After a seven-year hiatus, the Gainesville Commission on the Status of Women hosted its 38th Community Conference on Sexual Battery and Relationship Violence at Trinity United Methodist Church on Thursday.
“You all look so somber. I feel like I should tell a joke,” JoAnn Wilkes, a board member with the Gainesville Commission on the Status of Women, said into the microphone.
The conference catered to social workers, victim advocates, law enforcement and anyone who helps people in crisis.
About 100 people attended the day-long event that included nine presentations. Topics ranged from elder abuse and exploitation prevention to U visas and immigrant legal counseling, and the event provided attendees with information and resources they can use with their clients.
Presentations also incorporated time to discuss and address mental health, unpacking the potential emotional toll on workers handling crises on a daily basis. The event also served as a networking opportunity where attendees could connect professionally and emotionally.
Wilkes said the goal of the Gainesville Commission on the Status of Women is to encourage educational opportunities for all women and advocate for safety and diversity.
“Which we can say because we’re a nonprofit. We can talk about DEI,” said Wilkes.
Just after the breakfast period, Wilkes passed the microphone to Shannon Miller, who is the owner and founder of The Miller Elder Law firm.
“I’m also a yoga teacher,” Miller said. She then asked the audience to take off their shoes, ground themselves and connect with their bodies.
Miller, who is a lawyer, shared a story of a former client she callsed Mrs. Maddy, who was scammed and exploited for over $100,000. Just after Miller helped Mrs. Maddy retrieve half the amount in court, her client passed away.
Miller specializes in preventing the elderly from being exploited. Her presentation focused on the factors that make older populations more susceptible to scams and offered information on how to help them.
According to Miller, the thinning of the insular cortex, which takes place over a lifespan, is directly correlated to higher susceptibility to exploitation.
“One in 5 people over 70 will fall victim to a scam in the next year,” she said.
The opening presentation made it clear that despite its title, the conference does not exclusively address sexual or relationship violence.
“We tried to look at abuse across whatever boundary it would be, and we noticed recently that elder abuse has escalated,” explained Wilkes. “Each one of them [presenters] was hand-picked to see a specific type of victim who might be out there and the agency that deals with them.”
Erica Merrel, the CFO of Peaceful Paths, a domestic abuse network and shelter, moved to Gainesville 20 years ago and said she immediately became active in its feminist community.
“Elder issues, youth issues, school issues, transportation issues, infrastructure, insurance, all of those things affect us,” Merrel said. “People don’t live in a silo of who they are, all of these parts come together.”
The second presenter was Marcella ‘Marcie’ Scott, a crime lab analyst supervisor at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Her presentation on SANE Kit Tracking, which tracks the results of the nurse exam given to victims of sexual assault, was an informative lecture geared toward medical and legal professionals.
Scott explained the process behind Florida’s Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Tracking database.
Scott also told the origin story of Gail’s Law, the legislation passed in 2021 to provide victims a tracking database for their sexual assault evidence collection kits (SAKs).
The law was named after Gail Gardner, a Florida woman who was sexually assaulted in 1988 but whose kit was not tested until 30 years later. Until Florida Statute 943.326 was fully enacted in 2023, sexual assault victims had no way to monitor their kits, and consequently, their cases.
The Florida House of Representatives unanimously passed Gail’s Law in 2021 to fix this process, which served as the catalyst for the creation of the database.
Scott detailed how the platform operates for both professionals and alleged victims, providing a tutorial on how to navigate it and share it with clients if they choose to report the crime to the police.
Scott also confirmed that last year, Gardner was able to face the man who raped her in court. When Scott announced that the man pleaded guilty and was convicted of sexual battery and now faces life in prison, the crowd clapped quietly.
“We get to learn about each other’s services, so we all strengthen our referral list,” Merrel said, “and then we also get to hear who’s doing similar things and really work not to duplicate services in our community.”
After lunch, Meggen Sixbey, the assistant director of UF Police Department, and Ali Martinez, the director of the Alachua County Crisis Center, shared their sentiments during their keynote speech titled “Collaborative Approaches to Crisis Intervention.”
“As it gets more intense and terrifying every day now,” Martinez said, “I’m trying to superhero it.” However, Martinez and Sixbey explored how important it is for everyone in the room to realize they are still human as well.
“If I’m going to a dark place myself,” Martinez continued, “then it can be challenging to connect with someone in a dark state effectively.”
Their 30-minute speech was followed by a Q&A session with employees in co-responder programs, who discussed the challenges and the rewards of their work across Gainesville and UF’s police departments and Alachua County’s Crisis Center.
“Any time all of us can get in a room, I think the first obvious benefit is really just solidarity,” said Merrel.
“So, being in a room, especially in challenging times, just reminds us that there are so many allies in the work, and oftentimes, not feeling isolated can make all the difference in what you’re able to put out for your community,” she said.