Core Values Archives - Safe + Sound

Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Start by Believing

By Joelle Piercy, LSW, MSS, MLSP Safe+Sound Somerset Director of Outreach and Community Engagement Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) asks us not only to name the harm caused by sexual violence, but to reflect on the cultural conditions that allow...

Women’s History Month Through the Choices, Boundaries, and Consent Lens: How the Fight for Women’s Freedom Creates a Freer World for Everyone

By Joelle Piercy, LSW, MSS, MLSP Safe+Sound Somerset Director of Outreach and Community Engagement Women’s History Month invites us to honor the women who have shaped our world and expanded our understanding of safety, dignity, and freedom — in our...

Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month: What Teens Are Really Asking Us

By Joelle Piercy, LSW, MSS, MLSP Safe+Sound Somerset Director of Outreach and Community Engagement Every February, Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM) calls us to look at how young people experience relationships and how we can help keep them safe. At Safe+Sound Somerset, prevention is daily practice rooted in listening...

Understanding Human Trafficking and How We Can Prevent It

by Victor M. Peralta, Jr An Urgent, Shared Responsibility With more than 20 years of experience working alongside New York City law enforcement agencies, I’ve conducted human trafficking outreach that led to meaningful, lasting impact - helping victims and survivors...

AI, Exploitation, and Consent: Why We Must Act Now

Grok AI, the artificial intelligence system integrated into X (formerly Twitter), has recently been exposed for generating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and nonconsensual sexualized images of adults at user prompts. Grok AI admitted to “lapses in safeguards” after creating a sexualized image of two girls. While X says it will remove illegal content and suspend accounts that post it, it...

Domestic Violence Is a Life and Death Issue, Even When There Are No Bruises

Each October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month invites us to reflect on the realities of abuse and the lives it impacts. But reflection alone is not enough. We must confront the ways domestic violence is often minimized in public discourse, treated...

When Leaders Minimize Domestic Violence, Survivors Pay the Price

By Michele Boronkas, CEO of Safe + Sound Somerset When the President of the United States publicly questions whether “a little fight with the wife at home” can be considered a crime, it sends a chilling message—not just to survivors...

Celebrating Pride Month Is An Act of Prevention: Ending Violence Requires Us to Challenge All Forms of Oppression

Joelle Piercy, LSW, MSS, MLSP (she/her/hers) | Safe+Sound Somerset Director of Outreach and Community Engagement Pride Month is a celebration of identity, visibility, and hard-won progress. At Safe+Sound Somerset, we also use it as a time to reflect on what it will truly take to create a world free from...