The Path Institute, How We Started

After Dr. Judith Herman presented to our community, we were left with this question:

When the justice system doesn’t work, communities are not protected, nobody wins. What then?

Building Justice: Survivors Take the Lead.

Phillips Exeter Academy Alumni for Truth & Healing (PATH) began as a response to an injustice compounded by longstanding, accepted practices that often fall short of preventing abuse while silencing survivors. After many of us came forward with our experiences, we were met with the painful realization that when institutions turn toward shielding from liability, meaningful steps toward repair are not adequately explored, and communities do not truly become safer.  Without an incentive to fully confront the real consequences of abuse to the community as a whole, schools are not taking steps to envision a more innovative, inclusive, and healing response to this collective trauma.

PATH, an organization comprised of survivors, grew from that void, uniting alumni to address sexual misconduct through financial aid to survivors, monthly support groups, and public educational programming. In 2023, we expanded our work beyond Exeter by founding the PATH Institute, bringing together lawyers, school administrators, educators, trauma researchers, restorative justice practitioners, and survivors each month to understand how abuse occurs in academic settings and how it can be collectively and meaningfully addressed. We now seek to take what we have learned and collaborate with the broader boarding school community.

PATH Institute is now offering our experience more broadly through facilitated dialogues for educational leaders. These dialogues, conducted across five-week sessions, are an important step in the process of realizing a better response to sexual abuse and misconduct at boarding schools. Under our guidance and expertise, we have created confidential group discussions for school leaders to address the complex and often painful realities of sexual abuse within their communities.

See more about our program here

Please consider supporting this effort with:

Donations to PATH

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