Penn Violence Prevention champions domestic violence awareness with October event series

Throughout the month of October, Penn Violence Prevention put together a series of events for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. 

Three main events — Trauma-Informed Yoga, Paint Penn Purple Day, and Supporting Survivors Workshop — aimed to bring together the Penn community to raise awareness while providing a support system for survivors. 

Following the success from last year, PVP brought back Trauma-Informed Yoga, led by Studio 34 yoga instructor Nicole Pollard. Held on Fridays throughout the month from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Pottruck Center, the yoga sessions were open to the Penn community and were tailored to provide a healing space for survivors.

Among the attendees were members of the Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention club on campus. ASAP — a volunteer activism group — encouraged its members to join several of the events for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, ASAP member College sophomore Helena Saven said. 

On Oct. 19, PVP organized its inaugural Paint Penn Purple Day, coinciding with Philadelphia's broader Paint Philly Purple event. The Penn event was hosted with several interpersonal violence prevention partners who hosted the wider Philadelphia event. 

“Paint Penn Purple is really a nice opportunity for Penn to be part of a larger anti-domestic violence movement,” PVP Director Elise Scioscia said. 

Students, staff, and faculty were all encouraged to wear purple to support Domestic Violence Awareness Month and post their outfits on social media if they were comfortable. PVP put together a table with purple accessories like sunglasses, felt hats, and purple nail polish to encourage participation. 

“It’s more of a social statement, and it's nice to see other people wearing entirely purple because it's a way to show alliance,” Saven said. 

At their table, PVP also had a vision board that allowed students to put their ideas of what they considered positive attributes of healthy relationships.

For Paint Penn Purple Day, PVP partnered with William’s Cafe, the student-run cafe on campus. This new partnership aimed to increase awareness through the debut of purple lattes for a week. 

To close off the month, they hosted a Supporting Survivors Workshop from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 25. The event included a free dinner and sought to support survivors of interpersonal violence. The survivors’ workshop also aimed to provide tips and strategies for supporting fellow peers by training them to understand various campus resources available to students seeking professional support. 

According to Scioscia, the Supporting Survivors Workshop was the most well-attended domestic violence training in recent Penn history. Scioscia hopes that the community continues to work towards raising awareness and providing support for their peers beyond Domestic Violence Awareness Month. 

“I really hope it shows students who have been impacted by domestic violence that their peers care, that their peers love and support them, and their peers are committed to creating safer and healthier relationships here," Scioscia said. "That’s something that we get to do explicitly during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but that I hope as a community we will keep up with all year long."

In recent years, PVP has been expanding its reach by hosting workshops during New Student Orientation and throughout the school year that promote the importance of consent and inform students about on-campus resources.