Providing help

0

Executive director Susan Ferguson and Prevail serve growing number of victims

On any given day, Susan Ferguson may be tasked with helping someone make a life-changing decision – to stay or leave, to seek help or how to protect their children. 

“I really understand the dynamics of domestic violence,” she said.

In April, Ferguson will celebrate her one-year anniversary as executive director of Prevail, Inc., a nonprofit that has served victims of violent crime in Hamilton County since July 1986.

“It has been less than a year since Susan stepped into the role of executive director at Prevail and in such a short time she has already proven to be an excellent leader with passion for our clients and the knowledge to help continue to improve our services,” said Natasha Robinson of Prevail. “She also has great a respect for our community and works tirelessly to further Prevail’s mission towards ending acts of violence.”

 Background

After college, Ferguson began working with juvenile delinquents for a human services agency in Ohio, where she met and married her husband, Rod, who also works in human services. The two moved to Michigan, where Ferguson worked at the Safe Place in Battle Creek for seven years.

“I’d been away from home for 20 years,” she said, adding she was looking for a new job based in Indiana. “Finding something I was interested and passionate about was icing on the cake.”

Ferguson brings a background of working for small and large organizations.

“At the very large organization you had a finance department, marketing department, etc. You concentrated on your job and somebody concentrated on the other tasks,” she said. “Safe Place was much smaller. I am the marketing department and finance department. You have to be an expert in all the things.”

Ferguson said she always like the idea of working with children. Her mother was a special-needs teacher in Indianapolis Public Schools for 30 years and her brother is an administrator in IPS.

“I knew at a young age I was going to be a child psychologist,” she said. “Talking with kids that might be difficult to work with.”

Ferguson said when she first started her mentality was that her job was a lifestyle.

“You have to live it,” she said. “Now my thinking has changed 180 degrees. It’s a job, when you leave work you have to leave work. I don’t think anybody could survive that (previous thinking).”

Prior to moving to Hamilton County, Ferguson was living with her parents as her family remained in Michigan so her son, Eric, could finish his year in high school.

“We visited lots of schools and liked all of them we visited. Eric had a great first visit at Noblesville High School and really enjoyed it. That along with me working here made Noblesville a perfect fit for us,” Ferguson said.

 Prevail

Ferguson said the biggest misconception about Prevail is that it is a shelter.

“We don’t have a shelter here but work with an affiliate in Anderson for any of our clients that need that. It’s not an easy decision for anybody,” she said. “Hamilton County is considering a domestic violence shelter. I’m talking through what that might mean.”

Prevail serves the community as an advocate for victims of crime and abuse in Hamilton and surrounding counties and offer its services free of charge in a confidential, supportive and non-judgmental environment.

“We want visitors to know we believe you and there is hope available. We are here for them to reach out and call us,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said Prevail helped 3,000 people last year, which included men, women and children.

“It happens here,” she said. “It’s shocking numbers for some people in Hamilton County. There are no lines domestic violence and sexual assault will not cross.”

Because of Hamilton County’s demographics, Ferguson said the favorable financial aspect makes it harder for some people to leave abusive situations.

“They might be stay-at-home parent and potentially leave with nothing. This dynamic makes it more complicated,” she said. “We know it is difficult to leave domestic violence and it takes a long time to build up to that decision, but we hope we can plant the seeds of confidence and hope so they can leave.”

 Tough times

The job of the Prevail staff is very difficult and heart wrenching. It requires a unique person to handle the daily stress. However, there are the good days when workers make a positive impact on someone’s life.

“You can really hang on to those gems of hope in those situations,” Ferguson said. “There are those days that remind us why we do what we do. A person comes in hopeless and leaves with a glint of hope in their eyes. Then later you get a letter and it says that what you did or said helped them. That’s what you hang your hat on. We plant seeds and hope they grow to be fruitful plants in the future.”

Ferguson said the hardest aspect of her job is fighting misconceptions – even amongst her family members. She was talking with her daughter, Alex, a student at Western Michigan University, the other day about a woman that was raped in the city she lived in. The victim was walking home alone from the library at 1 a.m. and Alex said, “What was she doing walking alone at 1 a.m.?”

“Victim-blaming is discouraging. I fight that every day,” Ferguson said. “They may have put themselves in a bad situation, but it’s still the perpetrator’s fault. That mentality is more discouraging than the individual events.”

Meet Susan Ferguson

Age: 42

Hometown: Indianapolis

Residence: Noblesville

Family: Husband, Rod; daughter, Alex, 19; and son, Eric, 15.

Education: Warren Central High School, psychology degree from Indiana State University; counseling degree from Liberty University and MBA from Western Michigan University.

Hobbies: Being a mom, watching movies, reading and attending sporting events.

Personal quote: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale


Current Morning Briefing Logo

Stay CURRENT with our daily newsletter (M-F) and breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox for free!

Select list(s) to subscribe to



By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Share.

Current Morning Briefing Logo

Stay CURRENT with our daily newsletter (M-F) and breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox for free!

Select list(s) to subscribe to



By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact