reminder. So a wonderful example that a lot of agencies use is someone goes to work and they find a dozen roses on their desk. To me, that would be a wonderful surprise. But to the victim, that is a reminder because the abuser has told them in the past or communicated to them, ‘I’ll give you roses on the day that I hurt you or kill you,'” Clark says.
It’s often described as a co-occurring crime, and can lead to even more dangerous things down the line like domestic or sexual violence.
“It may not be dangerous in the moment, but it’s sending a message, right? It’s sending a message of ‘You’re not safe. I can access you. I know where you live,'” Clark says.
She has a couple of tips if you or someone you know may be involved in a situation like this.
“Just believing when someone tells you that there’s something wrong, that they feel unsafe, believe them… and then encouraging them to reach out for help, right. Hope Harbor can help. If it’s maybe a domestic violence situation that includes stalking, that would really encourage them to reach out to BRASS, Barren River Area Safe Space,” Clark says.
The first episode of Still Not Asking For It is currently available on Spotify.
