2026 Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse Awareness Conference

The 23rd Annual Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse Awareness Conference: Recognizing, Responding, and Rebuilding Safety brings together legal professionals, advocates, service providers, law enforcement, health care workers, and community leaders to deepen understanding and strengthen responses to abuse across the lifespan.

This year’s conference will explore critical and evolving issues, including coercive control as a defining framework for understanding abuse, trauma-informed advocacy practices, scams targeting older adults, and the intersection of domestic violence with the juvenile justice system. Participants will also examine the heightened risks of abuse following natural disasters and learn practical strategies for supporting survivors in times of crisis and recovery.

Through expert presentations and collaborative discussion, attendees will gain tools to better recognize patterns of harm, respond effectively and compassionately, and support survivors in rebuilding safety and stability. 

Registration

Registration opens July 15. 

Agenda

September 25 on Zoom 

8:30 – 8:45:    Welcome & Opening Remarks

Angeleigh Dorsey and Caleb Pittman (AppalReD Legal Aid)         

8:45 – 9:45:   Understanding Coercive Control

 Prof. T.K. Logan (UK College of Medicine)

What if domestic violence isn’t just about physical harm? This session challenges traditional assumptions and reframes intimate partner violence through the lens of coercive control.

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of what coercive control looks like, why it matters, and how it helps answer the question so often asked: “Why doesn’t she just leave?” This session will also provide practical tools for identifying coercive control and offer guidance on how to effectively support individuals trapped by this form of abuse.

9:45 – 10:45:  Trauma-Informed Advocacy 

Professor Laken Albrink (UK College of Law), 

A trauma-informed approach in legal advocacy can promote client resilience, enhance case outcomes, and enhance compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct. This session will explore ways the attorney can manage cases with a trauma-informed approach to reduce the adversity in advocacy. 

10:45 – 11:00: Break

11:00 – 12:00: Scams Targeting the Elderly

Gary Adkins (AARP of Kentucky)

Scams targeting elderly populations are becoming more sophisticated. This session will highlight the most common and emerging scams affecting seniors, helping participants recognize warning signs and spot when a loved one or even themselves may be at risk.

Attendees will learn practical strategies to protect themselves and others, prevent victimization, and respond quickly when fraud occurs. This session equips professionals and community members with the tools needed to safeguard vulnerable populations from financial exploitation.

12:00 – 1:00: Lunch Break

1:00 – 2:00:  Domestic Violence and the Juvenile Justice System   

Amy Halbrook (NKU College of Law), Jennifer Brinkman (NKU College of Law), 

Drawing on perspectives from juvenile justice and family law, the presenters will examine how children exposed to domestic violence may become involved in delinquency systems, how custody and parenting-time determinations can both mitigate and exacerbate risk, and how legal standards such as “best interests of the child” operate in cases involving abuse. The session will also address emerging challenges, including the criminalization of trauma-related behaviors, the use (and misuse) of protective orders in family court, and the complexities of coordinating responses across courts and service providers.

2:00 – 3:15:   Crisis Within A Crisis: What Service Providers Need To Know About Post-Disaster Abuse

 Whitney Bailey (AppalReD), Emma Churchman (Chrysalis Alliance), Kristy Vick-Stratton (Kentucky Legal Aid)

This panel discussion explores the alarming rise in elder abuse and domestic violence that often follows natural disasters—an overlooked secondary crisis that places already‑vulnerable individuals at even greater risk. Attendees will gain insight into why abuse escalates during periods of displacement and instability, how trauma and resource scarcity compound danger, and what warning signs may be harder to detect in chaotic post‑disaster environments. The session highlights practical strategies for service providers, including trauma‑informed approaches, cross‑agency coordination, and safety‑planning considerations tailored to disaster contexts. Participants will leave better equipped to recognize, respond to, and help prevent abuse when communities are at their most fragile.

Speakers

TK Logan, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Behavioral Science, College of Medicine. Her research and writings focus on coercive control, stalking, protective order effectiveness, sexual assault, intimate partner homicide, and health disparities of rural women with partner violence experiences. Dr. Logan has conducted a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of civil protective orders and the costs and cost-benefit of protective orders funded by the National Institute of Justice. Dr. Logan also has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study women’s health, health service use, victimization and substance use. Dr. Logan is an author on over 200 research articles and serves on the editorial board of two international journals. Dr. Logan’s books include: Women and Victimization: Contributing Factors, Interventions, and Implications (American Psychological Association Press); Partner Stalking: How Women Respond, Cope, and Survive (Springer Publisher); and Program Evaluation: An Introduction/ Third Edition. She is a graduate of the Gavin de Becker & Associates Advanced Threat Assessment Academy. Dr. Logan is also involved with a several community boards and national organizations working to prevent violence against women. 

Professor Laken Albrink is a first-generation college graduate and UK Rosenberg College of Law alumna. She brings experience in higher education, state government, and private practice. Albrink comes to our law school from Morehead State University, her undergraduate alma mater, where she served as Legal Studies Program Coordinator, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Student Conduct Hearing Officer, and Law Clinic Coordinator. Prior to joining Morehead State University, Albrink served as Executive Advisory for the Commonwealth of Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Special Attorney for the Kentucky Attorney General Office of Child Abuse & Exploitation Prevention.

Albrink’s scholarship focuses on trauma-informed legal advocacy and elevating first-generation student success.  In Albrink’s published article Cultivating Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault in American’s Agriculture Industry, 6 Ky. J. Equine, Agric. & Nat. Resources L. 347(2014), she discusses the increased vulnerability of women working in the agriculture industry to become victims of sexual assault, especially those who are undocumented immigrants, and the lack of criminal convictions against farm supervisors and other perpetrators leading to a culture that keeps the victims fearful and silent.

Gary Adkins is the volunteer President for the Kentucky state chapter of the AARP. Prior to taking on this role, Mr. Adkins served as a Commonwealth Attorney, prosecuting felonies in the state of Kentucky, for 20 years and also served as an adjunct professor for Morehead State University’s paralegal studies program.

Amy Halbrook is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Learning. As a lawyer and subsequent founder of the Children's Law Center Clinic at Chase, she has represented clients in a wide range of court proceedings, including child protection, high-conflict custody, juvenile justice, school discipline, and special education matters.   

Professor Halbrook teaches Family Law, Juvenile Law, Children and the Law, Mediation (Family-Focused) and Client-Centered Practice.  She is the faculty sponsor of the Chase Child and Family Law Certificate of Concentration. Professor Halbrook’s scholarly interests include juvenile justice reform, children’s rights, restorative justice and professional responsibility.  She has served as a trial skills trainer for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the American Bar Association and the Gault Center (formerly the National Juvenile Defender Center).  She is also a trained mediator who serves as faculty in the NKU Alternative Dispute Center's mediator training programs. 

Professor Halbrook attended the University of California at Berkeley and Northwestern University School of Law.  Before joining the Chase faculty, she worked as a commercial litigator in Chicago and completed clinical fellowships in Loyola University Chicago’s Civitas ChildLaw Clinic and Northwestern University School of Law's Children and Family Justice Center. She is the current Board Chair of Community and Restorative Justice-Covington, an organization that helps build communities and facilitates peace-making circles in the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area.  

Jennifer Brinkman is an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Children’s Law Center Clinic at NKU Salmon P. Chase College of Law. She teaches and writes in the areas of children’s law, juvenile justice, and trauma-informed legal practice. Before entering academia, she served as a judicial law clerk to Justice Michelle M. Keller of the Kentucky Supreme Court and spent years representing children and adults as a public defender. Her work focuses on improving advocacy for children through ethical practice, policy development, and experiential legal education.

Whitney Bailey is Disaster Response Project Director at AppalReD Legal Aid’s Prestonsburg office, where she leads efforts to provide civil legal services and community education to low-income disaster survivors. Before joining AppalReD, Whitney managed a solo civil law practice in her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. She presently serves as a Vice Director of the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Disaster Legal Services Program and on the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) Disaster Legal Committee. She is active in statewide and local initiatives, including her role as Community Outreach Co-Chair for the Kentucky Bar Association YLD Executive Committee. Whitney also serves on Mountain Association’s Equity Advisory Council, is the IU McKinney School of Law Class of 2018 Representative, Secretary of the Floyd County Disaster Recovery Coalition, Inc., and a Board Member for St. Vincent Mission. 

Emma M. Churchman a nationally certified trauma chaplain, disaster-response practitioner, and the President and CEO of The Chrysalis Alliance. With 25+ years in trauma recovery and crisis leadership—and experience supporting communities through large-scale disasters—Emma equips front line service providers with practical tools to respond effectively when instability increases risk. Her work helps service providers process their own trauma—so it doesn’t spill into the people they serve—while equipping them with practical, real-time tools to support survivors’ healing in the moment, especially in high-stress, post-disaster environments. Emma holds a Master of Divinity and is a PhD candidate in Conscious Business Ethics. She is also the author of The Deep End of Hope in the Wake of Hurricane Helene (GracePoint, 2025) and Navigating the Deep End: Resilient Leadership in a Volatile World (GracePoint, 2026).

Kristy Vick-Stratton is the Lead Disaster Response Attorney and Managing Attorney of Kentucky Legal Aid’s Bowling Green Office. A graduate of Western Kentucky University and the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, she began her career clerking for a family court judge, then served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney and Assistant Public Advocate before joining KLA in 2017. In 2022, she began leading KLA’s disaster legal response program for communities impacted by the 2021 tornadoes.