Local organization supports survivors of trauma, abuse, during Teen Dating Violence Awareness month
- Jessica Sanchez
- May 23, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: May 26, 2022
Ro'Shawndra Earvin, a member of the PRC, creates a vision board as part of her emotional healing process.
"If you do a vision board, at minimum, I'm not looking at darkness, I am looking at something for the future," Earvin said.
It is a reminder that life is worth living, a concept not always front of mind when you are a survivor of sexual assault. Earvin was drugged and assaulted while attending college at UC Santa Barbara. There were days she did not want to carry on.
"I was very angry, like, 'Why didn't you just kill me at this point?' That's really how I felt. With that being said, celebrate small victories. It's like, 'dang my feet hit the floor today.' That's a lot when you didn't want to be here," Earvin said.
Now, years into her healing journey, those thoughts have faded, but it still is a fight every day.
"It may come off as confidence right now," she said. "I'm actually fighting. I'm fighting to live. It's not really confidence."
Earvin said not everyone can fight, so she is using her experience to spread awareness and help other women through the Positive Results Center, or PCR, in Gardena.
She joined a group conversation with trained PRC team members and those seeking support, as they have all seen or experienced similar trauma, violence, abuse and concerns.
The center works to address this in young women and men, specifically those of color, through art and music therapy, large-scale conferences and group sessions.
“I was put into this position to speak up, but I would never tell anyone to speak up. It’s a process," Earvin said."Everybody is an individual. My story isn't anybody else's story. You don't have to speak in the meeting. You can come and be a fly on the wall."
CEO and President of Positive Results Center, Kandee Lewis, is a survivor herself. When she was vice president of sales for a tech company, she often was discriminated against because of her gender, race and body size by her male coworkers. As someone who lives, works and worships in the community, she wanted to end the cycle of violence at home, in the workplace and beyond.
"It is important that everyone has conversations around violence and abuse, because very often people feel alone in their violence and trauma. Once they realize they are not alone, that there is a support system and a healing that can be done, we can break generational curses, as well as trauma and violence people are putting on us," Lewis said.
Earvin is now getting her master's degree in human behavior and psychology, so she can continue her work as a therapist and open her own 24-hour survivor resource center, especially for Black and brown youth. She said the pain never goes away, but you can find moments to celebrate.
"That is my main thing. I like to tell people to celebrate their small victories because they are really big. I brushed my teeth today. I changed my underwear. I changed my pajamas. Even if you stayed in bed, did you at least change your pajamas? The small things really do matter, especially when you have the mentality that you want to check out because of what someone else did to me," Earvin said.
She's hoping she can help at least one young woman by sharing her story so they know they are not alone.
was put into this position to speak up, but I would never tell anyone to speak up. It’s a prce
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