Meet The Phoenix Center Team Who Helps Interpersonal Violence Survivors and Their Supporters
Being affected by interpersonal violence can be one of the most challenging things a person goes through. But for those who work or study on the Auraria Campus, no one has to go through it alone. The Phoenix Center provides free, confidential support and resources to employees and students who are currently experiencing interpersonal violence (IPV), have experienced it in the past, or who are concerned about someone else. The Phoenix Center defines IPV as any of relationship violence, family violence, sexual violence including childhood sexual abuse, human trafficking, and stalking and harassment.
Director Katherine Milller, MA, LPCC, says The Phoenix Center staff make all the difference in the work they do. “They provide a safe space where someone will believe you, explain your available options, and not force you to choose any of those options,” Miller said.
You don’t have to know what kind of help you need to make an appointment or walk-in, and services are available to both survivors and the people who care about them. Read on to meet some of the people who make The Phoenix Center what it is and discover more about the free services the center provides.
Meet: Jenae McCall, LSW, SWC, Survivor Advocate
What stands out to you about working at The Phoenix Center?
I love helping clients feel empowered through education and advocacy, supporting survivors through their hardest times, and watching them grow, despite the circumstances. It’s something I deeply connect with personally and admire in others, including my clients.
Help us get to know you better. What’s something not everyone knows about you?
I’m a huge live music fan and play multiple instruments myself.
Meet: Racheal Reed-Maloney, MSW, Assistant Director of Prevention Education
What stands out to you about working at The Phoenix Center?
How our advocacy and prevention team collaborates to identify trends of IPV and strategizes how to address those trends through one-on-one work with clients or through prevention programming.
What is the biggest misconception you think most people have about The Phoenix Center?
Staff and faculty can utilize our services, not just students. We care deeply about staff and faculty on campus and want to be able to provide the same level of support and education to them as we do to students—so, please engage with us!
Help us get to know you better. What’s something not everyone knows about you?
I have been transitioning my hair to its natural texture for two years.
Meet: Cassandra Carmona-Wayman, Prevention Educator
What stands out to you about working at The Phoenix Center?
I love working at The Phoenix Center because of the authentic care and comprehensive support we are able to provide for survivors as well as supporters of survivors of interpersonal violence.
What do you wish everyone on campus knew about The Phoenix Center?
I wish that more folks knew that they are welcome to grab the free supplies we have in stock like sexual health products, menstrual products, hygiene items, and snacks, no questions asked.
Help us get to know you better. What’s something not everyone knows about you?
I participated in a Jingle Ball holiday singing video as part of a virtual fan choir for Dua Lipa which was hosted by iHeart Radio during their 2020 Jingle Ball show.
Learn More About The Phoenix Center from Director Katherine Miller, LPCC
What are some of the services survivors and their supporters can access at The Phoenix Center?
Some of the most common things that we do are helping with academic advocacy to reach out to professors when trauma is affecting a student’s education, so the student doesn’t have to do that themselves.
We do a lot of psychoeducation on what is unhealthy versus abusive and talk a lot about mental health impacts related to trauma, which helps to normalize and validate the way that people are feeling about what has happened and their own
We also do a lot of safety planning, so that could be physical safety planning around abuse that is happening, and it could even be emotional safety planning around things that are happening. We can do things like accompaniment, depending on what folks want. So, if folks are thinking about filing for a restraining order, for example, we can help them through that process and go to court with them. We can accompany a person to Title IX hearings, law enforcement reporting, all of those kinds of things, so that they don’t have to be alone.
We help with victim compensation applications and those kinds of emergency funding things pretty frequently. We can also help people apply for the address confidentiality program.
And, just emotional support. We may be the first person that someone has ever told about what’s going on or what has happened to them in the past. That can be really helpful, even when folks have support people in their lives.
What’s something you’d like more people to know about your staff?
They’re fun, too! We’re not scary. Most of us are just weird and awkward nerds that just want people to feel safe and happy in their relationships and their sexual lives, and we’re just here to help make sure that happens.
Anything else you’d like the campus community to know about The Phoenix Center?
We have an advocacy services side and a prevention, education, and outreach side. We do trainings and workshops on issues related to IPV for folks on campus. We do educational and awareness programming, too. Some of it is passive, like the Red Flag campaign or the Clothesline Project, and some of it is a little bit more active, like our Consent Turns Me On Carnival, which happens in April for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
We started doing Survivor Nights where, once a month every semester, campus community members can come and do a craft or play games or watch a movie. A lot of folks lose their community because of violence, and they just wanted somewhere fun to meet new people.
We also run a 24/7 crisis helpline: 303-556-2255.