Survivor Advocacy Network
Who We Are
Empowering Sexual Assault Survivors through Healing and Advocacy
VISION STATEMENT
The members of the SAN envision a time when no service academy graduate who survived military sexual trauma (MST) struggles for healing alone. The core experience of trauma is feeling helpless and isolated, and this is often the biggest obstacle to taking a first step towards recovery. The SAN supports healing by offering survivors connection to a community that understands and shares their unique experiences, giving them the courage and support they need to start or deepen their recovery journeys.
MISSION STATEMENT
The SAN provides connection, education, healing and advocacy to military service academy (MSA) alumni survivors of sexual assault (regardless of graduation status) and uniformed/veteran officer survivors commissioned through any source. Many of our programs are open to friends and family of survivors, those who work in military sexual assault prevention and response, and healing practitioners who serve survivors.
We seek to partner with others who do this work in the broader military/veteran community: fellow advocates, educators, and health practitioners who serve MST survivors. We are also committed to building cultures free of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military service academies, and the active-duty military at large.
The SAN was founded in 2021 as a committee of the U. S. Naval Academy Women's Shared Interest Group (WSIG)--now known as USNA Women--affiliated with the U. S. Naval Academy Alumni Association. In 2023, the SAN’s mission was expanded to include all the MSA’s and branches of the military. Our membership reflects the joint-service nature of our mission.
WHO CAN JOIN US
If you are in one of the groups we serve (see mission statement above), you are welcome to join our programs. While the Survivor Advocacy Network serves men and women, we keep our program audiences specific to one gender to make both genders as comfortable participating as possible. Anyone who supports our mission is welcome to volunteer with us.
Meet the Team
SAN Chair
Stefanie Goebel graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with the first gender integrated class in 1980. She served for over twelve years as a General Unrestricted Line Officer.
Stefanie has over 30 years experience in the field of gender equity work. Her focus has been developing and implementing leadership, mentoring, and advocacy programs for girls and women in both government and nonprofit organizations. While on active duty, she led the tri-service Women Officer’s Professional Association (WOPA) in Hawaii. In the mid-90’s, after leaving the Navy, she helped implement several leadership and networking workshops for high school girls through the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to include organizing a high school wide sexual harassment training. In the late-90’s she created a small e-mentoring program that paired women cadets at two private military colleges with women graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy. From 2002 to 2006 Stefanie served as an assistant program manager at the Aurora Foundation, helping to develop a leadership and mentoring program for high school girls with disabilities and high school girls at risk funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Stefanie then served as the director of the AcademyWomen eMentor Leadership Program from 2007 until 2016; the eMentor Program initially served uniformed and veteran military women and later included men. AcademyWomen is a networking and professional development organization for current, future and former military women officers.
Most recently Stefanie has been active with U.S.N.A. Women, a Shared Interest Group (SIG) of the U.S.N.A. Alumni Association. Since 2021 she has served as the Chair of the Survivor Advocacy Network (SAN). The SAN’s mission is to 1) support the healing of and advocate for uniformed and veteran women officer and service academy alumnae survivors of sexual assault and 2) support the USNA Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Office in their mission to prevent and respond to midshipman sexual assault.
My motivation to create the SAN was and is to create opportunities for survivors of Military Sexual Trauma to find one another and thereby, create a safe and loving community where they can find healing together.
Assistant SAN Chair
Kristen served as a behavioral scientist in the Air Force: human factors engineer, professor and leadership counselor at USAFA. She has a Master of Science degree in Experimental Psychology and a PhD in Social Psychology. After medical retirement, Kristen focused on family and volunteer work in school associations and therapy dog organizations.
I joined the SAN in 2023 to help support the multitude of survivors from all the military academies who went to college to serve their country and graduated with untreated scars that are still not acknowledged. I want them to know they are seen, they are heard, they are not alone, and it was not their fault. The problem of sexual assault at the Academies has not improved in the 40 years since I was assaulted as a freshman at USAFA; in fact, 2022 and 2023 were record high years for reports of sexual violence. Only morally courageous leaders can change those numbers. But through working with the SAN, I can help empower survivors like me to reclaim our bodies and reimagine our lives.
Tech Support
Alyssa is a graduate of West Point for the Class of 2017. She was in the first wave of women into the infantry branch in the U.S. Army. She served as the first infantry company commander for the 4th Infantry Division.
I choose to work with SAN because it offers a safe, judgment-free space for survivors to share their experiences. The unique challenges faced within the academies and military can be difficult for many to understand, but SAN creates an environment where these experiences are acknowledged and supported. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with other resilient women who have faced similar struggles and emerged stronger. I firmly believe in the power of women supporting women, and I hope to make a meaningful impact through my work with SAN.