Campus Celebrity: Alison

Trigger Warning: sexual assault and domestic violence.  

On January 21st, Alison uploaded the first photos of the Lasting Impact campaign.

Lasting Impact is a photo-campaign aimed at shedding light on the long term impacts of sexual assault, domestic violence, and physical and emotional abuse. You may remember, the first Lasting Impact event held in Blanchard’s student art gallery last spring. Since then, the campaign has been promoted by the National Sexual-Violence Resource Center, the No More Campaign, and The Hunting Ground. It was also featured on Buzzfeed, Cosmo, Marie Claire, The Daily Mail, Telegraph, Huffington Post, Huffington Post-UK, and Bustle. In just two days, the campaign’s Tumblr followers went from 24 to 5,000. The site itself, www.lasting-impact.org, has been viewed in over 80 countries, is being used as as a bystander intervention training tool by Citizen’s Advice in the UK, and photos from the site are currently on display in Inuvik Northwest Territories First Nation Community.

While all this sounds out of this world, the founder, Alison*, is a sophomore here at Mount Holyoke. Earlier this week, in her pj’s and a bag of goldfish at hand, which she would’ve traded for chocolate in an instant, she sat down to talk with me. Purple christmas lights lined her window and a bookshelf full of psychology textbooks and research essays sat next to her bed. I’ve known Alison for a year, so we both giggled as I tried to look and sound professional, reading off my first interview question.

What inspired you to create Lasting Impact?

I got the idea last October, after I had gone on Facebook and found the Ted Talk Playlist called The Struggles of Mental Health. I clicked on a talk by Eleanor Longden. I ended up watching this talk again and again and again. I recommend everyone watch it, at least ten times.  Anyway- I resonated with her struggle with the complex mental health issues resulting from trauma. Her story was yet another example of the fact that trauma impacts people in many nuanced ways, that most aren’t aware of. So I decided, “Hey, I should probably let people know. I should let people know their responses are valid.”

So, other than ‘letting people know’, what other goals did you have for the campaign?

If survivors came across it, I wanted them to see some of their experiences reflected. I wanted them to know that whatever they are experiencing, they are not alone, that healing and recovery are possible. People have submitted incredible stories of empowerment and self- compassion. I wanted to provide tangible stories of recovery. One time I saw a survivor holding a poster that said, “I am the author of my after.” I thought the sentiment was beautiful, but was like- what does that look like? HOW? How do you make that happen?

So, what have you learned about the ‘how’ of recovery from this campaign?

The most important thing I learned is that recovery is not about fighting, it’s about stopping and letting yourself be as you are. It’s not about trying to mold yourself into someone who you think is worthy of love. It’s about loving yourself as you are and accepting yourself as you are. For so long, I was fighting against myself, not for myself. It was after I learned to just accept and be ok with who I was, where I was, and what I was feeling and experiencing, I began to fight for myself and recovery became possible.

What would you say to others who might have a project, idea, or campaign they want to start?

The idea initially came to me to me in October, but I didn’t make the decision to really put it into action until January. But during that time, while I was considering starting it, I was very worried that I didn’t know enough, didn’t have enough experience, wasn’t knowledgeable enough, etc. Yet, no matter how much I learned, I needed to know more. But then I realized, there was never going to be a point when I felt like I knew enough. So I had to just trust that I was knowledgeable enough to make it work, and I so I just took a leap of faith, and it worked!  

Is there anything else about you that you want people to know?

If you really want to know me, here’s what you should know. I will chase after a dog if I see one and try to give it a hug. I perpetually live in leggings, or jeans that look like leggings. I like sleeping on the couches in Eliot House. I love kickboxing. I would eat ice cream for breakfast every day if I could, and for lunch, and dinner, and dessert. Ice cream, ice cream is very important.

So, if you meet Alison you can ask her about Lasting Impact, or ice cream. 

Click here for more information about Lasting Impact. 

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