The woman who carries 1000 traumas while the system keeps failing

What happens when you survive your own hell, only to become everyone else's lifeline while the same broken system keeps destroying lives? Garcia thought the hardest part was over after surviving her double attempted homicide and building Confronting Domestic Violence.

She was wrong.

Now she carries the weight of thousands of other survivors' traumas. Every day, her phone rings with stories that mirror her own nightmare. Women with nowhere to go. Families with no resources. Children in danger. All turning to her because the system that failed her is still failing them.

"I work like 20 hours a day," Garcia admits, while watching funding get revoked from the very programs designed to help victims. The Office of Victims of Crime - the lifeline for nonprofits serving domestic violence survivors - is cutting support just when it's needed most.

Garcia has become the well everyone drinks from while she slowly runs dry. She's the one fixing what institutions won't fix, carrying trauma that systems won't address, being the solution to problems she didn't create.

Discover why the most dangerous position for a high-achiever isn't being at the bottom - it's being the only one left standing when everything else collapses around you.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Part Two with Garcia
• 1:28 Current DV Movement Trends
• 3:16 Funding Challenges and State Solutions
• 6:34 Connecting with Potential Funders
• 8:15 Golf Tournament Success
• 10:15 Future Services and Workplace Prevention
• 15:17 Closing Message of Hope

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

on this one. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to part two. Yes, we're on part two of this episode with Garcia. This is a monumental episode. Two reasons this is the first time I've ever had a conversation with somebody who's come back and endured horrific things in her past. She went from a double homicide attempt to reconstructing her life and now being an advocate for people just like you, the women and men going through domestic violence or DV. So, wherever you are, can you do yourselves a favour and do someone you know a favour? Share the last episode and please share this one, not for me, but for that somebody who needs a little ray of hope in their life right now.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Garcia, thank you very much for joining me once again. You're an awesome human being for so many reasons. You've built not just a business, a non-profit, something to help somebody from experience, but you've built a movement, and there's a lot of things in the process of being changed in the world right now politically, legally and in the financial world. What are you seeing? What trends are you seeing in the world in regarding to the domestic violence movement, positive and negative? Whichever you're seeing?

Speaker 2: 1:28

Oh, that's a mouthful so positive and negative. It's always this crazy balance right, or it's supposed to be, and today I don't feel like it is. The positive side about it is that I feel like the social stigma around domestic violence is starting to dissolve a little bit because more people are a little more forthcoming and saying, seeking the help or sharing their story, and I believe that's just from the empowerment and Phoenix rising from the ashes, all the same thing. The downside of it, which is really hurting everybody across the nation right now, is the funding that's being revoked. Since I don't get political ever, which is the office that gets most of the funding for nonprofits and other organizations that are serving the community for victims of domestic violence, the funding is being revoked. So right now, that's impacting our organization differently than other organizations because it's so many dimensions of it right. So for organizations that rely on the funding, that received this funding for decades, that are doing enormous things, with that being revoked, they're struggling because how are they going to get that type of funding from independent funders, right? Or donors? That's a big struggle for them. For me, this is our third year in existence, which is when we have the metrics, when we have the momentum when we can show that we're worthy of receiving grants, but now we can't. So that's the ups and the downs that I'm seeing right now across the nation in regards to this.

Speaker 2: 3:24

I will say, though, that I am seeing different states step up and make mandates to help, I guess, fill these gaps or bridge these gaps. I'm going to talk about California specifically, because they are the ones that actually have a Senate bill that passed through legislation in 2024. It's called the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, and this Workplace Violence Prevention Plan includes domestic violence spillover, the prevention of domestic violence spillover, OSHA on a national level. They all have a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan every state, because it's national, mandated under OSHA, but that's more so, you know, coworker to coworker. This is a state mandate that is again through legislation, and the enforcement agency is now Cal OSHA. So that is where I'm seeing where states are stepping in to say, hey, we recognize that domestic violence is a serious issue, and we also recognize that we can't battle it or combat it or confront it by ourselves. We need other organizations and other entities to step in and help. So this is where this becomes my bread and butter.

Speaker 1: 4:37

I love your brain, how it works and all these. I don't even know how you do it. You mentioned funders and the political environments and all the rest of it. There's a lot of change, positive, negative, it doesn't really matter how you look at it. There's just a lot of change, many different theaters. Is there any private funders out there? Philanthropists, people who are behind that cause that you have a message for that may come across this.

Speaker 2: 5:06

Thank you for asking, because I have reached out to every one of them that I have found and, unfortunately, a majority of them 99% of them have responded with. We already have our dedicated organizations that we provide funding for and, based on the overload of applications or inquiries, they're not looking at accepting or entertaining any new organization or entity. That's been a brick wall for me as well, and I have. I'm nonstop. I work like 20 hours a day.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Wow, no, yeah, I completely understand why you do that and the thing I'm just trying to think of other opportunities for people to come when they come across this sort of thing, because this is so imperative that people like yourself, your movement and for the people who need the information to come across. This isn't just something that is an unknown challenge and a problem for people and it's scary. It's a scary time and it's a lot of unrest. There's a lot of uncertainty in people's worlds. You're providing a platform where you're providing a safe haven or at least an opportunity to do, and it's up to the individual to follow the steps and go through the protocols and reach out and ask for help.

Speaker 1: 6:30

One of the things that I always come across in entrepreneurship, business, social, anywhere I've gone is this stigma about asking. Everyone's afraid to even ask for something, a handout, a, a help, an introduction and you're providing this opportunity for people to go. Stick your hand up because there's people out there willing to help you if you're willing to ask and I really want to get this message out very authentically but also like people, because what you're doing is not so much unique Garcia, it's so needed. And if there is an investor watching this. Pick up the phone to me. Literally, my number is very public. You can pick up, you can email me, you can go on the website and get a conversation with me. Drop a note in LinkedIn and find me. If you want information, I will put you into the right areas. If you're afraid to pick up the phone to a woman or email a female, speak to me. I'll cheer you nose off and have a conversation with you.

Speaker 1: 7:42

But all of it is about asking for the help. It's not just for the platform for the community you're providing that for somebody else is going to save a life potentially and preventing an incident that Garcia went through years ago with a potential double homicide. Would you want that on your conscience? Just a question, because you have an opportunity to prevent that for somebody else. So pick up the phone and ask somebody what's next on your plate, garcia? What's the next big vision? I know you've got a golf tournament coming up someone we just had it last week missed it.

Speaker 1: 8:23

So how did that go? Tell me about that? Tell me, and it happened last week. Whenever that was the other week, we'll go with that, okay. Yeah, what was the result? Did you have fun and who came?

Speaker 2: 8:35

yes, so I'm not a golfer, however, and this was our first golf event, so for it to be our first golf event, I will say that it was a great turnout. We had seven sponsors. We were hoping for 18, because there's 18 holes, but there were seven sponsors, so that's great. And we also had seven foursomes, so we had people out there playing. We had people out there at the holes or driving the golf carts around delivering stuff to the golfers. It was great. We had some donations around delivering stuff to the golfers. It was great. We had some donations that we were able to raffle off. We had breakfast sandwiches. We had lunch. It was a perfect, beautiful San Diego day to be out there on the green and it went so well. Our volunteers were so great that we already have our date for next year is july 9th, so save the date july 9 2026 at the river walk golf course it will be on our website.

Speaker 2: 9:33

Eventually, I just need a few weeks to decompress from last week and what is it?

Speaker 1: 9:40

the river walk golf course? Yes, yes river walk, because I want to connect you with a couple of people who actually train pros awesome, that would be great. I'll do that connection privately, obviously thank you that would be very it's a good way to meet other people, thank you, especially in the golfing world. So you've got the golfing thing over and done with. What's the next on your agenda? What's the major event you're looking forward to? What's the next level of what you're building?

Speaker 2: 10:13

I won't talk about our next event because it's up in the air, just because, again, funding Okay, I'll just leave it at that. But that's event wise, as it relates to actually maintaining it is my mission here. I just added services to as a. What am I trying to say here as a department of our nonprofit, and the services that I'm working on right now and have already launched and I'm ready to I've already provided this training is the SB 553 training, which is the workplace violence prevention plan, which is a mandate through the state of California. I've already provided this training to San Bernardino School District local small organizations in my area and I just went through a boot camp that now I have my capability flyer and my NAICS codes ready to go, so I am positioned and ready to launch this full force. The other thing that I'm looking to do is find a way, and this has been like my challenge.

Speaker 2: 11:14

How can confronting domestic violence be a provider in the EAP side of things? When people go to work, they have their health benefits mental excuse me, dental health, vision and then they have EAP benefits. The EAP benefits are the employee assistance benefits, which is mental health, alcohol abuse, maybe porn addiction, gambling addiction. They don't have much for domestic violence. So I would love to know how I can position our organization to be a third-party vendor under the EAP program, because victims are showing up to work every day. You know why Work is safer than home. I can testify on that. Okay, work was my safe haven. There's a refrigerator, there's lights, there's phone, there's a bathroom. There's everything there minus a bed, whatever. You could bring your cot if you want to. But the problem with that is and this is where things start to come into play because what starts at home can finish at work right, and you hear about so many things happening, from domestic violence spilling over into the workplace. And who gets hurt? Not just the person that they were after, but many other people as well. And then there's this long-term impact and effect, right.

Speaker 2: 12:33

So SB 553 and the service that I provide and making sure that number one I'm saving you the time that it takes to navigate these like murky waters of understanding all the requirements. There are 13 elements and 30 plus musts. My background is I'm a compliance officer pharmaceutical, biotech industry so I know how to deal with auditors, I know how to stay audit ready. I know how to do the correct documentation so that even if you're not compliant 100%, you'll get a suggestion opposed to a violation. And so this is my jam right here. I am looking to help organizations be compliant while also making sure that all employees understand and can identify and help prevent the domestic violence spillover. So I'm trying to get into the front door with the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, which is mandated by law, and then I'm trying to get in through the back door with the EAP stuff and if there's a window or a side door open, I can help you access control as well.

Speaker 1: 13:40

I love it. I like this. It's great. One of the reasons I do this podcast is because of people like you, because you've had the experience horrific but you've not just left it to one side. You've taken it with both horns. You've ridden the journey and you've learnt and grown so, so much, and you're a model, an example of what is possible in the face of adversity. You are the pinnacle of what people aspire to in a lot of these situations. So for that person listening, now, take a look. Take a look at what is possible.

Speaker 1: 14:23

Don't sit there in silence and if it happens and if you witness it, speak up, say something to somebody. Back in the day, they did a massive push after 9-11 on terrorism and anti-terrorism and seeing if you saw a bag or you saw something, an unidentified object, to report it, especially airports, public places, etc. Take the same mentality here, public places, etc. Take the same mentality here because it could be that one person that you save that's going to change the world in the future.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Garcia had to save herself in some ways. In many respects, she put herself and her children first. Put somebody else first today, and don't do it for me or the show. Do it for the person Garcia helps. Do it for her children, do it for your children, do it for the neighbor's children, do it for somebody, but do it, garcia. I love what you do. I'm very pleased and honored, privileged to have you, to have sit down and have a conversation with you and share your message with the world. Do you have anything that you want to leave us with? And I've got to put the website in there. That will be down at the bottom, but if you want to say the website, please do, because the audio people go. I don't know what it is.

Speaker 2: 15:51

Yes, thank you so much. The website is confrontingdomesticviolenceorg, or, for short, confrontingdborg. Both will take you to the same location and I do want to say a couple of things. Number one you never need to suffer alone, ever. You are not here to suffer alone. Okay thing is that a closed mouth does not get fed. If you need something, speak up. You will be so amazed by how many people are willing to step in and help out. All you need to do is just speak up. And lastly, your mental health is more important than anything else and you can move a million times, you can go a million places, but you live in your head and, like I mentioned earlier, it's okay if you don't know who you are in the moment. Remember who you're not and start there.

Speaker 1: 16:46

I love that. Garcia, thank you very much for joining us and me today with this conversation. It's so important For my audience. If you're hearing this, this conversation, it's so important For my audience. If you're hearing this, do yourselves a favor Share the message. It's not about us, it's about people like Garcia, building a movement for your future. Thank you very much for listening, garcia. You're an amazing human being. Such a privilege and an honor to have a conversation with you, and I look forward to many more. My audience be blessed, stay blessed and you are blessed. I'll see you very shortly on the next episode of Rise From the Ashes podcast. Thanks for listening.