BYU Women’s Services and Resources and the BYU Sexual Assault Survivor Services (SASS), located in the Wilkinson Student Center, promoted their resources to women and men during their Summer Open House on June 26.
The open house aimed to raise awareness of the many resources available to students and faculty, including counseling, The Body Project, yoga and more. The event helped inform the campus community that these services are there to support them.
This is the organizations' second open house together since the two offices began sharing the same office space.
“We started doing our open house together so that students have the opportunity to get to know both offices,” said Jackie Nunez, assistant director of Women's Services and sexual assault survivor advocate with SASS.
Attendees were welcomed with information about various services and free kolaches. Employees from both Women’s Services and SASS shared details about the support their offices offer to students.
Some of the services offered by Women's Services include the Girls Empowered mentorship program, nutrition and wellness consultations, yoga and more.
Elisabeth Beesley, an employee for Women’s Services, spoke to attendees about the programs she helps run.
“I talked about (the Girls Empowered program) because we're always looking to find volunteer mentors,” she said. “I also talked about yoga because we run that every Saturday and we want more people to participate.”
SASS also promoted its resources, which included academic support, short term counseling and advocacy.
Attendees were able to sign up for the office’s volunteer program, which aims to raise awareness about its services and year-round campaigns, including Voices of Courage in October and Sexual Assault Awareness Week in January.
“We're trying to get our volunteer program up and running just for people to go in class and present to let the university know that we exist,” said Kaila Nevarez, office manager at SASS.
Many of the services promoted are open to all students, regardless of gender. However, some programs, such as The Body Project, the eating disorder recovery group and Girls Empowered, are available to women only.
“Any events that we do or campaigns that we do on campus, everyone's welcome,” Nunez said.
The open house helped attendees like Paulee Shakespear, an archive specialist at BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library, learn about new resources.
“I got an opportunity to sign up as a volunteer for SASS, so I'm really excited to see how I can maybe integrate that into some of my work responsibilities and help bring those resources closer to other library employees’ understanding,” she said.
For many employees, their favorite part of the event was meeting, chatting and connecting with attendees.
Ammon Papenfuss, marketing specialist at Women’s Services and Resources, said his favorite part was seeing “such a diverse range of people coming in, whether it's like students from the other side of the world, or faculty that were born and raised just down the street.”
Nunez said she hopes students and faculty walking away from this event know that Women’s Services and SASS are here to support them.
“If a student comes to a faculty member or staff member with a unique challenge, they can refer them to our office and they will be taken care of and find a safe space,” she said.
To learn more about the services offered visit the BYU Women's Services website and the BYU SASS website.