VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Together, we can end interpersonal violence.
24 Hour Sexual Assault Crisis Line: 425.252.4800
24 Hour Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 425.252.2873
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: edmondsviolenceprevention
Visit our YouTube channel for informative videos: edmondsviolenceprevention
StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1.844.7NATIVE (762-8483)
a 24/7 safe, confidential and anonymous domestic and sexual violence helpline for
Native Americans and Alaska Natives, offering culturally-appropriate support and advocacy
Definitions
All definitions are gathered from the Edmonds College Student code of conduct
- Nonconsensual sexual intercourse is any sexual intercourse (anal, oral, or vaginal), however slight, with any object, by a person upon another person, that is without consent and/or by force. Sexual intercourse includes anal or vaginal penetration by a penis, tongue, finger, or object, or oral copulation by mouth to genital contact or genital to mouth contact.
- Sexual assault includes but is not limited to rape. It can also consist of nonconsensual sexual contact.
- Nonconsensual sexual contact is any intentional sexual touching, however slight, with any object, by a person upon another person that is without consent and /or by force. Sexual touching includes any bodily contact with the breasts, groin, mouth, or other bodily orifice of another individual, or any other bodily contact in a sexual manner.
- Violence (i.e. physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, etc.) by a person who has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the victim. Whether there was such relationship will be gauged by its length, type, and frequency of interaction.
- See the power and control wheel which are the dynamics by which dating violence is perpetrated.
- Violence (i.e. physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, etc.) including asserted violent misdemeanor and felony offenses committed by the victim’s current or former spouse, current or former cohabitant, person similarly situated under domestic or family violence laws, or anyone else protected under domestic or family violence law.
- See the power and control wheel which are the dynamics by which domestic violence is perpetrated.
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Intentional and repeated harassment or repeated following of another person, which places that person in reasonable fear that the stalker intends to injure the person, another person, or the property of the person or another person, and the stalker either intends to frighten, intimidate, or harass the person, or knows or reasonably should know that the person is frightened, intimidated or harassed, even if the stalker lacks such an intent.
- Use of electronic communications including, but not limited to, electronic mail, instant messaging, text and image messaging, electronic bulletin boards, and social media sites to harass, abuse, bully, or engage in other conduct which harms, threatens, or is reasonably perceived as threatening the health or safety of another person.
- Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, unauthorized monitoring of another’s e-mail communications directly or through spyware, sending threatening e-mails, disrupting electronic communications with spam or by sending a computer virus, sending false messages to third parties using another’s e-mail and/or social media identity, nonconsensual recording of sexual activity, and/or nonconsensual distribution of a recording of sexual activity.
- Knowing, voluntary and clear permission by word or action, to engage in mutually agreed upon sexual activity. Each party has the responsibility to make certain that the other has consented before engaging in the activity. For consent to be valid, there must be at the time of the act of sexual intercourse or sexual contact actual words or conduct indicating freely given agreement to have sexual intercourse or sexual contact.
- A person cannot consent if he or she is unable to understand what is happening or is disoriented, helpless, asleep, or unconscious for any reason, including due to alcohol or other drugs.
How to Get Help
If you have ever experienced sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, you can seek help. We recognize it can be difficult to take the first step and speak about what happened, but we are here to help you.
Victim Advocacy 101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPY2crphftc
The Victim Advocate is a confidential supporter who can assist you in finding your voice throughout this process. The advocate can help you learn more about your rights (reporting the crime or not) and options (getting a protection order), or free resources available (free counseling, free medical exams).
Please contact one of the crisis lines below to be connected with an advocate.
24/7 Sexual Assault Crisis Line: 425.252.4800
24/7 Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 425.252.2873
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMfBvfb17ow&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Aren't sure if you have experienced these crimes? Go to the section called Relationship Violence for more info.
Remember: You are not alone; we believe you.
You have the right to learn and work in an environment free of intimidation, harassment, or violence of any kind, and the choice to speak with someone confidentially on campus.
Click on the links below to navigate the options and resources for victims of violence.
Medical Emergencies: 911
24/7 Mental Health Crisis / Resources: 988
Care Crisis Line:
Text: 741 741
Call: 425.258.4357 or 1.800.584.3578 for support 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (interpreter services available).
Campus security: 425.754.0154
Speak with one of our mental health counselors or an advocate.
On Campus Counseling and Resource Center
The Counseling and Resource Center provides free and confidential mental health counseling services as well as resources and referrals to support our students and campus community.
You can make an appointment to meet with a counselor by calling the front desk at 425.640.1358 or by visiting the office in Mountlake Terrace Hall, Room 145.
Community Resources
Get connected to an advocate at Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County (DVS) by calling their 24 hour Support Line at 425.252.2873 to talk with one of their advocates. Advocates can help you look at options and resources after you have been a victim of violence. It's free and confidential and they can help you with getting emergency shelter, legal advocacy, support groups and domestic violence education.
To speak with an advocate about sexual assault or sexual abuse, call the crisis line for Providence Sexual Assault Center (PICAA) at 425.252.4800.
You have the option to file a report online. The Title IX Coordinator receives this report and then will follow up with you over the phone.
To report the incident online, go to the Title IX page and click on Sexual Misconduct Reporting Form at the bottom of the page.
Another option is to speak with a security officer from Campus Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness by calling the 24-hour line at 425.754.0154. When you call Campus Security from a location on campus, an officer will be dispatched to the site of the incident. All reports are reviewed by the security supervisor and routed to the correct department.
Read more about Campus Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness
Forensic (evidence gathering) medical examinations are available if you are the victim of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. Forensic nurse examiners are available 24 hours a day to provide these examinations in Snohomish County emergency departments.
For an assault that occurred less than 72 hours ago, please go to the closest Hospital Emergency Department. Swedish Edmonds Hospital is located at 21601 76th Ave West, Edmonds, WA 98026.
For an assault that has occurred more than 72 hours ago, you can make an appointment at Providence Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse (PICCA) at Dawson's Place at 1509 California St, Everett, WA 98201 or call 425.297.5776.
Another option is to report the crime to law enforcement. Most cases involving individuals from Edmonds College campus work with Lynnwood Police Department. To report an emergency, call 911. To report an incident that occurred in the past or is considered a non-emergency, call the dispatch line at 425.775.3000.
If you are not sure if your situation is an emergency, you are encouraged to call 911. When you call 911, be prepared to answer the call-taker's questions, which may include:
- The location of the emergency, including the street address
- The phone number you are calling from
- The nature of the emergency
- Details about the emergency, such as a physical description of a person who may have committed a crime, a description of any fire that may be burning, or a description of injuries or symptoms being experienced by a person having a medical emergency
According to Washington State law Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Chapter 26.44, all school personnel are mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect. This means they have a legal obligation to report crimes committed against a person under the age of 18 to law enforcement and/or child protective services (CPS). Advocates from PICAA and DVS are mandated reporters as well. Also see HR 13.0 - MANDATORY REPORTING POLICY and HR 13.01PR - MANDATORY REPORTING PROCEDURES.
The purpose of mandatory reporting is to protect children who have been non-accidentally injured, sexually exploited, or deprived of the right to minimal nurture, health, and safety by their parents, custodian, or guardian. Depending on the nature of the crime and known facts, the report goes to law enforcement, or child protective services, or both.
If you are unsure about your responsibilities regarding mandated reporting or would like to discuss an incident that involves a student under the age of 18, contact Human Resources at 425.640.1647 or 425.218.0434.
The Violence Prevention believes everyone deserves love, friendship, and family without fear, control, or violence. That is why we provide education and support services to our campus community.
What makes a healthy relationship?
Whether you are in a relationship now or will be in the future, it is important to know what to be looking for in a romantic or sexual partner. Healthy relationships are based on equality and respect. Both people make decisions together and can openly discuss whatever they are dealing with, like relationship problems and sexual choices. You enjoy spending time together but can be happy apart.
The following list includes the key ingredients for a healthy relationship. While the behaviors will look different for each kind of relationship you have, these standards can apply to friendships and family relationships as well.
You talk openly about your problems and listen to one another. You respect each other’s opinions.
You value each other’s feelings and needs, and you compromise when you disagree. You speak kindly to and about each other. You give one another the freedom to be yourself and to be loved for who you are.
You enjoy spending time with each other, and you spend time apart. You respect each other’s need for space and support each other’s interests, hobbies, careers, etc. You do not feel pressured by your partner to do anything you are not yet ready for.
You make decisions together and hold each other to the same standard. You both feel comfortable with the financial balance in the relationship. If you have kids together, you each have equal weight in parenting decisions.
You believe what your partner has to say. You do not feel the need to “prove” your trustworthiness. You are honest with each other, but can still keep some things private.
You show affection toward one another in a way that feels good for both of you. If you are sexually active, both partners check to make sure you are in agreement about the sexual activity you engage in. You can safely discuss what you are and are not comfortable with your partner.
Warning Signs
Relationships exist on a spectrum from healthy to abusive, with unhealthy somewhere in the middle. If communication, respect, boundaries, shared decision making, trust, and/or consent is lacking from your relationship, this may be a sign that your relationship is not healthy for you. Unhealthy relationships are often based on a dynamic where one person attempts to control the other person.
Watch out for these warning signs:
The following resources will help you determine if your relationship is unhealthy,
abusive, or violent.
Read more in the section about relationship violence
You are not alone
You have the right to learn and work in an environment free of intimidation, harassment, or violence of any kind. If you or someone you know has been mistreated, there are people who can help you.
You have the choice to speak with someone confidentially on campus, to report the incident to the college, and/or to seek services in the community. Wherever you choose to seek help first, there is a team of dedicated people who will make sure you receive all the services that you need and want.
Everyone deserves loving and fulfilling relationships with their partners, friends, and family. The signs of healthy and harmful relationships are not always obvious. Only the people inside a relationship can determine what is good for them.
The Violence Prevention uses the term relationship violence to describe the power-based violent offenses addressed in the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. These crimes are sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
Definitions matter
Understanding relationship violence on a college campus can sometimes be confusing, in part because of the complicated words we use. Our goal is to educate the campus community about what relationship violence looks like using simple language so that everyone can recognize the signs.
Nevertheless, using legal terms is also necessary so that our school policies can hold people accountable for the harm they do to others using the standards of state and federal laws. That is why this page includes both the definitions from our college policies and definitions that everyone can understand.
Click on the links below to learn more about each type of relationship violence.
Sexual assault is forcing, coercing, and/or manipulating a person into unwanted sexual activity. Sexual assault is part of a range of behaviors that offenders use to take power from their victims. It can begin with words, gestures, jokes, and intimidation. It can progress to coercion, threats, and actions that involve sexual touching or intercourse, and may involve other forms of violence.
Some examples of sexual assault include:
- Kissing, sexual touching, or rough or violent sexual activity that is unwanted
- Rape or attempted rape
- Sexual contact with someone who is very drunk, drugged, unconscious or otherwise unable to give a clear and informed “yes” or “no”
- Pressuring, threatening or forcing someone to have sex or perform sexual acts
How Edmonds College defines sexual violence
Sexual violence is a term that includes sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. This term is used to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Edmonds College's nondiscrimination and harassment policy. According to this policy, once the college is aware of sexual violence that is affecting a student, they have a responsibility to immediately take steps to resolve the situation, end the violence, and work to prevent reoccurrence.
Sexual assault is one type of sexual violence that can be broken down into nonconsensual sexual intercourse and nonconsensual sexual contact.
Nonconsensual sexual intercourse
Nonconsensual sexual intercourse is any sexual intercourse (anal, oral, or vaginal), however slight, with any object, by a person upon another person, that is without consent and/or by force. Sexual intercourse includes anal or vaginal penetration by a penis, tongue, finger, or object, or oral copulation by mouth to genital contact or genital to mouth contact.
Nonconsensual sexual contact
Nonconsensual sexual contact is any intentional sexual touching, however slight, with any object, by a person upon another person that is without consent and /or by force. Sexual touching includes any bodily contact with the breasts, groin, mouth, or other bodily orifice of another individual, or any other bodily contact in a sexual manner.
Dating violence is behaving in a controlling, abusive, and aggressive way in a romantic relationship. It can happen in straight or gay relationships. It can include physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, financial, digital abuse, or a combination.
Similarly, domestic violence is using a pattern of behavior in a relationship so that one person gains power and control over the other. To be considered domestic violence, that abuse typically happens between people who are married or living together, whereas dating violence applies to romantic partners who are not cohabitating.
Many of the same harmful behavior patterns occur within dating and domestic violence. Abuse is not caused by anger, mental problems, alcohol or other drugs, or other common excuses. It is caused by one person's belief that they have the right to control their partner.
- Scratching, punching, biting, strangling, kicking, pulling hair, pushing, pulling, grabbing someone's face or clothing, or throwing items at someone
- Using a gun, knife, box cutter, bat, mace or other weapon
- Smacking someone's bottom without their permission or consent
- Grabbing someone to prevent them from leaving or to force them to go somewhere
- Kissing, sexual touching, or rough or violent activity that is unwanted
- Rape or attempted rape
- Pressuring, threatening or forcing someone to have sex or perform sexual acts
- Sexual contact with someone who is very drunk, drugged, unconscious or otherwise unable to give a clear and informed “yes” or “no"
- Using sexual insults toward someone
- Refusing to use a condom during sex, taking a condom off during sex without someone's consent, or restricting someone's access to birth control
- Keeping someone from protecting themselves from sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
- Calling someone names and putting them down
- Yelling and screaming at someone
- Intentionally embarrassing someone in public
- Preventing someone from seeing or talking with friends and family
- Telling someone what to do and wear
- Damaging someone's property when they’re angry (throwing objects, punching walls, kicking doors, etc.)
- Using online communities or cell phones to control, intimidate or humiliate someone
- Blaming abusive or unhealthy behavior on someone else's actions
- Accusing someone of cheating and often being jealous of outside relationships
- Stalking
- Threatening to commit suicide to keep someone from breaking up with them
- Threatening to do harm to someone, their pet or people they care about
- Using gaslighting techniques to confuse or manipulate someone
- Making someone feel guilty or immature when they don’t consent to sexual activity
- Threatening to expose someone's secrets such as sexual orientation or immigration status
- Starting rumors about someone
- Threatening to have someone's children taken away
- Giving someone an allowance and closely watching what they buy
- Placing someone's paycheck in your account and denying them access to it
- Keeping someone from seeing shared bank accounts or records
- Forbidding someone to work or limiting the hours they do
- Preventing someone from going to work by taking their car or keys
- Getting someone fired by harassing them, their employer or coworkers on the job
- Hiding or stealing someone's student financial aid check or outside financial support
- Using someone's social security number to obtain bad credit loans without their permission
- Using the social security number of someone's child to claim an income tax refund without their permission
- Maxing out someone's credit cards without their permission
- Refusing to give someone money, food, rent, medicine or clothing
- Spending money on yourself but not allowing someone else to do the same
- Giving someone presents and/or paying for things like dinner and expecting they somehow return the favor
- Using someone's money to hold power over them because you know they are not in the same financial situation as you are
- Telling someone who they can or can’t be friends with on Facebook and other sites
- Sending someone negative, insulting or even threatening emails, Facebook messages, tweets, DMs or other messages online
- Using sites like Facebook, Twitter, foursquare and others to keep constant tabs on someone
- Putting someone down in your status updates
- Sending someone unwanted, explicit pictures and/or demanding they send some in return
- Pressuring someone to send explicit videos or sexts
- Stealing or insisting on being given someone's passwords
- Constantly texting someone and making them feel like they can’t be separated from their phone for fear that they will be punished
- Looking through someone's phone frequently, checking up on their pictures, texts and outgoing calls
- Tagging someone unkindly in pictures on Instagram, Tumblr, etc.
- Using any kind of technology (such as spyware or GPS in a car or on a phone) to monitor someone
How Edmonds College defines dating and domestic violence
Dating violence
Dating violence means violence by a person who has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the victim. Whether there was such a relationship will be gauged by its length, type, and frequency of interaction.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence includes asserted violent misdemeanor and felony offenses committed by the victim’s current or former spouse, current or former cohabitant, person similarly situated under domestic or family violence laws, or anyone else protected under domestic or family violence law.
Stalking is when a person repeatedly watches, follows or harasses someone, or makes them feel afraid or unsafe. In the State of Washington, stalking involves:
- Intentionally and repeatedly following someone in order to be close to them or be able to see them over a period of time
- Intentionally and repeatedly harassing someone to the point that it frightens, seriously alarms, annoys, or is detrimental to that person
- Making someone reasonably afraid that they will be injured or their property will be injured. Or making someone afraid that another person and/or another person’s property will be injured
- Knowing that the person is intimidated, harassed, or afraid even if the stalker did not intend to intimidate, harass, or make the person feel afraid
Examples of stalking
- Showing up at someone's home or place of work unannounced or uninvited
- Sending someone unwanted text messages, letters, emails, and voicemails
- Leaving unwanted items, gifts or flowers
- Constantly calling someone and hanging up
- Using social networking sites and technology to track someone
- Spreading rumors about someone via the internet or word of mouth
- Making unwanted phone calls to someone
- Calling someone's employer or professor
- Waiting at places someone hangs out
- Using other people as resources to investigate someone's life. For example, looking at their Facebook page through someone else’s page or befriending their friends in order to get more information about them
- Damaging someone's home, car, or other property
How Edmonds College defines stalking
Stalking means intentional and repeated harassment or following of another person, which places that person in reasonable fear that the perpetrator intends to injure, intimidate, or harass that person. Stalking also includes instances where the perpetrator knows or reasonably should know that the person is frightened, intimidated, or harassed, even if the perpetrator lacks such intent.
Prevention
Here are some ways to activate violence prevention now:
- Speak with people you know about what kind of relationship experiences you want or do not want.
- Talk about your non-negotiables and boundaries in a partnership.
- Ask friends how they would want you to show up for them if they were experiencing interpersonal violence.
- It may seem small but having a conversation surrounding what violence can look like in a relationship is one of the most proactive things you can do.
Bystander Intervention Overview
Direct: You ask the victim if they are okay or offer help during the event.
Distract: You distract the offender (i.e. ask someone for directions).
Delegate: You tell a professor, authority figure, etc. you are concerned about someone.
Delay: If the event isn’t an emergency, wait until it is over to approach the victim to
offer support, validation, and resources.
Document: Record or write down the events you witness.
If you are in crisis or have an urgent need to speak with someone please use the following:
Medical Emergencies: 911
24/7 Mental Health Crisis / Resources: 988
Care Crisis Line:
Text: 741 741
Call: 425.258.4357 or 1.800.584.3578 for support 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (interpreter services available).
Campus security: 425.754.0154
24 Hour Sexual Assault Crisis Line: 425.252.4800
24 Hour Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 425.252.2873