What We Do
We develop and conduct a variety of virtual and in-person educational healing events to support survivors of sexual assault who began or completed a commissioning program. We have partnerships with alumnae affinity groups at each of the service academies and are building bridges to other organizations and institutions that want to partner in our work.
Trauma Survivor Webinars
These 1.5 -2 hour Zoom webinars offer educational content on a variety of topics to include content from our Survivor Web Retreats. This allows us to make the material more accessible to those who can't easily carve out a whole day to attend a six-hour Zoom retreat. The Trauma Survivor Webinar Series is open to woman officers or officer veterans from any branch and commissioned from any source and those who attended a service academy regardless of graduation status, particularly those who identify as having had an adverse/unwanted sexual experience or other traumatic experiences. At many of our webinars, we also welcome family and friends of survivors as well as healthcare practitioners who serve survivors.
Service Academy Programs
We seek to collaborate with the other military academies on existing and new programs.
​
Survivor Alumni Panels
​
The SAN works with SHAPE Peer Educators, SAPR GUIDES, and the USNA SAPR office to organize a Military Service Academy alumnae survivor panel during Sexual Assault Awareness Month each year. In this way, midshipmen attendees can learn about the experiences, aftermath, and healing journeys of alumnae sexual assault survivors.
​​​
Network of Alumni and Midshipmen Survivors (NAMS)
​​
​
The SAN is developing the NAMS, a program designed to provide midshipman and cadet survivors one-to-one mentoring relationships with academy alumnae survivors. The SAN will be responsible for delivering the NAMS while the USNA, SHAPE, and SAPR teams will play an advisory role in its conduct. The program is scheduled to launch 2025.
​
Character Capstone
​
​The SAN collaborates with the USNA Leadership Department and SAPR to support the First Class Character Capstone Seminar for midshipmen in which the midshipmen address real-world fleet leadership challenges to include sexual harassment and assault. The SAN helps develop the scenario used to address sexual assault and harassment. Each year, we update and refine the scenario to ensure it reflects current issues and encourages thoughtful leadership in navigating complex situations. Additionally, we provide dedicated alumnae mentors to guide the discussion process with the midshipmen on these and other scenarios they address in a Capstone session. ​​​
Survivor In-Person Retreat
The Survivor Advocacy Network has teamed up with alumnae affinity groups from the major service academies to offer a unique opportunity for MSA alumnae to attend a 4-night/5-day in-person Survivor Retreat. This immersive healing experience is designed specifically for service academy alumnae who are survivors of sexual assault and will be facilitated by Rooted Within, an all-women-led team of facilitators.
​
In our pilot retreat (October 2024), we supported 22 survivors. The alumnae affinity groups from all service academies—USNA's SAN, USMA's West Point Women, USAFA's Zoomies Against Sexual Assault (ZASA), and USCGA's Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI), along with the USCGA Alumni Association and Coasties Thriving Together (CTT)—helped share the opportunity and the costs. Each academy's alumnae affinity group was allocated six seats to fill and raise funds for those spots. Attendees were selected on a first-come, first-served basis for each MSA.
​
Survivor Support Group
A community for academy survivors to feel validated, accepted and understood. Scheduled for launch in September 2025.
Survivor Virtual Retreat
​We conduct an annual full day (or 2 half days) virtual retreat for women officers, officer veterans and MSA alumnae survivors of sexual assault. This retreat includes keynote speakers who address how trauma affects the body and mind and other topics. The retreat includes a survivor panel in which the panelists share about their healing journeys. The keynotes and panel are followed by small group discussion time. We also offer short sessions where attendees are introduced to different healing modalities/topics. They can select 2-3 different healing topics from 6-8 offered sessions.