Northwest Indiana woman starts local sexual assault crisis center; pushed to create consent law
CHICAGO (CBS) – A Northwest Indiana woman is turning her trauma into positive change. Working to open a local rape crisis center after her own painful experience.
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey tells us why the center could make a big difference.
"Having my doctor tell me, 'you were raped,' and hearing that word."
Brianna Holzer has had less than a year to process it.
She was just 19 years old, living in LaPorte, when she says a friend of a friend who she invited to her house forced himself on her.
"I would say at least 10 times I had said the word 'No.' It was pretty intense," she said. "The whole time I was thinking to myself I have no one I can't yell no one can hear me."
Brianna's doctor told her to get a rape kit immediately.
Here's the problem: She was told the closest place she could go and meet an advocate was a hospital in Crown Point -- more than 50 miles away.
The stressful process turned into a traumatic, nine-hour ordeal.
"I didn't leave until four in the morning. So, I was at Crown Point hospital from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. and then had to drive an hour home," she said.
Brianna says it made the experience even more excruciating.
"They're taking those pictures of your body, the bruises the scratches, on your body," she said. "I think it completely unacceptable to not have these crisis centers, especially in areas that are more conservative and more rural because it's so much harder to talk about these issues."
Easy access is a problem in rural communities across the country. Especially for young women and Indiana ranks 4th highest in the nation for the number of reported rapes among high school girls.
Which got Brianna thinking she would start a center herself.
"LaPorte is in dire need of a sexual assault crisis Center," she said.
She petitioned the LaPorte City Council and teamed up with Liz Strama-Rose, a local businesses owner who helped her raise money by designing t-shirts towards opening the Lotus Sexual Assault Crisis Center.
"I was very proud of her for that," Strama-Rose said.
Strama-Rose said victims can start doubting themselves, and more reluctant to go to a crisis center, if one isn't nearby.
"But if something was closer, if they're passing it on their way to the store, I feel like they'd be more willing to go," she said.
While the non-profit is still very much in its infancy, Brianna says it's just the beginning.
"I want Lotus to be in every city that it possibly can be," Holzer said.
Brianna was also part of the push to create a legal definition of "consent" in Indiana.
That bill passed in the Senate just last week.