A Listening Ear

Mar 22, 2023

A view of the 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Day event from above.

A view of 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Day event from above, where the Grinnell Advocates handed out teal t-shirts to approximately 1/6th of the student body and had them wear their shirts all on the same day to raise awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault.

At Grinnell, you won’t have to go it alone — you’ll be part of a community where people support each other and lift each other up, through the good times and the not-so-good times.

Grinnell Advocates is a peer support group that runs a 24-hour confidential crisis hotline that provides support for sexual assault survivors, including dating violence, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and more.

The student advocates go through about 30 hours of training, 24 hours of online instruction, and six hours of in-person education. The group is part of the Center for Religion, Spirituality, and Social Justice; the college chaplain and the rabbi supervise the student advocates.

Katie Goodall ’23 has been a student advocate for more than two years. “We are here as a resource for survivors,” she explains. The Advocates umbrella is generous in scope and even accommodates people looking for resources for a friend, a roommate, or a housemate.

“If there’s someone in crisis and that person needs help, we are here to help,” Goodall says. “We are here to be a resource for anyone who needs us. We don’t hang up the phone on anyone,” she adds.

“We don’t provide counseling services, but we offer a listening ear,” Goodall says. The student advocates also provide information about available resources that can be helpful.

If there’s someone in crisis and that person needs help, we are here to help. We are here to be a resource for anyone who needs us. We don’t hang up the phone on anyone.

Katie Goodall ’23

“What I find most rewarding is having that sense of being able to help people,” Goodall says. “It’s rewarding to know that I’m able to help make a difference in my community,” She also believes it’s important to raise awareness on issues that have long been left in the shadows.

Goodall admits she finds it challenging at times to hear the stories of trauma. “It can sometimes be disheartening, but we do a lot of work to support each other and have a community that is generally built to build people up instead of tear them down or letting them spiral,” she says.

“That’s what the advocacy community is really about — just trying to help everyone maintain a good state of being,” Goodall says.

“That’s our main goal — to help people.”

Grinnell Advocates:

Peer advocates are available for 24/7 emergency support via call/text to the hotline, 641-260-1615, or instant messaging through LiveChat.
The Grinnell Advocates email is available for non-urgent questions.
The advocates’ Instagram account @GrinnellAdvocates posts about topics related to consent/healthy relationships/sexual respect, etc.