New sexual-assault program director wants to be victims’ voice

Regina Warner of Conway always wanted to be an advocate, and she’s been that for terminally ill people, the elderly and now sexual-assault survivors.

Warner, 37, is the new director for Sexual Assault Crisis Response, part of the Women’s Shelter of Central Arkansas in Conway.

“I had that calling to help,” she said. “I’ve always helped in some type of way. I have always just been that voice.”

Before being hired in July for the position, she was a care coordinator for CareLink in Little Rock, a nonprofit organization that serves homebound senior citizens.

Warner was raised as an only child by her grandmother, Earlene Warner, in the tiny, one-store town of New Edinburg, Arkansas.

Warner attended school in Kingsland, where she was Miss Kingsland High School and the homecoming queen.

“Everybody knew everybody,” she said.

Warner said her grandmother was an inspiration for her desire to help others.

“She always fed anyone who came to our house,” Warner said. “Everyone knew they could come there if they needed anything. She’d give you the shirt off her back.”

And, Warner said, her grandmother had one arm because of an accident.

“She raised kids and grandbabies. She could tote firewood; she did as much as anybody with two arms could do — cooking, cleaning, household chores — she didn’t use that as an excuse.

“She was tough. That’s where my voice comes from,” Warner said. “I said, ‘If she could do this with one arm, I should have no excuse whatsoever.’”

Warner first thought she would become a nurse, and she started in that direction at Southeast Arkansas College, a community college in Pine Bluff.

“I had a son (Landen) at a young age, so I decided to go to work full time to provide for him,” Warner said. She became a full-time caregiver at a nursing home for several years in Fordyce.

She moved to Conway in 2009, and by then, she had another son, Destin.

“I just wanted a change,” she said. Plus, she said all her cousins had graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Warner earned an associate degree from the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, then transferred to UCA, where she earned a degree in sociology. Warner worked at two hospice agencies to pay her way through college.

“I wanted to be a social worker,” she said.

Warner had a caseload of 50 clients at CareLink. She made sure all their needs were met and helped them fill out paperwork for Medicare, Medicaid, insurance and more. She also made sure they were being treated properly by their caregivers.

She worked in Little Rock, and she said the commute was frustrating.

“Landen was in school in Conway, and I wanted to be here,” she said.

When she read the description of the Sexual Assault Crisis Response position, it appealed to her.

“I said, ‘I’m strong about that.’ … I believe in what’s right and standing up for what’s right,” she said.

Warner was hired in June and started the job in July. The former program director, Kate Vincent, is the education coordinator with the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Dealing with sexual-assault victims was something new to Warner, but she said her compassion overcame her lack of experience.

Megan Greenland, president of the Women’s Shelter of Central Arkansas Board of Directors, said Warner has already made a difference.

“Regina has taken our sexual-assault program and completely transformed it,” Greenland said. “Her passion and dedication to serve victims of rape and sexual assault are inspiring. She is constantly looking for ways to improve the program and recruit more volunteers. With Regina leading the way, this program has blossomed into a true resource for education, awareness and recovery for central-Arkansas residents, and I can’t thank her and her team enough for the impact they’ve made.”

Warner has undergone training through the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence and has four volunteer advocates who work with her.

She said the volunteers are on call 24 hours a day to respond to sexual-assault calls or incidents in Faulkner County. However, they will talk to anyone who calls the hotline at (866) 358-2265.

“I’ve talked to people through crises all over the United States,” she said. “The goal is to let them make that one call.

“Maybe somebody was raped 10 years ago and is having a rough time. Something may have triggered it, and they want to talk.”

If someone is raped and taken to the hospital, Warner or an advocate will be called to meet that person. The program has clothes to take to a woman after she is examined at the hospital, too, Warner said, because officials often keep the victims’ clothes for evidence.

The first time Warner was called to a hospital to see a rape victim, she said, she was worried she wouldn’t say the right thing.

“Once I got there, … my compassion immediately went into play,” she said. “It seemed like a natural [conversation],

and it worked out perfectly.”

She or a volunteer advocate will meet the victim at the police station, if they need help filing an order of protection, during business hours.

Warner has two folders, a red one for the victim, which gives information about sexual-assault-victims support meetings, the stages of trauma, how to implement a safety plan and how to contact her. A yellow folder is for family members, and it gives them information about what to expect in the behavior of their loved one who was abused and how they can help.

Support-group meetings are on Wednesdays. Meetings are held at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. for sexual assault and at

9 a.m. and 7 p.m. for domestic violence, all at The Ministry Center, 766 Harkrider St.,

Suite 109, in Conway.

Also, the women’s shelter in Conway will house a sexual-assault victim for a short time during an emergency situation.

“Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted,” Warner said, adding that one out of six women has experienced an attempted or completed rape, and for men, it is one out of 33. However, Warner said, many sexual assaults against males throughout the world are not reported. When children are involved in sexual assault, the Women’s Shelter refers them to Court Appointed Special Advocates.

“We do have male victims, and I have seen that since I’ve been here,” she said.

The #Metoo movement has increased awareness and reports of sexual assault, Warner said. “I have gotten a lot of calls from women assaulted 10, 15, 30 years ago,” she said. “They said, ‘I want someone to know this happened to me, too.”

Warner said there is a Start By Believing campaign, which began in 2011 and is lesser known than the #MeToo movement.

“I want to get it rolling here,” she said of the awareness campaign. “A lot of people don’t report due to people not believing. We do have to start by believing. If you give them one little hint that you don’t, that could deter them for years.”

Warner recalled that she was a bit uncomfortable talking about sexual assault when the topic came up in her college classes, but it has gotten easier.

Yes, she has had a #MeToo moment.

Talking about sexual assault is vital to understanding it and getting help, she said.

“Women need to know it’s OK to say ‘Me, too.’ By saying ‘Me, too,’ that’s going to open up a lot of healing,” Warner said. “Nine out of 10 times, you’re not the only one. Don’t be scared to make that [phone] call. It will be a first call to a new beginning. A weight will be lifted off you.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Never blame yourself. Rape is not about sex; it’s about control.”

Warner supports the idea of parents giving young girls and boys the right to refuse to hug or kiss a relative or friend.

“It’s their body; give them rights to their body,” she said. “They have a right to say no.”

When that right is violated in anyone 18 or older, Warner said, she and her advocates are there to help.

Lisa Fuller, director of women and children’s services for the shelter, said she was impressed with Warner from the moment she met her.

“I love working with her; she is awesome. She is incredibly organized; she is incredibly dedicated,”Fuller said. “She has started working really closely with us. She is very professional and very motivated. We are so happy to have her.

“She’s even come over here when I have a client, and she will meet privately with them. Many of them come in with sexual assault, aside from the domestic violence. She’s not only supporting growing her side, but she’s also supporting us right here at the shelter. She’s worked to bridge the two [programs] to make them cohesive.”

Warner’s goal for the program is to get more involved with the colleges in Conway, particularly the sororities and fraternities. Although there are services on campuses, she wants students to know they can call her, too.

“I want them to know it’s another safe place other than campus to come tell your story,” she said.

Warner said she went to the Mayflower and Greenbrier police departments to drop off information for officers to give women or men who have been sexually assaulted.

She’d also like to have an office that is more prominent, with a sign on the door that lets people who have been sexually assaulted know help is available.

“I wish [sexual assault] didn’t happen. I wouldn’t have a job, but that would be fine,” she said.

But it does happen, and she wants to be there to help.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.