With the arrival of October comes the arrival of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a month to honor and remember victims of domestic abuse. Sonoma State will be honoring victims and offering support by hosting a multitude of events throughout October centered around domestic violence.

Starting on Oct. 4, SSU will be hosting an event in honor of the Domestic Violence Awareness Month Day of Action. The confidential advocacy team will be tabling in Seawolf Plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Go talk to the confidential advocacy team to learn more about domestic violence prevention, advocacy, and all the other events happening during the month. On this day students and staff are encouraged to wear purple.

“With the wearing of purple [on Oct. 4], conversations can be started about domestic violence, with the goal of lessening it and building healthy relationships,” according to the Seawolf Living website.

The next event will be “Reclaim Your Voice” with activist and survivor Jungle Flower. This event will take place on Oct. 5 over Zoom and in ballroom B. Coming all the way from Toronto, Jungle Flower uses storytelling, humor, spoken word, and truth in order to inspire people to take back their own voices. Susan Pulido, a confidential advocate at SSU, says she is especially excited for this event.

“Jungle Flower is an amazing and truly inspirational survivor who relates to students really well and just wants to share her message of love and survival,” says Pulido. “Her spoken word hits my heart and inspires me to be the best advocate I can be.”

After that, Sonoma State will host “Staying Safe When Dating goes Digital”. This event will take place on Oct. 13 on Zoom. With the world becoming more and more of a digital world, dating has also become possible online. This creates new safety risks that have never existed before. As a result, it is important to develop skills that prioritize safety and prevent abuse online. This workshop will provide attendees with helpful tips and tricks to stay safe while online dating.

On Oct. 25, SSU will be having a self-care session on Zoom to wrap up Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Join the Zoom for a meditation session, followed by a discussion of some self-care tips.

In November, Sonoma State will be starting a book group for the book “Know My Name, a Memoir” by Chanel Miller. Books are free to students who would like to take part in this group. The group will discuss Miller’s book with the goal of empowering survivors and their loved ones.

With all that is happening during the month of October, Sonoma State has really prioritized Domestic Violence Awareness Month. All of these events will go a long way in empowering survivors of domestic violence and will hopefully help prevent future cases of domestic violence here at SSU. 

All students are more than welcome to attend these events and can sign up on Seawolfliving.com.