Lafayette House is proud to announce that CEO Susan Hickam and Chief Program Officer Kelli Davis presented a session at the 2026 Missouri Behavioral Health Conference, held September 16 through 18 at the Hyatt Regency at the Arch in St. Louis. Hosted by the Missouri Behavioral Health Council, the conference draws behavioral health, substance use disorder, and public administration professionals from across the state for three days of shared learning and collaboration. Hickam and Davis were selected to lead a one-hour session titled Intersection of Substance Use Disorder and Domestic and/or Sexual Violence, placing Lafayette House’s expertise in front of a statewide audience of practitioners and system leaders.
The session examined how substance use, trauma, and coercive control intersect in the lives of survivors, and how that overlap can be misread by service systems as noncompliance rather than a survival response. Hickam and Davis walked attendees through shared language for substance use disorder, domestic and sexual violence, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction, and made a key distinction central to the field: substance use does not cause domestic violence, and accountability for abusive behavior remains with the person using power and control, even when intoxication is present. They also addressed substance use coercion directly, a pattern in which an abusive partner pressures, sabotages, or exploits a survivor’s substance use or recovery as another form of control.
A central piece of the session was the SAFE framework Lafayette House uses to guide a survivor-centered response across any role: secure privacy, ask with permission, follow the client’s priorities, and engage coordinated support. The framework reflects a core principle of the organization’s integrated approach, that a survivor should never have to choose between safety and recovery, and that meeting both needs requires coordination among substance use disorder treatment, domestic and sexual violence advocacy, behavioral and physical health, and community partners, always with informed consent and the minimum information necessary.
“Every day, our staff see how substance use and abuse can become tangled together in a survivor’s life, and how easy it is for a well-intentioned system to get that wrong,” said Susan Hickam, CEO of Lafayette House. “Presenting at this conference gave us the chance to share what we have learned on the front lines with colleagues from across Missouri, so more survivors encounter a response that is coordinated, informed, and safe, no matter where they walk through the door.”
“This session was built around a simple shift, moving from asking why a client will not follow the plan to asking what might be making the plan unsafe or out of reach,” said Kelli Davis, Chief Program Officer at Lafayette House. “That question changes how we show up for survivors, and it was a privilege to bring that perspective to a statewide room full of people who touch these cases every day, in treatment, in courts, in shelters, and in community health.”
About Lafayette House:
Lafayette House is a private non-profit organization serving adults, children, and families experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, and/or substance use disorders. The organization serves 1,200 people each year from a seven-county area in southwest Missouri.
Reference:
Chelsea Conley, Chief Development Officer
Lafayette House
417.782.1772
chelseaconley@lafayettehouse.org
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