“This is a community issue that requires community action.” - Amy, a survivor and Grassroots Supporter
Survivor leadership has always been part of the movement to end domestic violence. Over the last decade, ICADV has prioritized listening to be led by survivors and created a combination of pathways for survivors to lead support. Here are those pathways for Survivor-Led Support across the state of Indiana.
“I’m just a human and not an agency.”
Esther, a survivor and Grassroots Supporter
Survivors have said they need more support from their community while also asking for ways to help their fellow survivors. We believe grassroots supports is an answer to both needs. By ensuring survivors have more options available to them, more pathways to connect with the resources they may need, and more individuals willing to simply listen, validate, and empower, we believe grassroots supports have an important role to play in strengthening Indiana’s community response to domestic violence.
This approach is driven by guidance that ICADV received in listening to survivors and community members across Indiana who are supporting survivors outside of formal domestic violence organizations and direct victim services. Grassroots supporters are often survivors themselves. Others are friends, family members, coworkers, pastors, teachers, neighbors, or simply community members who refuse to ignore the abuse happening around them. Grassroots supports are not intended to replace professional advocacy, shelter, legal services, or crisis intervention, they are meant to complement those services and to expand the reach of supports for survivors. Formal services remain essential.
Read our report to learn more.
Grassroots supports are not new. In many ways, they represent the original community response to domestic violence. Long before domestic violence organizations existed, survivors found ways to support one another. Many organizations that exist today began because survivors and passionate community members saw a need and decided to act. ICADV itself operated out of a garage before growing into the statewide organization it is today. This initiative is less about creating a new form of support than recognizing them, learning from them and making it easier for them to access information, relationships, and resources that may strengthen the support they are already providing.
The timing of this work also matters as domestic violence organizations across Indiana recently experienced approximately $6 million in funding reductions. This is happening as Indiana experienced a record-high in DV-related fatalities and over 200 professionals from across the state are reporting increasing volume of high lethality cases.
Strengthen Your Support: Grassroots Supports Learning Series
ICADV created the “Grassroots Supports Learning Series” to provide an opportunity for ongoing learning for survivors and community members wishing to help survivors. The free online learning series provides practical information about the dynamics of domestic violence and includes original interviews with grassroots supporters, opportunities for reflection, and resources that people can engage with based on their own interests, relationships, and capacities.
There are 5 different modules for the Grassroots Supports Learning Series covering 25 different topics. Everything from trauma-informed support to safety planning to understanding economic abuse to group facilitation. Each of these modules help to curate different learning topics that may be helpful to your journey of supporting survivors. Check out this overview to see what topics are available in the learning series.
Module 1: Intro to Grassroots Supports
Module 2: Foundations to Supporting Survivors
Module 3: Relationships as Our Resource
Module 4: Survivor Experiences
Module 5: Underserved Survivors
To access, you can click on each link above to register or sign-up for our learning management platform on Coalition Manager, then search for the modules under the “E-Learning” tab. Watch these short videos for a step-by-step process on how to either register individually or become a user on our Coalition Manager platform.
Growing Together: Connection Space
Grassroots supporters shared that sometimes their efforts to support survivors can be lonely. They are often working by themselves within their communities. One of their strengths is relationship-building but they don’t always have access or connection to other grassroots supporters. They don’t have someone to bounce ideas off-of or to learn from other’s experiences.
ICADV plans is launching a virtual quarterly connection space for grassroots supports on Friday, October 23rd from 12pm-1pm EST. If you are interested, please complete this form.
ICADV partnered with the Indiana Counselors Association on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ICADAA), a subsidiary of Mental Health America of Indiana, to create a formal domestic violence endorsement for certified recovery coaches. This is one more pathway for survivors to support each other through formal peer-to-peer services. https://icaada.org/certifications/domestic-violence-support-dvs/
“There is beauty when more stable survivors give to newly freed survivors. We give not out of pity or romanticism but out of knowing. We know about the messy, difficult journey of rebuilding lives. We know each journey looks different. We know compassion and encouragement are needed, not judgement. When we give to other survivors, we give the gift of being seen.”
A survivor who wishes to remain anonymous
ICADV is launching Survivors Supporting Survivors – a campaign led by survivors, for survivors. We graciously invite survivors from all walks of life who are in a place of stability, along with the broader community, to support others as they rebuild after experiencing abuse. Your donations will directly support our Economic Justice program, so we can keep helping survivors cover essential expenses like rent, utilities, groceries and more.
If you are in a place of stability and want to help others get there, too, please consider joining us and making a contribution today.
“The help that funds like the Economic Justice Fund provide are the difference between making
– Survivor
it out and staying out and injury, abuse and death.”
After 9 years of marriage and 2 children, I woke up one day to a completely different man, home, situation and marriage. Hind sight is 20/20, as they say… looking back, I can see ripples of something stirring earlier, about 2 years before. What started as increasing selfishness, paranoia, blame shifting and bouts of rage became increasingly worse as time went on, I don’t think I realized how quickly things were shifting and changing. I was overwhelmed and always on edge, navigating the constant mood swings and trying to shield my children from the worst. I stayed longer than I should have. It was difficult to think clearly when I wasn’t getting much sleep and always on guard, always trying to keep things as level as possible in a constantly shifting realm where there were seemingly no right choices. The finances were a mess, I kept trying to dig us out of debt only to be plunged under again and again. I didn’t think I could leave when the minimum payments on the debt he kept accruing were more than I could pay for by myself. The threats kept escalating, every other form of abuse became physical, too. But one day, I woke up to a deep knowing that this was going to kill me if I didn’t make changes. I had tried everything, but one day when he told me that he didn’t want to change and he was going to do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it, and that as a woman, I was going to learn to listen…. I believed him. I believed him that he already knew what he was doing was wrong and no amount of me trying to drag him to spiritual leaders and therapists was going to make him change. I didn’t know how, but I was getting out. I didn’t wake up to a new reality that day, but my eyes were opened in a new way and I could no longer deny what I had been too tired and confused to see.
A family member told me about Elijah Haven, a partner program of Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. I made the call and from that first phone call, I was led through a way out. A protective order was obtained. I qualified for legal assistance from the Coalition through the satelite attorney program, and that attorney stuck with me all the way through the next 2 years helping me navigate a divorce, custody agreements, guardian ad litem and protective order. I was assisted with a few months of mortgage payments, utility bills and more. I remember the celebrating on the day I was able to afford to buy my own laundry detergent and didn’t need to get toiletries and other necessities from the resource room at the Domestic Violence agency.
The help that funds like the Economic Justice Fund provide are the difference between making it out and staying out and injury, abuse and death.
The needs vary but the funds need to be available when we hit those in between spots when the separation is going to happen but hasn’t yet, when the protective order is filed but you are waiting to hear, when you are the sole provider and caregiver but child support isn’t happening. What happens when you need to get to an appointment with a lawyer, guardian ad litem or have a court date but no money for gas or transportation?
There is less and less government funding available but most of is available has to be used in very specific ways and takes time to access. As survivors, we know how tiny that window of opportunity can be… we flee now or we flee never. We know how much access to funds meant for our survival and freedom and it is our turn to make sure that the victims that are needing to get out now have the same resources we did. Their lives depend on it. Whether we can help bolster the fund ourselves or know people who can, lets help ensure that those funds are ready and waiting for that moment when funds are the difference between living and dying.
Created in 2023, the Survivor Advisory Board (SAB) is comprised of survivors from across the state of Indiana. They meet on a regular basis and provide insights and guidance to ICADV on various projects and strategies. Recruitment for 2026-27 has closed.
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