WASHINGTON- There’s an unlikely partnership forming in Charlottesville
between sexual assault counselors and bartenders after the community was
shocked by the disappearance and death of University of Virginia student Hannah
Graham.
It started with one bar in the downtown mall where Graham went missing and
quickly grew to 10 — all interested in educating their employees about what to
look for if customers are in trouble.
Hannah Graham went missing in mid-September and was later found dead in a field
in southern Albermarle County.
Rebecca Weybright runs the Sexual Assault
Resource Agency in Charlottesville and
she held a training session recently for late-night employees, advising them to
identify dangerous
behavior and giving them tips in how to intervene.
She trained the employees to look for cues of discomfort from a victim and
intrusive or possessive behavior by a perpetrator and steps they can take to
intervene.
“There are no magic answers. I think it really is trusting your gut when it
feels uncomfortable and figuring out a way you can do something,” Weybright
says.
Charlottesville police support the education effort.
“The more eyes and ears we have in the public that are willing to help us —
we’re
always for that,” says Lt. Stephen Upman.
The partnership grew out of a community concern over the unfolding investigation
into the disappearance and death of the 18-year-old student from Alexandria,
Virginia.
Commonwealth Sky Bar is one of the businesses that sent its employees to the
training.
“I think it’s important for people within the industry to know there are ways
for them to help and feel empowered to help when they feel something isn’t
right,” says Commonwealth Sky Bar manager Kat Dillon.
While there are no future training sessions on the schedule, Dillon says it’s
something
they’d be open to repeating.
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