Trigger Warning: This article discusses sexual assault, please take care of your emotional safety. Your emotional well-being matters.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

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There is a difference between choosing this work and being called to it.

For me, advocacy — specifically gender-based violence advocacy — was never just a career path. It was survival. It was clarity. And eventually, it became purpose.

My journey into this work began long before I held a title, credential, or degree. It began in lived experience — in navigating harm, silence, and systems that were not built with survivors in mind.

Like too many survivors, I understand what it is like to be sexually assaulted and then told that it was your fault. I understand what it is like to relive an experience you cannot change. I understand what it feels like to be unsafe in your own home while also feeling like there are no real options for safety. I understand the weight of having to consider not only your safety, but also how you will be perceived.

That reality changes you.

And for me, it clarified something early on:
No one should have to navigate that alone.

I became an advocate because I wanted someone else to hear the words that so many survivors are denied:
“I believe you. It was not your fault.”

But as I grew in this work, I began to recognize something critical:

Supporting survivors takes much more than words of encouragement, trendy hashtags, and hygiene kits.

Survivors are often forced to navigate systems shaped by legislation and practices that have historically dehumanized marginalized communities. Marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by gender-based violence, yet are denied the representation necessary that humanizes them - and frankly denies their lived experience. These systems frequently prioritize procedure over people, creating barriers that are unecessary and can make healing feel inaccessible, and at times, unattainable.

Understanding that shifted everything for me. I immediately understood that while sexual assault impacts survivors, it is a larger systemicIt became a driving force. I immediately understood what my vocation and calling was.

I did not enter this field to “help” survivors in the traditional sense. I entered this work to stand alongside them — to challenge harmful systems, and to create spaces where people are believed, respected, and supported on their own terms.

Through more than a decade of service, I have worked with survivors at every stage of their journey — crisis, stabilization, rebuilding, and everything in between. What I have learned is this:

• There is no linear path to healing
• Recovery is messy
• There is no universal definition of recovery
• And there is no substitute for culturally humble, survivor-led support

Today, my work through L.I.F.E. Recovery, Training, & Coaching remains grounded in that same foundation: truth, systemic accountability, and respect for the survivor’s voice.

Advocacy is not about saving people.

It is about creating space where people can reclaim themselves.

Call To Action:

If you are an organization, legal professional, or service provider looking to deepen your trauma-informed and culturally humble practice, I welcome the opportunity to connect.

To schedule a consultation, workshop, or coaching session on contact me at klopez@life-recovery.net or 973‑318‑1767.

As someone who has served survivors of gender-based violence for over a decade, I write this not only as an advocate but also as a survivor. My professional journey has taken me from frontline advocacy to founding L.I.F.E. Recovery, Training, & Coaching, where I facilitate trainings, provide coaching, and serve as an expert witness in cases involving domestic and sexual violence, trauma recovery, coercive control, and substance use.

I founded my business to disrupt silos and bring the conversation about domestic violence to spaces where it is often ignored. Systems must be held accountable, and survivors deserve culturally humble, trauma-informed support at every stage of their journey.

For more information, or to connect, please visit life-recovery.net or reach out to klopez@life-recovery.net

If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual violence, please contact the RAINN at: 800.656.HOPE (4673). Please consider supporting your local anti-sexual violence program/agency.

Visit the NSVRC to learn how you can participate in your own Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) social media campaign.

For more information on what New Jersey is doing to combat domestic violence, please go to: NJCASA.org