 Welcome to Aloha United We Stand. Aloha United weighs weekly spotlight on the people and organizations making a difference here in Hawaii and we are on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm your host Chris Aguinaldo and as always please join the conversation. We are on Twitter at Think Tech HI and thank you very much for tuning in. Our guest today is Kata Isari. She is the executive director Hawaii region of the Joyful Heart Foundation and she's here to talk about this campaign called what he says no more. As you know many of our viewers know October is domestic violence awareness month and this campaign here in Hawaii addresses awareness prevention and hopefully outreach and resources available to the people here in Hawaii. Kata welcome to Aloha United We Stand. Thank you. It's good to be here. So was that recap that short recap accurate? That was excellent. Thank you very much but could you let our viewers know about the Joyful Heart Foundation here in Hawaii and how you're affiliated with the national organization particularly in this time where in the last week or so we've had discussions not just on the internet but I have found that I've gone places and in this last week with the national campaigns and the allegations and tapes that have come out it's now become a topic of conversation. So let's talk about that and the work that you do and the Hawaii says no more campaign. Great yes you're right this is a very timely conversation that we're having today given what's been going on the last week. The Joyful Heart Foundation was founded by Mariska Hargitay who's a television actress and advocate she appears on Law and Order SVU and when she began on Law and Order SVU a little over 18 years ago she didn't know anything about these issues so she studied about the issues to prepare for her role and she actually went through a training at a rape crisis center for 40 hours and as a part of that she was really startled at the statistics of domestic violence and sexual assault across the country and then when she started to appear on the show she started getting a really unusual kind of fan mail. She started to hear from survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence who shared their personal stories with her sometimes saying that they had never told anyone before they wrote her and the information really raised her awareness and the letters from the fans really touched her heart and she spent a lot of time in Hawaii over the years and she was here in Hawaii just over 12 years ago when she had an experience that helps her to decide to start the Joyful Heart Foundation to help survivors reclaim their lives and to bring joy back into their healing so we started in Kona 12 years ago and we've grown across the country from Hawaii we moved to the Hawaii office to Honolulu about five years ago and we now have offices in Los Angeles and in New York. So just by having someone with a public stature someone who who could be a voice out there they reached out to her how important was that to get in front of people that their experiences may not be singular insular it sounds like that she had you know given access a point and and people connected how important is that it's really important one of the challenges around sexual assault and domestic violence is that it's kept in the shadows and part of Joyful Heart's work is to shed a light on this work our mission is to transform society's response to sexual assault domestic violence and child abuse to support survivors healing and to end this violence forever and we believe that part of how we do that is to raise people's awareness and bring that these issues out of the shadows support survivors in their healing process and challenge the rest of us to engage around this issue and try to create change around it and this effort the Hawaii says no more no more in capital letters what does that mean what is what was the campaign and how important is it in Hawaii then the Hawaii says no more is the local version of a national initiative that started in 2013 and the purpose of no more nationally which is the same locally is to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault to help give visibility to these issues and to break the social stigma that survivors often experience the purpose is to engage the community especially youth and men and people who haven't been exposed to these issues before to come together and the tagline is together we can end domestic violence and sexual assault. Now Kata we just before the program we spoke a little earlier about men being also involved too so these issues uh men are not excluded uh could you talk about about that just a little bit? Absolutely uh you know what we know is that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18 we know that millions of women experience domestic violence every year and at least eight hundred thousand men so as victims of these horrible crimes both women and men experience this but we also know that in order for us to really stop domestic violence and sexual assault that it takes both women and men coming together not only across Hawaii but across the country to respond to these issues to hold perpetrators accountable to create policies that reform the response of the criminal justice system as well as raise awareness in a way that educates everybody in society about these issues. Now for the Hawaii uh says no more campaign when did that start here in Hawaii? Well in 2014 Joyful Heart invited organizations from around the state to come together to talk about did we want to do a local version of the national effort and everybody said yes and we worked for about a year to set up a structure and then in March of 2015 we launched this initiative with a website Hawaii says no more dot org and also awareness activities around the state and we've been gradually growing since 2015 we now have 15 organizations that are part of the collaborative that runs Hawaii says no more from all around the state and we have thousands of followers on social media and we're building a strong ally component of people who want to be a part of Hawaii says no more by joining us on our website. Okay could you repeat the website and what are any social media handles or hashtags that you use? Sure Hawaii says no more all the whole all written out dot org org is the website and our um social media is all hsnm so because it's too long so hsnm uh for both twitter and instagram and facebook. Yeah I've um I visited actually I was at a lot our marketplace uh when there was an event last year and and I saw the the stickers pins etc how important is it to reach that particular group at a lot of our marketplace that's Hawaii Pacific University you've had events connected to University of Hawaii is that correct that's right how important is it to get that particular age set because I notice the students they will come and they'll of course check out what's being given but then they'll talk to the college the university's people there your representatives how important is it to reach that age group it's crucial both for the national campaign and the local effort one of our target audiences are youth we know that youth are often disproportionately affected by these issues as I statistics I just told you we know in college that 25 percent of women in college will experience sexual assault just while in college so it's really at epidemic proportions and we really believe that we need to engage youth not only to offer support to survivors but also to communicate that youth can have an impact in supporting survivors of themselves and talking about these issues and in really working with us to change behaviors that ultimately lead to domestic violence and sexual assault now a couple of minutes ago for our viewers you saw these posters these flyers and they have celebrities at these folks it would recognize how important is it to anchor that on recognizable faces and they were both men and women yeah that's really important so the joyful all the different organizations that are a part of hoist says no more contribute in different ways to both the national and the local effort and joyful heart one of our contributions because of mariska and her role in the media we developed a national psa campaign of both television spots as well as print ads and as a part of that we asked the local group would you like to have a local version and they said yes so mariska actually came to town in june of this year and filmed a local version of the psas that is all with local people and it was really important to the core team which is the organizations that drive hoist says no more as well as joyful heart hoy that we have representation from local people in the imagery about all of these people that are taking a stand to stop domestic violence but and sexual assault by coming together we have over 23 people and then mariska herself who appear in these psas and it's a wide wide range of the community and that's one place that i'm really proud that we're different than what you see in the national the national is a wonderful effort it is but it's celebrities and also nfl football players and that's been a has a huge impact over four billion people around the united states have been exposed to the psas either in print or on tv or online here we have a really broad range of participants we have mariska we have daniel de kim um but we also have people like dr komano opono crab who is the uh ceo of office line affairs we have jenna ishii who is a polynesian voyaging society we have kiniza mora who's a designer we we have this huge range of a broad cross section of the community here in hoi and i think it's going to be really exciting and meaningful when those psas come out and as we said earlier part of it is you feel not that aloneness you you you feel that identification so people feel more uh comfortable or more willing to talk about an experience that that may not be something that they're able to talk to easily that idea of you were not alone other people have gone through this i think that's what these psas and the efforts to communicate that's what one of the messages is absolutely one of the ways in which domestic violence and sexual assault works is that it tries to isolate and separate and many many times survivors feel very much alone uh and so for them to know survivors to know that they are not alone there's actually great support and resources throughout the state but also that there are people across the state here and across the country who care about what happened to them and want to stop it so uh kata let's take a break afterward let's talk about those resources let's talk about the other partners that you have uh and we'll talk more about the hawaii says no more campaign joyful heart foundation resources for people who are going through uh domestic abuse or have been sexually assaulted right now let's learn about the other great hosts and the other great programs here at think tech hawaii hello i'm marianne sasaki welcome to think tech hawaii where some of the most interesting conversations in hanelulu go on i have a show on wednesdays from one to two called life in the law where we discuss legal issues politics governmental topics and a whole host of issues i hope you'll join me hi i'm steven philip cats i'm a licensed marriage and family therapist here in hawaii and i'm the host of shrink wrap hawaii which is on tuesdays at three o'clock have a great summit take care of your mental health hello my name is crystal let me tell you my talk show i'm all about health it's healthy to talk about sex it's healthy to talk about things that people don't talk about it's healthy to discuss things that you think are unhealthy because you need to talk about it so i welcome you to watch quok talk and engage in some provocative discussions on things that do relate to healthy issues and have a well balanced attitude in life join me welcome back to aloha united we stand i'm your host chris aguinaldo again you can join the conversation on twitter at think tech hi and today we're having a conversation about some difficult issues that some people may have you know may have problems addressing but we're talking to folks who are trying to reach out and make sure to know make sure people know that they are not alone i'm again joined by kata isari she's the executive director of the hawaii region of the joyful heart foundation and right now during domestic violence awareness month october uh we're talking about the hawaii says no more campaign to raise awareness and also eradicate eradicate we're we want to eradicate sexual assault domestic violence but we also want to increase the dialogue the people who need to report about i think what we uh said before was uh untold unsaid unreported underreported crimes really right and uh just before the break we were talking about some of the resources but right now we're at a time because of what happened last week with the release of tapes of uh you know really candid not candid but very explicit talk that really some people have said that amounts to really uh sexual uh violence uh being endorsed uh before the show we talked about it and you you have seen people increasing their conversation myself as well when it was amazing a friend of mine uh in one of her social media feeds she put down that i was a victim and that's amazing because you wouldn't necessarily know that how has the conversation changed in this last week on the national and also local scope well i think that some very brave women and men have taken this as an opportunity to disclose what their personal experiences have been i also think it's brought attention to what exactly is sexual assault and sexual violence and certainly the behaviors that were described on that tape and in subsequent um press stories that have been released would be considered prosecutable in hawaii and many other states um because sexual violence includes uh both touching and penetration of intimate body parts that are hard words to say but even harder when someone experiences that and that's why it's so important um for anyone who's listening to this show or hears about this issue to know that there's wonderful wonderful organizations that provide support around the state to support survivors in that healing process so that they know that they're not alone i i remember reading that one writer had asked women or not just women but anybody share um you know their stories when when did it happen to you and basically millions of people responded so that does show that i don't know previous to what had happened with these uh donald trump tapes that there were people that had something happened to them but now it's on the table this is what happened and with you and the people the other organizations that you work with you can address that correct that's right and that's why hawaii says no more is such an important effort because part of the psa campaign that i mentioned is going to be airing in a month or two um with our partner hawaii news now who has contributed the production pro bono um and our local ad agency wall to wall who supported the development of it uh part of the effort of the campaign is actually to identify the excuses that justify sexual and domestic violence excuses excuses like while she was drunk or she was asking for it or um it wasn't that you know which we've been hearing in some of this national dialogue that's been taking place in the last few weeks things like well it wasn't such a big deal or he didn't mean it or he was just joking around and part of what hawaii says no more is saying is is is no more of that no more excuses no more violence no more shame we have to stop justifying sexual assault and domestic violence and we have to come together to stop it and we have to hold perpetrators accountable for their behavior but also for the behavior after the incident that tries to justify what they did is either not that big a deal or somehow not sexual violence in terms of being a crime a a crime that is very public and very prosecutable uh you don't see that that much i mean part of it is under reporting but how much is it that um whatever laws or whatever people who are working hard to go after these perpetrators how how much is that restraint well part of joyful hearts mission and the work of many of the organizations that are part of hawaii says no more is to improve the system's response to both domestic violence and sexual assault and there are many wonderfully committed and caring law enforcement uh and uh prosecutors around the state but we do know that law enforcement in general often has a different focus and that there tends to be something of a chilling effect for survivors who engage with the criminal justice system that discourages survivors from moving forward so there's many great organizations in the state who work to provide training for law enforcement and to address policy issues that help to counteract some of those negative behaviors that have even inadvertent effect on survivors and we're really hopeful that that will create enough change so that survivors who do want to go through a prosecution process are supported in that not every survivor wants to prosecute and we really support that decision we support whatever is um helpful in that survivors healing and recovery process that's why though hawaii says no more is an important initiative because what it does is it takes the pressure off the survivor it's the community coming together to say we're not going to tolerate this behavior anymore and we're not going to accept the excuses we're going to support survivors and we're going to create important change yes and uh those those photos that we saw earlier not not the psas but it just looked like regular folks holding up their signs there and and taking a stand uh they're writing in uh how they feel right those are that's part of what we call the hawaii says no more challenge and anybody can go to the website and download that sign and basically as you can see it says hawaii says no more and then the idea is for each of us individually to think about what do we think there should be no more of in order to end domestic violence and sexual assault so people have filled in no more inaction no more child abuse no more silence and then what we invite anybody around the state to do is to take a picture of themselves holding the sign put it on their social media tag hawaii says no more and then also they can put it they can send it to the hawaii says no more website and we will upload it into our photo gallery so that eventually would be wonderful we had thousands and thousands of people around the state who are taking a stand by engaging and saying what they want no more of and can you please just repeat both the website and also the social media handle sure the website is all written out hawaii says no more dot or g and the social media is all hsnm so we have facebook and instagram and twitter and we really want to engage people on those sites and then again seeing your friends your family your co-workers holding up those signs it says no more child abuse no more sexual abuse no more violence that reinforces a message and and is that really the poor making sure people know again like you said that it's people it's not it's not focused on the victim it's us as a community us as a people trying to end any sort of violence or mistreatment absolutely we know what we know about social issues is that to create broad sweeping change it takes people coming together the grassroots level as well as at the policy and governmental levels so no more is about engaging everybody every day people people in organizations people in government so is that what we can do just as regular citizens just as neighbors as people who are walking around in our communities as fathers mothers what can we just regular folk do that's a great question and on the hawaii says no more dot org website there's a a tab that says take action and some of what that take action tab talks about is first and foremost we can believe survivors we can support them this national dialogue right now that's questioning the truthfulness of the women that have come forward is very opposite of what we want people to do secondly people can educate themselves they can learn about the statistics they can learn about where to turn in times of help there's a great page on the white says no more dot org website that mentions resources every island every county in this state has wonderful organizations that provide support to survivors and works with perpetrators to help them change their behavior so there's a place for people to go when they need help and lastly what people can do is they can be visible by wearing this no more symbol by putting the bumper sticker on their car by doing that challenge and putting it on the social media it's a way for people to engage and to say that we as a community are going to stand together how have you seen between when the campaign first started here in hawaii to now how has the response been and where where can we find any sort of public events coming up related to hawaii says no more well uh the response has been fabulous and as you mentioned we've had a particularly strong showing amongst youth we've had um for instance waipahu high school when the campaign first initiated a year and a half ago was so enthusiastic about it that they actually started their own initiative on campus which they continue to this day we've seen it at hpu and at uh people who are really engaging by doing that social media challenge and by talking about these issues which is really wanting to see happen october is domestic violence awareness month and there's many wonderful events that are happening around the state in fact right now there's a mens march against domestic violence right here on a wahoo that's taking place as we speak but there's marches and rallies like that all across the state and you can find information about those on the white says no more dot org website or you can also go to the hawaii state domestic violence coalition website and there'll be a listing of all those activities and again hawaii says no more it's a partner it is a partnering effort among many organizations what are some of the organizations that you're working with it's really an amazing collaborative group of both public and private we have this hawaii state department of the attorney general hawaii department of human services catholic charities parents and children together child and family services we have women helping women on maway we have the university of hawaii their manoa office of gender equity their system office of institutional equity the university of hawaii at helo student wellness center it's a really very broad base and we've been so excited by these 15 organizations that have made this commitment to engage in no more and to promote it throughout their communities so again we have law enforcement involved we have universities uh other organizations just uh coming together and the hawaii says no more campaign and uh you say within the next month or so so make sure you look at the website make sure you you put on your social media those handles can you repeat those handles again sure hsnm so it's just the initials hawaii says no more and then the website is hawaii says no more all written out dot org and then when people follow those when those psas are ready when those things that you can share to your other social media websites your social media handles you can just share them and these messages that are that are supporting a message of you know ending this domestic abuse the sexual assault the language that define sexual assault that will be posted up on your website that's right so we have a photo gallery that we encourage people to send any pictures uh that show support for this initiative that show support for survivors when they are hosting events in their community or at their school if they send those pictures we'll get those up there's also a way at hawaii says no more that people can become an ally of the campaign so although there are 15 organizations that are the guiding force any individual any private business anybody any group organization any person any person can become an ally that's really the point it's it's an empowerment not just only of of a victim but a community is making sure that this message of hawaii says no more while we're really saying no more so again we've been talking to kata isari she is the executive director of the hawaii region joyful heart foundation and we've been talking about the hawaii says no more campaign so follow those websites follow follow them wherever you can and share that message that you that your friends that your family are not alone kata thank you so much and thank you for our viewers for tuning in to think tech hawaii