ABSTRACT
I worked in the movement to end gender-based violence for about six years as a women’s advocate, community educator, fundraiser, policy advocate, and trainer before returning to school to earn my Doctorate in social work and embark on an academic career. I have continued to engage in consulting, activism, and community-engaged research for the last 10 years, for a total of 16 years working on this issue. I originally came to the work after experiencing significant loss in my own life. I found myself searching for a way to make my life’s work more meaningful than the academic philosophy career I was headed for. The anti-violence movement turned out to be, at least to some degree, a healing place, where I learned more about myself, my family of origin, and the patriarchal world that I live in than I had ever learned in a feminist philosophy class.
