Believe Survivors: Ohio University’s Survivor Advocacy Program, OU’s Mission to Support Survivors

By Jess Deyo

Out of 1,000 sexual assaults, only 230 are reported. Only 46 suspected assaulters are arrested, and only five are convicted. Those statistics flash across the screen at the end of “Start By Believing,” a short documentary that tells the story of Brie Sivy, an Ohio University student, who is a survivor of sexual assault.

In 2017, 200 people gathered for the Start by Believing talks to hear the heart-wrenching stories of survivors who weren’t believed and details about how that impacted their likelihood to tell their stories in the future. Sivy, though, had a different story to tell — a story of the time she felt truly believed and supported.

Sivy stood alongside Ohio University Police Department Detective Mathew Austin and Director of the Survivor Advocacy Program Kimberly Castor, who Sivy spent nearly a year working with. Together, they resurfaced the details of her case, playing audio from her initial interviews. Sivy reassured survivors, identified or not, that they are valid. Austin and Castor stressed the importance of ensuring victims feel believed.

Sivy’s speech was held because of OU’s commitment to Start by Believing, a campaign by End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI). The campaign, created in 2011 and adopted by OU in 2017, aims to demonstrate the importance of a survivor-centered focus during reports of interpersonal violence.

“[EVAWI] started this campaign with the idea of it being that the best thing you can do when responding to survivors is to simply believe what they are telling you,” Castor says. “That’s what it means when they say, ‘start by believing.’”

Universities and organizations can adopt the Start by Believing Campaign however they wish, and Sivy presented OU’s audience with a unique twist to her story — her positive experience with campus resources. Sivy’s speech became so well-known that her words were requested everywhere, from Housing and Residence Life events to national conferences.

Before long, Sivy’s audience expanded, but her time wore thin. As a senior, coordinating time for a two-hour talk, one that forces the past to constantly be merged with the present, was becoming unrealistic. It was then that the idea of a 25-minute documentary was presented — a perfect solution to keep the conversation going for audiences anytime, anywhere.

“Folks can watch it in their dorm room lying in bed, and classes can show it too,” Austin says. “Instead of getting 200 people a pop, we can get thousands, hopefully.” Sivy says it felt surreal when she was approached with the idea. For her, it’s a weird feeling knowing that everyone — including her assailant — can view her story, but she says revealing every painful detail was necessary.

“I kind of hope [the assailant] sees it. I tell people all the time, I didn’t always feel like I got the justice I wanted from the legal system,” she says. “So, this is kind of a little bit of my justice. He didn’t break me. He didn’t win.”

While Sivy still struggled to put together her idea of justice, she can proudly admit that her experience with the OUPD and the Survivor Advocacy Program was unbeatable: a “gold standard” where she was believed by everybody.

“I never felt like any of them thought it was my fault, the way a lot of survivors get that reaction or we feel it internally,” Sivy says. “I didn’t feel that way with any of them. I genuinely feel believed by them, which is good.”

Sivy shares that throughout her entire journey, OUPD and Castor helped explain legalese and court-room procedures. At one point, she admits to possibly talking to Austin more than her mom because of his dedication. “He was never upset that I would ask the same question over and over again,’” Sivy says. “None of those things ever bothered him, which is nice. It felt like I had a good safe space I could go and talk to about this.”

Austin’s inviting personality was no coincidence, but instead an intentional effort. For any report he receives, he hopes to send a message to victims that OUPD officers strive to be people first.

OUPD and Austin’s welcoming attitude was just one factor of the process that is detailed in Sivy’s documentary. Austin and Castor also speak highly of Forensic Experiential Trauma Interview, or FETI, a type of interviewing that helps someone who has just suffered a severe trauma remember more details. During Sivy’s first interviews, she was one of the first to be exposed to FETI by Austin.

“Today, every detective is trained in FETI and all officers are trained in trauma-informed processes,” Austin says.

FETI is one of the concepts that Christofer Smith, a video producer for University Communications and Marketing, was sure to include in the documentary. For Smith, putting Sivy’s two-hour talks into a much shorter documentary proved to be taxing, but Sivy, Castor and Austin knew what needed to be emphasized.

“Brie, Kim and Detective Austin are all extremely easy to work with. They were kind of producers themselves in that they’ve done a Start by Believing event before,” Smith says. “They were really good at knowing what they wanted to say in their story and helping the story come out naturally.”

Smith and his team worked on the documentary for nearly a year, including every piece of Sivy’s story through interviews or on-screen captions. What was most important to Smith, though, was showing off the relationship that Castor, Austin and Sivy had built over the years.

“They have a great chemistry and a great working relationship between the three of them,” Smith says. “I think that’s why their program has been so successful.”

For Sivy, the relationship between herself and Castor has been so strong that it inspired her to change her major from nursing to social work after her assault. Today, Sivy hopes to make a change in someone's life the way Castor impacted hers.

Castor continues to stand with Sivy, whether that be as a friend, a counselor or a walking partner.

“I pretty much want to be her when I grow up. She’s awesome,” Sivy says. “If someone can sit in 10 years and sing my praises the way I sing hers, then I’ll know I’ve done my job right.”

Sivy is already on her way to spreading an impactful and powerful message, with the success of the documentary reaching all the way to a university in Australia, Castor says. Anywhere it goes, it will be an absolute shock to her, Sivy adds, but she is passionate about starting the conversation to change lives.

“My message to survivors always is that we are valid, we are loved, and we aren’t alone in this even though it feels like we always are,” Sivy says.