Clarity Before Crisis:
The Gender-Based Violence Response & Readiness Audit is Now Available. Explore the Audit
Ways Institutions Can Strengthen Their Response
Colleges, universities, and systems collaborate with me while working to strengthen their response to sexual violence through culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and survivor-centered approaches.
Institutions engage with my work at different levels from foundational learning to strategic advising to hands-on systems change. Below are the primary ways we can work together.
Gender-Based Violence Response & Readiness Audit
The Gender-Based Violence Response & Readiness Audit is a comprehensive diagnostic designed to help organizations critically assess how they respond to gender-based violence across policy, practice, culture, and survivor impact. Rather than focusing solely on compliance, this audit examines how systems function in real-world conditions and where gaps may unintentionally expose survivors to harm.
The audit evaluates six core areas: exposure to unintentional harm, cultural and identity responsiveness, survivor experience and outcomes, alignment between policy and practice, support for intersectional and compound forms of violence, and preparedness for emerging gender-based violence trends.
Best for:
This audit is ideal for institutions seeking an honest, systems-level understanding of their readiness to respond to gender-based violence and to strengthen survivor-centered, culturally responsive practices.
Speaking & Keynotes with The Culture Doctor
As The Culture Doctor, Leah M. Forney delivers keynote talks and high-impact speaking experiences that challenge institutions to confront how culture, identity, and systems shape responses to gender-based violence. Drawing from lived experience as a survivor and over a decade of gender-based violence work, her talks invite audiences to move beyond surface-level commitments and toward deeper accountability, reflection, and change.
Leah’s speaking centers critical conversations around cultural responsiveness, systemic harm, and the gap between policy and practice offering audiences insight that disrupts complacency and reframes how institutions understand responsibility, trust, and survivor-centered response.
Best for:
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Campus-wide learning moments
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Professional development
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Conferences, summits, and special initiatives
Training & Facilitating
Leah M. Forney provides skills-based trainings and facilitated learning experiences for organizations responding to gender-based violence. These offerings are designed to strengthen cultural responsiveness, improve survivor outcomes, and address the gap between institutional policy and real-world practice.
All trainings are grounded in lived experience, systems analysis, and over a decade of field-based work supporting survivors across diverse communities.
The Culture Academy
The Culture Academy is a flagship course and learning experience for institutions seeking a shared, culturally responsive foundation for sexual violence prevention and response.
Designed for staff and faculty across roles, the Academy supports campuses in building deeper understanding of how culture, history, power, and trauma shape survivor outcomes and where traditional approaches fall short.
How it’s accessed:
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Institutional licensing (1–3 years)
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Train-the-Trainer option for internal facilitation
Past & Current Clients
Frostburg State University
Lehman College
RAINN
Ethiopian Community Center
Maryland Attorney General’s Office
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Goochland Cares
Lincoln University
University of Pittsburg
National Sexual Assault Conference
S.H.I.N.E. Conference
University Maryland Eastern Shore
Wycoff Medical Center
Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect (PCAR)
West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information & Services (WVFRIS)
The Blue Bench
Not ready to partner together yet?
No worries! Download my free “5 Cultural Sensitive Mistakes Guide.”
