Meet Marlee Liss

 

We were lucky to catch up with Marlee Liss recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marlee, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

Hi, I’m Marlee Liss (she/her), the founder of Survivors 4 Justice Reform. We are a global coalition of survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence and/or human trafficking who are using our voices to advocate for MORE justice options including Restorative & Transformative Justice. I’ve been doing this work since 2017 and everyday, I hear stories of trauma and violence. It would be natural to feel burnt out or to be consumed with an ominous sense that the world is terrible but I don’t feel that way and here’s why: Everyday I get to connect with survivors who have taken their pain and turned it into impact. I get to collaborate and speak with folks who have dedicated their lives to creating a more empathetic and safe world. I am endlessly inspired by people who have kept their hearts open despite the trauma they have been through, they haven’t lost their direction that moves them towards building a world free from gender-based violence and for this reason, I haven’t lost mine either.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am an award-winning speaker, survivor advocate, somatic educator, author and Jewish lesbian sparkle-loving feminist based in Toronto, Canada. My personal sexual assault case set precedent in North America after concluding with Restorative Justice through the courts. I fought for my assailant to go to therapy instead of criminal trial and eventually, we met in an 8-hour circle that was transformative to say the least. Since then, I’ve founded Survivors 4 Justice Reform & have supported thousands in healing shame and transforming trauma. With a background in Social Work (RSW) and Somatic Sex Education, my work has been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, Buzzfeed, the Mel Robbins Show and more. I’ve had the privilege of delivering keynotes, workshops and training for: The US Military SAPRO, National Sexual Assault Conference, Fordham University University of Toronto, Vanderbilt University, Trauma & Recovery Conference, Women’s Mental Health Conference at Yale and more. I am grateful to sit on Survivors Council Canada as a Director and Member at Large. I’ve also been the proud: Host of The Sensual Revolution Podcast, creator of ‘Sensual Wholeness Academy’ – a Somatic Coaching Program for women reclaiming pleasure, co-founder of ‘The F Comp Het Club: 2SLGBTQIA+ Virtual Community’, author of ‘Re-Humanize’, content creator and subject of an award-winning documentary directed by Kelsey Darragh.

Represented by Cooke McDermid literary agency, I’m currently writing a book about my story of Restorative Justice after Sexual Violence. It’s all about empowering folks to re-imagine justice in a way that is trauma-informed, survivor-centred and truly healing. As I continue to grow and nurture the Survivors 4 Justice Reform coalition, we are excited to reach more value-aligned survivors and allies all over the world. Together, we are committed to storytelling campaigns, educational initiatives and advocacy work to shift perception and policy when it comes to justice after trauma!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

-One quality that has most impacted my journey is the belief that our stories matter. So often, we are told that the trauma we’ve experienced makes us weak or damage, but our lived experience IS a form of lived expertise. Survivors of trauma have the best insight into what we need after trauma, from our lived experience, we can offer valuable insight that others don’t have. That insight deserves to be legitimized, valued and also, compensated!
-One area of knowledge that has been essential is embodied and trauma-informed approaches to leadership. We, as survivors, don’t want to exploit ourselves or cross our own boundaries when it comes to our advocacy. Burnout prevention is important. Therefore, we want to treat ourselves as we would other survivors! We want to check in with ourselves before disclosing and challenge the idea that we ‘owe anyone the details of our trauma’. We want to be honest about our capacity and say No to projects that don’t feel aligned with our interests, values or well-being. We want to weave pleasure, rest and empowerment into our advocacy, knowing that this work can help fill our cups rather than draining us.
-One skill that has been helpful is community building. When it comes to making change in the world, no one can do it alone. We must challenge capitalist, individualistic narratives that tell us it is weak or less impressive to need others. Collaboration is essential and we all bring different nuggets of wisdom & expertise to the table. Alone, we can never know everything but together, we can know a lot. This also allows for co-regulation, nourishing connection and the option to step back when we feel overwhelmed or out of our depths.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

We are passionate about the power of survivor-led storytelling as a catalyst for change. Many of our coalition members and there are hundreds of us all over the world, are eager to grab the mic and tell our stories as a way to share insights, catalyze change and help folks re-imagine justice. We want to ensure that survivors all over the world know they have options when it comes to justice, raising awareness & offering education is key. For this reason, we are looking for people who can help amplify our voices and messages of healing and justice. We are grateful to collaborate with journalists, press, filmmakers, creatives, writers, podcast hosts, media outlets and all sorts of amplifiers in order to get this work out in the world.

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