What Is The Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence? (Bonus Episode Ft. Tia Manning)

Intro: Welcome to the Lady Lawyer League podcast. They are a league of lady lawyers in an all-female law firm in Omaha, Nebraska, called Hightower Reff Law. On this podcast, you’ll hear stories of what it’s like to be a lady lawyer and an entrepreneur. Now it’s time to talk about the law, share real-life stories about representing clients and discuss the current events of the week. It’s the Lady Lawyer League podcast with Susan Reff and Tracy Hightower-Henne. 

Susan: Welcome to our second bonus episode of the Lady Lawyer League podcast. Today we have Manning with us. She’s the Sexual Violence Network Service Coordinator at the Nebraska Coalition to End Domestic and Violent. 

Tia: And Sexual Violence. 

Susan: And Sexual Violence. Thank you. I knew I needed help with that. So welcome, Tia. Thank you for being with us today and talking with us about this really deep subject. 

Tia: Yeah, thank you for having me. 

Susan: Yeah. Tell us about you and where you came from and how you got to where you are now. Oh. 

Tia: Wow. So let’s see, I originally so I’m a licensed clinician and so I have been a therapist since 2006. And I originally started off doing sex offender risk assessments. And as that progressed, I started I was blessed with an opportunity to do what we would now call transformative justice. And so working with United Way and provide support groups for folks that would be on our registry, folks that would be identified as survivors as well as supports. And the goal would be to bring folks together to process sexual trauma that they had been through and the harm that they had caused. And so from there, just continuing to love what I do and follow that path. So then I then moved away to KCMO for a little bit. 

Susan: That’s the fancy way to say Kansas City, Missouri. 

Tia: And had my daughter down there and then we stayed down there for a few years. But then I came back here and quickly got right back into doing what I love, which is working with folks that had been harmed by sexual violence or folks that had harmed folks by sexual violence. 

Susan: Really quick question. Did you go to worlds of fun like every day? 

Tia: So true story. I’ve only been once. Oh, yeah, I’m not a roller coaster fan. Oh, terrifying. And. But I can go to eat. I’m just saying. 

Susan: So all the funnel cakes. That’s my favorite. 

Tia: All the things. Yes. And so when I came back in 2012, I started working at Douglas County Corrections, providing immediate crisis like mental health services. And at that time, Douglas County started really implementing what we call PREA, so the Prison Rape Elimination Act. And so I started working with folks that had been harmed by sexual violence while they were in Douglas County Corrections. And so I did that for several years, I want to say about six years, and then took another position doing some other stuff with Douglas County at that time. And then, yeah, fast forward now I’m at Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, Providing Sexual Violence support to all of our network programs that identify as rape and domestic violence crisis centers across the state. 

Susan: So across the huge state of Nebraska. 

Tia: The huge, beautiful state of Nebraska. 

Susan: Yes. So I’m from Nebraska. And it was either we went to Kansas City for loads of fun on vacations or we went to South Dakota, which is up. Yeah. So Nebraska is just like this huge wild state that we were never afraid to drive across. And people are like, It’s so big. But when you do work in the whole state. 

Tia: It does seem so big. 

Susan: Yeah, yeah. 

Tia: Yeah. There’s not a lot to look at when you drive through. I will say. 

Susan: That, yes. 

Tia: Can we get a mountain? 

Susan: So yeah, there’s a lot of tumbleweeds when you drive across western Nebraska. Yeah. Did you always know when you were working on your license that you wanted to work in the sex offender risk area and sex offense in general? 

Tia: You know, to be honest, I’ve always had an interest in like our criminal system and so like full transparency, I’m a survivor myself. And so having been through that process myself, I just naturally, I think gravitated to it. And it’s something that I once I got into it, I really, really enjoyed. So it’s kind of a maybe. And yeah. 

Susan: And then when you realize that, hey, I’m good at it. 

Tia: Yes. Then I was like, this is my jam. And yeah, yeah. 

Susan: Well, great. When we talk about Nebraska Coalition, tell us what the Nebraska Coalition really focuses on. 

Tia: Okay. So Nebraska Coalition is a statewide advocacy organization. And so we’re committed to the prevention and. Elimination of sexual and domestic violence. We work to enhance safety and justice for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, which is primarily what I focus on in human trafficking by supporting and building upon the services provided by all of our network and local programs across the state. 

Susan: So when you talk about sex trafficking and Nebraska coalition, I think that a lot of people just think it just doesn’t happen in Nebraska. So thanks to Nebraska Coalition for helping work on sex trafficking. Tell us about Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And as it relates to Nebraska coalition, is there anything that you guys do during this month for education other than be on our podcast? 

Tia: Yes. So right now, this month, what we’re doing is we’re making sure to educate our advocates about anything that is going on currently in regards to like legislative type things. We have a current person which usually previously worked at the Women’s Fund that’s making sure to keep us abreast of any bills that are coming down that we should know about. And then also to providing training to our advocates as it consists of working with folks that have been harmed by sexual violence. That’s something else we’re doing. And then usually we’re really we try and stay involved in our social media, but making sure that we’re hitting as many folks as we can on social media so folks know what the statistics look like as it relates to sexual violence. 

Susan: And speaking of social media, what can people do to help out the the message of the Nebraska coalition? 

Tia: So first, coming like our our Facebook and all of our social media accounts and then share our content, I think that that’s really, really important because I think a lot of folks think that sexual violence doesn’t happen in the good old state of Nebraska. And I would say that that is not how it goes. One in one in four women are sexually assaulted and one in six men are sexually assaulted. Right. So I feel like that is something that we need to have more conversations about, even though they are uncomfortable. So in that way, it can make it relief that release that stigma that is often associated with having those conversations. 

Susan: And maybe make it easier to talk about. Absolutely. Yeah. And I’m assuming donations. Yes. Are great. 

Tia: Yeah, we would love some donations. So a little guilty plug there. And so that is something that you can find on our website. We have the option to donate right on the bottom of like Nebraska coalition dot org. And we can always use assistance with that too. 

Susan: So what about volunteers? 

Tia: So volunteers like I feel like that is something that down the pike we’re having conversations about. I know for sure coming out of COVID, a lot of the stuff that a lot of the things that we may have been involved in in the community right now is all Zoom. So we’re not as out in things as we probably would like to be, just to be cautious of, like I said, with the pandemic and COVID. Yeah. So stay tuned on the need for volunteers. 

Susan: Great. And we’ll have more information about Nebraska Coalition in our show notes. So people, you all can check that out and help out where you’d like. So thank you for joining us and learning about today. 

Tia: Thank you. 

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Lady Lawyer League. Be sure to like and subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. If you would like to learn more about our firm, visit us at hrlawomaha.com. We’ll see you next week.