When Darlene Lanham ('98) came to UNT as a transfer student, she began experiencing anxiety.

She realized it stemmed from a sexual assault that occurred while she was enrolled at her previous college.

"I thought that was a bad thing that happened to me in the past," she says. "I didn't expect it to show up when I went to college. Someone said, 'You should try out the counseling center,' and the counselors there were helpful. Then they connected me with a community organization, the Denton County Friends of the Family, and these things worked for me."

Now Lanham is providing support for others. She serves as executive director of Asian Family Support Services of Austin, which helps those who have survived sexual assault and domestic violence.

"You feel like there's this moment where everything you've experienced in your life has led to this moment of being executive director," she says.

Working for Others

Lanham -- who was born in Taiwan, adopted by Texas parents and grew up in Malaysia, South Korea and Hong Kong -- majored in speech-language pathology, inspired by her adoptive mother's experience with therapists after suffering a traumatic brain injury.

"A speech pathologist helped her learn to speak again," she says. "It was difficult for her to accept help, but I knew it was an incredibly powerful event for her, and I wanted to be able to be a part of other people's journeys."

Lanham was pursuing her master's degree at UNT with the goal of working in nursing homes. But federal legislation changed the funding for such positions, drastically upending that job field, so she left graduate school. After working briefly at the Murchison Performing Arts Center and living in New York City, she pursued a new career.

"I realized those changes that happened in the speech-pathology field were driven by policies enacted by Congress, and so I became really interested in public affairs and policy development."

She earned a master's degree in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin, and then worked for various associations, including one representing law enforcement and another serving nursery and landscape associations.

"I realized I love advocacy associations and working to shift things and make things better for people."

She established her own association management consulting firm in 2013. A few years later, she was tapped to lead Asian Family Support Services of Austin.

"The work I've been doing at AFSSA has been the most important and meaningful work in my life."

'Incredibly Rewarding'

The organization serves survivors with three core actions – educate, advocate and empower. Staffers respond to crisis calls on the 24/7 hotline, develop individualized safety and case plans, and gather resources, working with courts and law enforcement organizations. The organization also offers a small housing program than can help about 20 survivors by paying for housing for up to 18 months.

Since Lanham started leading the organization in October 2018, the staff has increased from 18 to 47 workers. In the last seven years, it has gone from serving 180 to 700 clients -- a 240 percent increase. Their clients speak more than 25 languages.

While the survivors are experiencing tough situations, Lanham views her work as positive.

She can see clients get their own jobs or finally manage family finances after not being allowed to work or not knowing how to drive or how the banking system works.

"It's a lot of effort to move from that hotline call into that place where you have a safe home for you and your children, and it's incredibly rewarding."

In addition, she serves as board chair of Texas Council on Family Violence, which is a coalition of family violence shelters dedicated to making Texas safer. She also belongs to the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault advisory board, which advocates for policies to serve the needs of survivors.

Lanham remembers how she was helped by the counselors at UNT and Denton County Friends of the Family.

"I want every survivor of abuse to live a life without fear of violence," she says. "I know that we, as a society and community, can do better, and I hope that everyone in Texas sees their place in connecting to end domestic and sexual violence."