{"id":20840,"date":"2024-04-09T16:11:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T00:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=20840"},"modified":"2024-04-09T16:12:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T00:12:19","slug":"meet-the-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/meet-the-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Hannah Field | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

Content warning:<\/b> this article includes mentions of assault and violence<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kristen Perry has her dream job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her first time applying for Director of Abby\u2019s House at Western, Perry didn\u2019t get the position \u2014 derailing her career path, although only temporarily. After graduating from Western, she experimented with other positions, jobs she loved and couldn\u2019t keep, but found herself back in Monmouth. It was what she truly wanted to do \u2014 and maybe that\u2019s why six months later, the position opened, as if it was waiting for her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since November 2021, Perry has been the Director of Abby\u2019s House.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, I don\u2019t like the title,\u201d explained Perry sheepishly. \u201cIt\u2019s like, oh, I\u2019m talking to the most important person at Abby\u2019s House \u2014 and that\u2019s not necessarily true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What is true, however, is the very real existence of Abby\u2019s House advocacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perry is a confidential advocate \u2014 which, she stresses, is not the same as a therapist. The title, supported by a lengthy training program, allows for Perry to speak with individuals about a vast range of topics \u2014 often centering on trauma \u2014 and she cannot share that information with anyone else.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI myself have experienced sexual assault and I experienced that while I was in college, which is why I got involved,\u201d said Perry. \u201cI get to work with survivors who are at their lowest. And I get to help bring them up \u2014 lift them up, mentor them \u2014 and also help them work through their trauma. I feel very special and very honored that people feel comfortable telling me their stories.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Abby\u2019s House represents a comfortable, open space \u2014 a sentiment Perry has promoted in the seemingly smallest of choices, like the decision to find a new name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAbby\u2019s House, the Center for Equity and Gender Justice \u2014 nobody knows what Abby\u2019s House means \u2026 that (it) doesn\u2019t portray everything we encompass,\u201d said Perry. After multiple name changes in the past, Perry\u2019s on the hunt for an acronym that will better suit all of Abby\u2019s House\u2019s purposes. Some examples of which include internships, basic needs, safety training, violence prevention, providing resources and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Abby\u2019s House website will be updated to be easier on the eyes and more accurate. Abby\u2019s House will also grow to encompass the Stonewall Center in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just want people to know we are truly here for everyone,\u201d said Perry. \u201cWe will do the extra research. We will provide any extra resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Perry has made it clear that she won\u2019t be going anywhere anytime soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlnews@mail.wou.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":20841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[2303,1535,2301,2307,2302,2305,2306,1101,2304,608,39],"class_list":["post-20840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-abby","tag-abbys-house-2","tag-abigail-dunaway","tag-abigail-scott-dunaway","tag-basic-needs","tag-confidential-advocate","tag-director","tag-house","tag-kristen-perry","tag-western-oregon-university","tag-wou"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}