Alumna uses her experience and education to advocate for survivors of domestic violence

Psychology and mental health studies graduate Lisa Jones uses her voice and her degree to speak up for those who suffer in silence

In a hearing room at the Oregon State Capitol, Lisa Jones stood before the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee. She steadied her nerves and looked into the eyes of senators who held the power of law. With hard-won confidence, she began to share her story as a survivor of domestic violence. 

It was a moment that, just a few years earlier, she never could have imagined.

“I literally got to look senators in the eyes and tell them they could– and should – do better. The laws they pass shape how survivors and their children are treated within our legal system, with real and lasting consequences.”

Jones had given testimony in court before, when judges decided the fate of her family. And in that instance, they had failed her. In a system that lacked education on family violence and sexual assault, she was treated like a perpetrator, rather than a victim, and her family suffered because of it. 

With a steady voice, Jones told the committee how she had needed protection when her case appeared in the family court system, but instead her children were taken from her. After the difficult loss of her mother, who was her strongest support and court-ordered safety service provider during a CPS case, the court decided to place her children in a system that failed to recognize the trauma they had all endured. 

“My young son was separated from me for months, and when he returned, he was no longer the joyful child I had once known,” she shares. “ The biases and lack of trauma- and abuse-informed understanding in our court system led to devastating consequences – not just for me, but for my children.”

With conviction, she advocated for Senate Bill 710, which would require continuing education for judges on the dynamics of abuse and effects of trauma – legislation that would, hopefully, prevent stories like hers.

“This is why we must support this bill for universal domestic violence and sexual assault education for judges and court staff,” she testified. “Too often, survivors are met with skepticism instead of support. In my experience, without this education, courts rely on outdated myths, personal biases, and incomplete CPS reports rather than understanding the realities of abuse and trauma.”

Turning Pain Into Purpose

For Jones, advocacy has been a way to turn her pain into purpose. 

She remembers the moment she learned her abuser had passed. She was standing in the kitchen in January 2021, a solo parent with a 10-month-old baby and two young boys. Everything was quiet and cold. 

“I had been silent for so many years. I didn't have a voice. I suffered in silence, like so many survivors do. I vowed at that moment: ‘I will never be silent again.’”

She decided to go back to school and finished her associate’s degree at Portland Community College. As she focused on healing for her family and finding the proper support for her children, she weighed her options for a bachelor’s degree. She knew her end goal was to go to law school and pursue systemic legal and public policy reform grounded in trauma- and abuse-informed practices; all that stood in her way was her degree.

Then she happened to see a billboard for George Fox University. When she found out it would take just 16 months to earn her bachelor’s in the Accelerated Online Degree program, she enrolled immediately.

“The way that this degree program is structured – focusing on just one class at a time – works amazingly for my neurodivergent brain,” she says. “I retained so much more information this way than I ever did doing two or three classes simultaneously.”

As she dove into the coursework for a bachelor’s in psychology and mental health studies, she made it part of her journey of healing. The support she received from her classmates and professors encouraged her to keep sharing her story.

“I purposely chose to put myself in everything I do. Writing about my past and my experience and finding current research to back that up has just been so healing for me.”

Healing Through Advocacy

Jones didn’t wait until graduation to start using her voice. Along with pursuing her degree, she got involved with the Voices Survivor Advisory Committee for the Washington County Family Justice Center. As a survivor, she had received services from the center, which offers holistic, coordinated services to those who have experienced family violence, and she wanted to get involved as she healed and began to thrive.

“I want to work with survivors of trauma. That’s my platform, why I want to go to law school, and the population I want to serve.” 

Jones quickly had the opportunity to begin sharing her story as an advocate. She served on a panel at an annual conference on child abuse and neglect and helped raise support for the new Family Peace Center – a new 64,000-square-foot facility in Washington County designed to expand and coordinate services for both adult and child survivors. 

She recalls writing about confirmation bias for one of her final classes at George Fox: “My bias is that nobody cares,” she says. “Nobody wants to believe survivors or hear our stories.”

But as she presented on these panels, judges and members of congress asked her questions and wanted to hear her story. They came up to her afterwards and thanked her for sharing, acknowledging how challenging it must have been. 

“When I vowed I would never be silent again, I didn’t know what it meant at the time. I just wanted to perfect how I use my voice and advocate for others who can’t, because so many people do suffer in silence.”

Through the combination of using her voice to support real, practical change in her community and equipping herself with the education to pursue further work, Jones is turning the hardest moments of her life into work that will make a difference for other survivors.

“Getting this degree, it’s given my pain purpose,” she shares. “It’s shown me I can do good things. When you go through the experiences I have, you forget that. This has been part of the healing journey for me.”

‘I’ve Done This For Them’

Senate Bill 710 passed with near-unanimous support in September 2025. Jones attended the ceremonial signing at the State Library. She met the governor, who looked her in the eyes, thanked her for sharing her story, and encouraged her to keep using her voice.

“It feels so surreal,” Jones says. “It’s going to take a while to improve our court system, but hopefully this is one step toward that.”

In December, she graduated with her bachelor’s in psychology and mental health studies from George Fox. She walked across the stage to receive her diploma with her kids cheering her on. 

“I hope one day they look back and see that their mom really overcame some really hard stuff, and know they can do anything.”