What is Together ?
Together is a unit specialised in dealing with situations related to gender violence, harassment and discrimination. It receives any UCLouvain community member who is a victim or witness of such violence, whether they are a student or staff member. The Together unit acts in complete confidentiality and independently of the UCLouvain authorities.
Missions
- provide a safe place to talk
- explain possible approaches within UCLouvain and building your case
- referral to specialised services, if necessary
- provide support throughout the process
Together also contributes to the development and implementation of UCLouvain’s prevention policy, in collaboration with stakeholders (authorities, staff members, students, gender policy team, associations, etc.).
Approach
Together takes a gendered approach to the issue of sexual violence. This means that the unit does not approach sexual violence from a neutral point of view but from the fact that sexual violence affects women disproportionately and is committed in the majority of cases by men.
Together is a place to talk. No matter what you experienced, you will be welcomed in a caring and non-judgmental way. The interview will be conducted at your own pace and according to your needs. It is also possible to simply express yourself and be listened to and not pursue additional support, if you so wish.
Together suggests actions to take and can support you in your efforts. Depending on what you experienced and its impact on you, we will review together possible actions, such as:
- verbalising your feelings and fears (e.g. of possible reprisals)
- mobilising your own resources and thinking about who in your family and community could best help you through this ordeal
- finding the best way to talk about it with those around you
- explaining possible internal procedures
- explaining the procedure for filing a police complaint
- providing legal information and building your case (gather evidence)
- referrals to potentially helpful organisations (CPVS, SAPV, police, IEFH, Unia, etc.)
* Mediation and conciliation can never be an option for people who have suffered sexual or gender-based violence (sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment), as it is neither humanly nor legally possible to offer any form of conflict resolution to its victims.
Together supports you
You can call on the unit even if :
- you have already taken steps on your own
- you initially decided to do nothing after the event but would now like to receive clarification on your situation
- the events took place some time ago
At Together, a witness statement (description) can also be filed.
Together: for what kind of violence ?
The unit is open to any victim or witness of :
- sexual and/or gender-based violence, such as sexual assault, sexual harassment or rape
- cyberviolence, such as discriminatory comments, revenge porn or cyberstalking
- bullying, psychological and physical violence driven by discrimination, such as sexism, racism, ageism, ableism, classism, homophobia, grossophobia
- discrimination
Grounds of discrimination are categorised according to the law that addresses them :
- nationality, an “alleged race”, skin colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, covered by the law of 30 July 1981; “racial grounds” do not include nationality
- gender and gender-related grounds, covered by gender law
- age, sexual orientation, civil status, birth, wealth, religious or philosophical beliefs, political beliefs, trade union beliefs, language, current or future state of health, disability, physical or genetic characteristics or social origin, covered by anti-discrimination law
Together for who ?
Together welcomes and supports anyone affected by violence, and aims to include the entire university population in its comprehensive violence prevention policy, whether:
- you are a victim or a witness
- you are a student or staff member
- you are heterosexual and/or cisgender or belong to the LGBTQIA+ community
- the incident took place on or off campus (e.g. at an internship site), in the public or private domain, in physical or virtual space
- the accused is:
- another UCLouvain student
- a UCLouvain academic, scientific or administrative staff member
- a third party outside UCLouvain (person at the internship site, member of another university, suppliers, etc.)
- the incident(s) occurred recently or in the past
- you are directly concerned by acts of violence, or wish to discuss the subject in the context of a prevention activity.
Who is Together ?
Stéphanie Jacquet (together@uclouvain.be) is in charge of harassment, gender-based violence and discrimination at UCLouvain. She is a legal counselor specialized in sexist and sexual violence and has been developing expertise in these issues for over 10 years.
She can welcome you on Mondays (face-to-face), Tuesdays (face-to-face) and Thursday mornings (via Teams).
Alison Cigna (together@uclouvain.be) is in charge of harassment, gender-based violence and discrimination at UCLouvain. She is an occupational psychologist specializing in trauma, stress, anxiety and crisis intervention. She has worked for the Brussels Police and is now a Red Cross psychosocial volunteer for critical incidents.
She can welcome you on Mondays and Wednesdays (face-to-face) and Thursdays (via Teams).
Laurine Gauthier (together@uclouvain.be) is in charge of harassment, gender-based violence and discrimination at UCLouvain. She has been a clinical psychologist for 15 years, working with victims and perpetrators of violence.
She can welcome you on Tuesdays and Thursdays (face-to-face) and Friday mornings (via Teams).
If you do not wish to contact Together, there are other people at UCLouvain and elsewhere who can help you.