Survivors of violence on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University will have the chance to express their journey as a survivor and participate in creative activities when they sign up for Counseling and Disability Services' Expressive Art Group.

Donna St. Sauver, coordinator of Campus Violence Prevention Programs, said the survivors will discuss the challenges they have gone through, while also talking about their growth as a survivor.

"Are we going to get into some of those hard to hear details about people's experiences? Yes, of course we are," St. Sauver said. "But at the same time we're also going to celebrate all of the successes as well. So I just think it's a great opportunity for survivors to meetw other people who've been through something similar."

With art as an element infused into the support group, survivors will participate in activities allowing them to display their artistic abilities.

"So we'll do some painting. We'll look into some music, share music. Do some dancing. There's mindful walking -- mindful walking is a very helpful therapy to calm down your physiology after a physical trauma," St. Sauver said. "Mindful walking takes the awareness of mindfulness (the mental state of awareness within the present moment) and applies it to the physical act in walking, so that you become much more aware of your body, where you're feeling things in your body as you're walking because you might think 'Oh, OK, so if you're walking you're just going to feel something on the bottom of your foot,' but what about the feel of air coming in under your foot as you lift it or as you swing it across to take another step?"

St. Sauver added that paying attention to the effects of one's mindfulness is beneficial to one's emotions.

"Mindfulness can help you regulate your thoughts so that you can better regulate your emotions," St. Sauver said.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in five women in the United States has been raped in their lifetime.

Throughout the nation, sexual violence is a topic that has been frequently discussed within mainstream media and even across college campuses.

St. Sauver said that when it comes to violence it's not just about the act, it's about victims coming forward.

"To tell their story, to know that it's not their fault. To be able to survive through the victim blaming and the shame that our society wants to put on our victims, our survivors," St. Sauver said. "So we celebrate the fact that the conversation's increased and that the number of survivors have come forward."

Through the group, St. Sauver plans to iterate that survivors at Southeast are believed and supported.

For more information about the Expressive Art Group, contact St. Sauver at (573) 986-6191.