A Safe Place invites you to An Evening With Katie Koestner on Thursday, July 11, 2024 at Great Harbor Yacht Club.

Katie Koestner was on the cover of Time Magazine at age eighteen as the first woman in history to speak out nationally and publicly as the victim of “date” rape.

Katie has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Nightly News, CNBC Talk Live, CNN, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Later Today, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight and other national television programs. She is the subject of an HBO movie and has lectured at over 5000 schools and universities around the world.

Additionally, Katie is the founder of Take Back The Night Foundation, an international organization working to end sexual violence, support survivors and raise awareness.

A Safe Place is actively working within the local hospitality industry to bring further awareness and education to those who may benefit from understanding more about what services are available in the Nantucket community should they need to refer a survivor for support. 

In May, A Safe Place’s Program Manager, Frejae Burrows, presented to the White Elephant Resorts on A Safe Place programs, services, and educational value relative to helping survivors that may become guests of their properties or co-workers who may need support. 

Upcoming in June, A Safe Place will begin working with local restaurants and bars to learn how their staff responds to situations of potential domestic violence, sexual assault and or harassment within their establishments and sharing education on active bystander strategies and tools for staff. 

If you are a local business owner who is interested in learning more about Active Bystander Intervention education for your staff, please reach out to info@asafeplacenantucket.org or call 508.228.0561. 


Members of the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club participated in A Safe Place’s Happy Family Poster Contest as part of Supervised Visitation Awareness Month last month. This contest promotes the importance of healthy relationships and connections using creative design. 

Winners were selected by age groups and are showcased in A Safe Place’s supervised visitation room at 5B Windy Way. 



A Safe Place advocates Suzanne Fronzuto and Kathy Butterworth recently completed prevention education segments on bullying and sexual harassment in grades 5 and 6 at the Nantucket New School. 


A Safe Place’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program Manager, Frejae Burrows, recently completed prevention education focused on consent and sexual assault for grade 9 at Nantucket High School.



Executive Director, Jennifer Frazee, and Board Chair, Jane Loose, speak out within the community on behalf of A Safe Place’s position on the recent plea agreement involving Mark Hamilton. 

“Domestic Abuse is a grave problem affecting millions of people worldwide, and its effects can linger on long after the Abuse has ended. One of the most devastating consequences of domestic abuse is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a mental health condition that affects people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as domestic abuse.” -KC Psychiatric

  • Physical and Sexual Abuse (bodily harm, rape, incest)
  • Emotional Trauma (verbal abuse, gaslighting, manipulation)
  • Control and Isolation (controlling behaviors)
  • Intergenerational Trauma (trauma passed down from one generation to another)
  • Lack of Support (shaming, not believing survivors)
  • Coercive Control (intimidation, degradation, pushing an outcome in a certain direction)
  • Harassment and Stalking (unwanted attention or contact that causes fear)
  • Revenge Porn (using personal images or videos to distress or embarrass)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a tally of forms of trauma, abuse, neglect, and other negative childhood experiences that pave the way for a higher risk of problems later in life.

Ace’s are not always large events. They can be smaller experiences or patterns of behavior over time that affect a child during their formative years and have lasting effects into adulthood. 




As members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and State Senate work to complete their legislative session, we urge advocates, survivors, and allies to take action to help secure the remaining $20M needed to fully fund the Victim of Crime Act Bridge Funding. 

The Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance needs your help to tell legislators that pending award reductions to victim service programs will be devastating and dangerous for both survivors and communities.

Victim of Crime Act (VOCA) dollars are the only federal funding source available for services to all victims of crime. The funds are at a historical low.

Without action, this decrease in funds will result in a decrease in the number of victims and survivors that are served.

Governor Healey introduced a supplemental funding bill to the Legislature that includes the remaining $20M investment that would fully fund the VOCA Bridge. This funding is essential to mitigate the funding cuts that over 90 victim service programs are facing.

We must bridge the gap for the thousands of survivors served by VOCA.

We must continue to support survivors and stabilize victim service programming across the state.

We urge you to support the VOCA Bridge to ensure the sustainability of services throughout the Commonwealth.

A Safe Place’s Child Witness to Violence Program continues to support children and teens through our Youth Sports & Social Skills Groups under the stewardship of Bryan Frascati, M.S., LMHC. 

This program is designed to support children ages 5-18 years old who have experienced various forms of trauma due to impact from domestic violence, sexual assault, and/or other forms of family or community violence/abuse. The Child Witness to Violence Program also provides support and information to non-offending parents and caregivers to help them understand how witnessing and experiencing abuse affects child development. This additional support helps the relationship between the parents/caregiver and children. 

Children enrolled in the CWV Program receive one-on-one therapy and or group therapy while developing tools to process their experiences and emotions while they are still young. This gives youth affected by trauma a much higher chance of success as adults.

The Youth Sports and Social Skills Groups division focuses on skill building for each child in a multi-youth setting while teaching confidence, organization, decision making, managing of emotions, executive functioning, and eye to ear coordination. Each group works to create healthy foundational skills while improving peer relationships as they learn and grow together.  All A Safe Place staff for this program are licensed clinicians.  

A Safe Place would like to thank Great Point Properties for their recent donation toward this program. Your donation helps create impactful moments and foundational support for our youngest members of the Nantucket community. 


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