Luminarias Honoring Our Light Together

Conference Agenda

Tuesday, May 20th

7:00 am - 8:30 am Breakfast & Check in

8:30 am - 9:00 am

Welcome and Conference Opening

9:00 am - 10:00 am

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

10:15 am - 11:45 am

  • This session explores how leadership roles light the pathways for successful prevention programming and how we all can be leaders in community engagement. Participants will gain knowledge in community mobilization and identify strategies for marketing sexual violence prevention programs.

  • This panel discussion on the Prison Rape Elimination Act features experts who represent a variety of roles within the infastructure providing support to incarcerated survivors.

    Join us to discuss the importance and future of PREA in New Mexico with panelists Lorrisa Orosco, PREA Advocate with RCCCNM, Roman Varela, former MDC PREA Coordinator, and codirectors of the NMSA Helpline Abbey Boynton and Sonya Romero.

  • Kim Hansen walks through a case presentation of a sexual assualt that occured during COVID pandemic as a chance to enhance attendees understanding of strangulation, survivors' emotional responses, and the legal procees.

    In this case, the SANE's photos were not given to defense in discovery and couldn't be used at trial so the SANE had to describe the patient's injuries off of law enforcement's photos. In addition, the patient was giggly during the exam and in court so the DA used the SANE to discuss different types of response to stress.

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

  • Join us for lunch in the ballroom as we honor some of the incredible people across New Mexico supporting for survivors of sexual violence.

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

  • When a victim discloses sexual assault, an effective Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) provides support and a coordinated trauma-focused approach to the victim. This system can reduce trauma, improve the quality of the investigation, and ensure that all aspects of this system is working for the benefit of the victim. This session addresses specific areas of the MDT needed to meet these needs for the victim.

  • This presentation discusses the legal rights for students who experience sex-based harassment, including sexual assault, in light of changing legal and policy landscape. It also examines how schools can and should protect students despite the policy changes of the current Administration impacting Title IX protections.

  • Alcohol is the weapon most commonly used by sex offenders. Its unique toxicological effects, widespread use, and ease of consumption render it the ideal substance to facilitate sexual assault. However, some of the same factors that make alcohol such a perfect weapon also present unique challenges for alcohol-facilitated sexual assault (AFSA) cases.

    This presentation outlines the toxicology, effects, and societal attitudes about alcohol to promote a victim-centered response that incorporates offender-focused strategies for effective investigation and prosecution of AFSA cases.

3:15 pm - 4:45 pm

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

  • Nurses and professionals helping survivors of crime can witness and experience repetitive trauma. This presentation helps participants understand trauma-informed care and acknowledge trauma and their role in caring for survivors. Participants will gain techniques for self-care and well-being and tools to incorporate a holistic approach in their work.

Wednesday, May 21st

7:00 am - 8:30 am Breakfast & Check in

8:30 am - 9:00 am

Welcome

9:00 am - 10:15 am

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

10:30 am - 12:00 pm

  • This presentation critically examines the current landscape of anti-trafficking policies, highlighting their increasingly carceral nature within the context of rising authoritarianism. By analyzing the intersection of immigration control and trafficking interventions, it explores the harmful effects of these policies on marginalized communities, especially migrants, and offers a nuanced perspective on how anti-trafficking measures can exacerbate the vulnerability of those they are meant to protect.

    Participants will be encouraged to critically examine the policies and practices of their own organizations, reflecting on how they serve individuals in the commercial sex trade and consider whether these approaches may inadvertently perpetuate harm.

  • The impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children is devastating and the effects are long-lasting. This presentation focuses on the impact of domestic violence on children, the various factors to consider when deciding whether to call children to testify, how to involve child protective services in a non-punitive manner, and the complex decision-making process involved in calling a child witness. It will describe how to identify admissible hearsay statements by children and develop strategies to litigate the admissibility of such statements

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

  • Join us in the ballroom for a buffet lunch!

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

  • Sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking are prevalent in the world of work. When a worker commits or experiences violence, it can have a negative impact on the survivor, their coworkers, and the organization. Being a victim of this violence also interrupts a person’s economic potential. This is an economic justice issue.

    In this session, participants will explore how sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking impacts workers; explore how employers can address the impacts of violence on workers and the workplace; and develop trauma-responsive and survivor-centered strategies that can be implemented in their organization and community to support economic justice for all.

  • The ability to provide interpretation and translation services to victims is an essential component in enhancing survivors and community safety and perpetrator accountability. This training will inform participants about developing an interpretation and translation plan, working with interpreters, and budgeting for interpretation and translation services.

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

2:45 pm - 4:15 pm

  • This training explores how expanding Tribal political and economic sovereignty of tribally owned lands supports Native American survivors of trafficking. We will discuss how a healthy relationship with the federal government can expand sexual assault victim services, create new opportunities for improved health and safety infrastructure, and improve the capacity for tribes to meet the basic needs of all tribal members.

    This presentation is rooted in an understanding that the imposition of the American colonial system of profit and capital has been a disaster for the health and well being of all Native people and that a restructuring of tribal relations to further the political and economic power can be the path towards massively improving social service responses for survivors of trafficking and other forms of sexual assault.

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

  • Full Description Coming Soon!

Thursday, May 22nd

8:00 am - 9:00 am Breakfast & Check in

9:00 am - 10:30 am

  • This training explores the limits of diagnosis in the treatment of sexual assault. Using the lens of Polyvagal Theory, symptoms of sexual assault are defined as a response to threat. It will explore how diagnosis is often misused to label normal trauma physiology.

  • While light and positive energy is ideal, that's not always the type of energy professionals working in high-stress environments, where negative emotions run high, encounter at work. This can lead to burnout, low energy, dysregulated nervous systems, insomnia, secondary traumatization, and the transference of negative emotions such as pain, fear, and grief.

    Participants will learn how to cleanse energetically and maintain strong spiritual hygiene, ultimately supporting physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. This training provides daily practices to better deal with the stressors and traumas of life.

  • This presentation defines trauma informed care as it relates to healthcare practices--what it should and should not look like. It begins with a review of general pelvic anatomy, structure, and function as well as how it relates to sexuality. It explores some of the most common dysfunctions, in particular those that may occur as a result of sexual, emotional, or physical assault.

    Participants will leave with ways to advocate for their own personal pelvic health, healing, and understanding.

10:45 am - 11:30 am

  • The Fireside Chat with Representatives from Culturally Specific Communities is a discussion that brings together individuals from communities who have historically faced barriers to access, representation, and support from organizations and institutions. During the chat, representatives from culturally specific groups will share with the audience the systemic obstacles they encounter in serving their communities.

    The fireside chat will encourage open, honest dialogue where participants and the audience can ask questions, listen deeply, and reflect on the real-world impact of exclusionary practices. Most importantly, in addition to sharing challenges, panelists will share individual and collaborative solutions that are unique to our state as they seek to inspire action toward unique and creative ways to remove institutional barriers for all people in New Mexico.