Great news! The Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund and ASTOP, Inc. are teaming up to bring you current, relevant information about sexual harassment, and the prevention education efforts happening right here in Fond du Lac.
What is ASTOP?
ASTOP is your local sexual assault center serving Fond du Lac, Green Lake, and Waushara counties. ASTOP’s story starts back in 1988, when an 11-year- old girl named Victoria took her own life in response to the sexual and physical abuse she had experienced in her own home. This shocked the community of Fond du Lac and compassionate community members worked together to create a place for survivors of sexual assault to go to receive treatment and find hope. Through the support and hard work of these community members, ASTOP opened its doors in 1992 and has been providing free and confidential services ever since. Our mission as a sexual assault service provider is to offer treatment, outreach, and prevention while emphasizing hope and connection with one’s self and others. Our services include:
- Absolute confidentiality
- 24-hour crisis line
- Individual and family counseling
- Referrals to other agencies as appropriate
- Medical and law enforcement advocacy
- Support groups
- Prevention education
This series of blog posts will focus on the prevention education that happens in the Fond du Lac community. The Prevention Educator, Rhianna Zuleger will be creating the blog posts, in collaboration with other ASTOP staff members who are experts in the field of sexual assault.
Meet Rhianna, your ASTOP prevention educator
Rhianna has a degree in Community Health Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Community Health Education goes hand in hand with Public Health-helping individuals create the healthiest version of themselves. She became a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) in 2016, a certification provided by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC). Health education is an incredibly important aspect of life. Health educators develop programs to make people healthier, to prevent disease, and use systemic
strategies to improve individual’s knowledge about their own health and wellness.
Originally from Medford, WI, she had lived in La Crosse, WI for 5 years while completing her degree, working, and job searching for the perfect health education job. From there, at the end of July, she moved to Fond du Lac to begin her work as Prevention Educator at ASTOP. One of her talents is the ability to interact with anyone she comes across-which is important when working with children, teens, and adults, as everyone has a different story and comes from a different background.
Rhianna enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, camping, staying active, and of course, saying NO MORE and helping put A STOP to Sexual Abuse.
What is sexual assault?
Sexual assault (also referenced as sexual violence or abuse) is any act (verbal and/or physical) which breaks a person’s trust and/or safety and is sexual in nature. Learn more about different types of abuse here.
For more about ASTOP, visit www.astop.org.