KENTUCKY – With April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP) is announcing their statewide documentary they produced, “Believe Me,” highlighting the healing journey survivors have gone through and offering help and hope to those who need it.
The documentary, which will air on KET on April 25, 26 and 30, features interviews with 12 sexual assault survivors and licensed professionals across the state.
The SI talked with Heather Greene, the Healing Program director at Mountain Comprehensive Care Center’s Healing Project for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, which is one of 13 sexual assault programs and crisis centers that make up the coalition of KASAP.
Greene explained that her program is the rape crisis center in the region, covering Pike, Floyd, Johnson, Martin and Magoffin counties. The Healing Project offers counseling; therapy; legal, medical and personal advocacy; peer support; community support services; and a sexual assault crisis center with 24/7 on-call SANE services (sexual assault nurse examinations for forensic rape kits). They have a six-bed facility for crisis residential services for the region, with people in need of help able to call 606-886-1716 or the 24/7 hotline at 1-800-422-1060.
“The documentary is about survivors from all across Kentucky sharing their own personal stories in hopes of helping raise awareness and offer hope to those with similar stories,” Greene said. “They show a diverse population and it gives you an idea of how it does happen in Kentucky. More than 47% of all women in Kentucky have experienced sexual violence and out of the male population in Kentucky 19% have reported experiencing sexual violence, though that number is believed to be much higher due to the stigma on male reporting. A lot of men don’t want to report it, but it does happen.”
Greene said despite the common public opinion of “that doesn’t happen here,” sexual violence occurs in every region of the state.
“To anyone can’t believe it happens in Kentucky, I would offer the statistics and explain the overall sexual assault history and how the laws have changed,” Green said. “Up until 1990, it was legal for a husband to rape his wife, but thankfully that has changed, giving more women protections under the law. For prevention efforts, we’re working in schools to teach about consent, healthy relationships, setting healthy boundaries and how to notify someone if something this wrong. KASAP has been a leader in sexual violence prevention for over a decade and we’re proud to be a part of those services.”
Be sure to catch KASAP’s “Believe Me” documentary on April 25, 26 and 30 for more insights from sexual assault survivors. For those who may need help from sexual violence or know someone in a sexual violence situation, you can call Mountain Comprehensive Care Center’s Healing Project for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence 606-886-1716 or the 24/7 hotline at 1-800-422-1060, or if you are outside of their five-county region you can call 502-226-2704 to be dispatched to a sexual assault program and crisis center near you. More information can also be found at https://www.kasap.org/ or https://www.mtcomp.org/healing.
