The Back to Me Podcast

91. Healing Is a Lifelong Journey with Grace Poon Ghaffari

Episode Summary

It's Mental Health Awareness Month! How are you taking care of yourself? After a sensitive month of celebrating assault survivors in April, the healing process continues as May approaches and graduation day is on the horizon. In today's episode, Grace Poon Ghaffari, Assistant Director, Education and Outreach Manager for the Office of Sexual Harassment/Assault Education & Response (SHARE) at Stanford University, joins us to discuss how students advocated for institutional resources to prevent and raise awareness of sexual violence. Such advocacy became what is now known as SHARE at Stanford. Grace also discusses how her office offers holistic healing practices that tap into bodily wisdom, along with intimate conversations that explore the concept of sexual citizenship on campus. Regardless of your decision to engage with or abstain from sex, you always have the right to choose how you wish to navigate your sexual and relational interactions. And remember that part of creating a caring culture is doing your part to be an 'upstander’ by taking action against daily acts of harm and high-risk situations. Grace is currently a Doctoral Candidate in pursuit of her PhD in Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University. She completed her Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Affairs at New York University and she received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics at University of California, Irvine. In addition to being the Assistant Director, Education & Outreach Manager for SHARE at Stanford University, Grace is the founder of Asian Women College Survivors (@asianwomencollegesurvivors), which is a collective community that centers around Asian American women survivors of sexual, relationship, & gender-based violence, within the context of higher education. She is also a trauma-informed yoga teacher and has facilitated yoga as healing for survivors of sexual and relationship violence. As a scholar practitioner, Grace is passionate about transforming systems and environments that prioritize the needs & realities and affirms the cultural wealth of survivors of color. To learn more about Grace and her work, connect with her on IG @shareatstanford or visit the S.H.A.R.E. website at Sara.Stanford.edu.

Episode Notes

Office of Sexual Harassment/Assault Education & Response (S.H.A.R.E): https://sara.stanford.edu/

Email: saraoffice@stanford.edu

SHARE at Stanford: https://www.instagram.com/shareatstanford/

Asian Women College Survivors: https://www.instagram.com/asianwomencollegesurvivors