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Laura Prescott
Laura Prescott is the founder of Sister Witness International, Inc.: An Organization of Formerly Institutionalized Women, Girls & Their Allies. The organization focuses on addressing the multiple forms of violence and retraumatization in the lives of women and girls who have been institutionalized in psychiatric and criminal justice settings. Its mission is to reverse decades of silencing and misrepresentation by creating opportunities for people to speak for themselves, supporting the development of national and international networks to become a visible, active and diverse presence that works toward global justice and peace. Previously, Ms. Prescott was the Assistant Director at the Coordinating Center for the Women, Co-Occurring Disorders and Violence Research Study, a national, multi-site, five year project sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Ms. Prescott has also worked as a private consultant specializing in the areas of research and policy development for mental health, substance abuse and correctional systems serving women and adolescent girls who have experienced childhood and adult violence for a number of years. Her background involves work in a variety of public service delivery and policy arenas including two and half years as Human Rights Coordinator for the Department of Mental Health in Massachusetts and two years as a member of the National Technical Expert Group on Women, Violence and Mental Health sponsored by SAMHSA and the Center for Mental Health Services. She was a United States Delegate to the World Congress for Mental Health Conference in Finland in July of 1997 on fact-finding missions with Mental Disabilities Rights International in Kosovo, Macedonia, Armenia, and Hungary, and has presented in Holland, Hong Kong and Malta. She has served as a consultant to providers, psychiatric survivors and state mental health administrators in a number of states. Ms. Prescott graduated as an Ada Comstock Scholar from Smith College in 1989 with a degree in Women Studies and concentration in Government. She is a survivor of childhood sexual and physical abuse, an ex‑patient of the psychiatric system and in recovery from substance abuse.
