October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This month, University Health Services continues our year-round work to prevent dating violence and support survivors. UHS is also introducing expanded violence prevention education resources to help all students, beyond their first year, better recognize the signs of dating violence, support survivors, and learn what resources are available on campus.
Modern Love Languages Workshop: October 19 from 2 – 4 PM at Memorial Union
Join UHS Survivor Services and Sex Out Loud to talk about modern love languages. Advocates and providers will facilitate a group dialogue using 18 Languages for Modern Love, developed by certified sex educator Anne Hodder-Shipp, as a central theme. In community, students will understand why an expansion of love languages is important and explore how we might use these in all of our close relationships (not just romantic ones).
Drop-In Crafty Coping Community for Survivors: Each Wednesday from 3 – 4:30 PM at 333 East Campus Mall, Room 8808
This is a drop-in space for student survivors to connect with peers and offer mutual support in a confidential and safe environment. The group facilitators, UHS providers Carol Heins-Daniels and Alex Little, will foster a space that is open and affirming for all members while guiding members through sensory- and movement-based coping skills. The community will focus on navigating the impact of trauma experiences through connection and skills to support post-traumatic growth. It is specifically for students who experienced sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, sexual harassment, stalking, and/or childhood sexual abuse. Sign up online for this in-person community.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month Information & Resource Panel: Tuesday, October 24 from 5:30 – 7 PM at Eagle Heights Community Center, Room 139
Learn more about dynamics of relationship violence, available support resources, and bystander intervention prevention strategies from a panel of campus experts. Event is open to all but designed with Eagle Heights community members, graduate students, post doctoral researchers, and their family members in mind. Dinner provided with RSVP. Register online.
Expanding Campus Violence Prevention Efforts through GetWIse
Education is a key part of violence prevention efforts on campus. UHS’s violence prevention programs aim to increase the campus community’s knowledge, shape attitudes, and build the necessary skills to prevent violence before it occurs. All incoming undergraduate, transfer, and graduate students participate in required violence prevention programming, which empowers students to make healthy decisions, intervene in difficult situations, and learn about resources available to survivors on campus.
GetWIse@Home, an online program required for incoming first-year undergraduate and transfer students, helps students explore violence prevention and survivor support topics. New in 2023, GetWIse@Home will be offered to all undergraduate students as an annual refresher course to reinforce violence prevention knowledge, awareness, and skills.
“These topics are not only a concern for first-year students,” says Sam Bowen, assistant director of violence prevention. “In fact, the risk of experiencing some form of sexual or relationship violence increases the longer a student has been on campus. Repeated opportunities for education on violence prevention will increase the effectiveness of our violence prevention strategy.”
During their time in college, most students will know someone who has experienced sexual assault or dating violence. About 1 in 10 students at UW-Madison experiences some form of dating violence while in college, and around 1 in 6 experiences sexual assault. GetWIse@Home provides strategies for students to support a safer campus community by normalizing consent and bystander intervention and calling out entitlement, objectification, and boundary-crossing behavior.
GetWIse@Home offers four programs to choose from, including DatingWIse (healthy relationships and dating violence), SexWIse (healthy sex and sexual violence), ListenWIse (trauma and survivor support), and ActWIse (recognizing violence and bystander intervention). Students who are completing GetWIse as a refresher course can choose to retake a module they have previously taken or complete a new module.
Learn more about GetWIse@Home and the four modules on the UHS website. Students can access the modules through the GetWIse@Home page on Canvas.
Year-Round Survivor Support and Resources through UHS
UHS supports student survivors through coordinated advocacy, mental health, and medical services—including forensic nurse exams on-site—that are no-cost and confidential. You don’t have to label your experience to seek help from Survivor Services. Our survivor services team will validate your experience and care, while also sharing information and resources you might need, like referrals, accommodations, and reporting options.
Students can schedule an appointment to talk with an advocate and learn about their options by emailing survivorservices@uhs.wisc.edu, calling 608-265-5600 (option 3), or self-scheduling via the MyUHS portal.
Learn more about UHS Survivor Services on our website.