Feb 11, 2020
After escaping an abusive relationship in college, Kristen Faith
used Facebook to break her silence to the world by sharing her
restraining order online. Her vulnerability and life experience has
inspired thousands on social media to break the silence against
domestic violence.
Kristen has served as an expert advocate for numerous
publications to include: Investigation Discovery, ESPN, NowThis,
Glamour Magazine, PEOPLE.com, HuffPost, New York Post, and MIC to
name a few. She has spoken nationally to educate college campuses,
first responders, health care professionals, and social workers on
the complete scope of domestic violence from a survivor’s
perspective.
In today’s conversation with us, Kristen describes how Break The
Silence Against Domestic Violence started and quickly evolved into
a national movement. She explains how they attract volunteers,
raise money, identify good board members, and how they have been
able to bring families together in the healing and recovery
process.
Kristen also shares what is next for her, as she ventures beyond
her story of domestic violence and the movement she created, to
consulting and teaching others how to grow their movement and make
a lasting impact in their communities.
What We Discuss With Kristen Faith
- How to start a movement that inspires people to get
involved
- Grassroots ideas for creating awareness about your cause
- How to choose your board members
- How to raise funds using social media and through local
community events
- Finding purpose beyond the movement
Key Takeaways
- The Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence Facebook page
started out being all about quotes and poems and was an uplifting
source for survivors, families, and people who wanted to be part of
the movement.
- There were so many people writing in and asking for help. Their
needs weren’t being met and I wanted to create a solution. So I
created this organization based on what I would have wanted when I
was in that situation.
- We tabled it at every possible community conference we could
find in San Diego. People really loved our mission and how we saw
and addressed the issue of domestic violence.
- More people became part of the organization because we made
them feel like family. So it wasn’t just that Kristen was showing
up. Kristen was showing up with her whole family. It was really a
positive ripple effect of people wanting to create change.
- At one point it was five of us, being at conferences, offering
education in schools, sending out mailers for donations and putting
together events locally, i.e. car washes or bake sales.
- 8 years later we have volunteers in almost every state in the
U.S. We have outreach volunteers who go out into the community and
host events called Sister Meetups for survivors who want to get
together and meet others.
- We engage millennials by keeping it fresh, fun and engaging. If
something is not working, fix it. If something is working, do more
of it.
- We’ve had board members who are incredibly involved, and we’ve
had board members who like to say they’re on our board because
we’re a national non-profit.
- Passionate individuals are wonderful, but passion doesn’t get
the job done. You can have great intentions about wanting to change
the world, but are you actively going to make phone calls to
donors, and show up at events and sell tables for your local
charity gala? Are you actually going to show up for meetings and
volunteering when we need help as an organization?
- Beyond passion, we’re looking for board members who can share
their skills, experience, and connections.
- Every year we ask our board members to contribute at least
$3000. That means you can donate outright, or you can fundraise
through a bake sale or sell tables to a local dinner.
- Our main source of donations this year is Facebook. We are one
of the top 125 non-profits on Facebook that are utilizing their
donation platform.
- We are not a crisis organization. We do not have a shelter,
offer legal aid, restraining orders, or court advocacy, because
these services are already being offered.
- We solve the problem by addressing domestic violence at its
roots – which is education. If parents aren’t taught how to treat
their children, or if people are not educated on how to have
relationships with their family members, significant others or
spouses that is one-third of the problem.
- We focus on a sandwich model. One side is prevention, the
inside is the crisis services, and the other side is healing and
recovery. We need both sides, otherwise people are going to
continue the cycle.
- When it came to building my own personal brand, the doubt was
real, because a huge part of me said, “Who are you without Break
The Silence?”
- Being a movement maker is absolutely game changing. However, if
you don’t have self-care, and if you don’t have an identity outside
of your movement, cause or business, who are you?
- Don’t create a movement for the accolades, do it for the cause
and the impact.
- My story doesn’t end with domestic violence, that’s where it
begins.
- My message is not what happened to Kristen, but what we can
learn from what happened to Kristen. Everything I’ve learned along
this journey, I am willing to share.
- Dreams are for nighttime. If you’re not waking up and doing it,
why are you even thinking about it?
Episode Show Notes:
https://leadersoftransformation.com/podcast/health/309-kristen-faith-life-after-domestic-violence
Check out our complete library of
episodes and other leadership resources
here: https://leadersoftransformation.com
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