Home » KASAP director earns national honor for sexual violence plan

KASAP director earns national honor for sexual violence plan

Eileen Recktenwald with her award (Facebook photo)
Eileen Recktenwald with her award (Facebook photo)

Eileen Recktenwald honored on Thursday

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 21, 2014) — The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) presented Eileen Recktenwald, Executive Director of the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP), with the fifth annual Gail Burns-Smith Award Thursday at National Sexual Assault Conference in Pittsburgh.

The award, jointly sponsored by ATSA and the NSVRC, is named in honor of Gail Burns-Smith, who devoted her life to strengthening the partnership between victim advocates and those working in the area of sex offender management and treatment – both groups committed to the same goal of preventing sexual violence.

Under Recktenwald’s guidance, Kentucky established the State Prevention Team that created a statewide sexual violence plan. When the Prison Rape Elimination Act passed in Kentucky, Eileen served on committees, testified in front of legislators, provided extensive trainings on sexual assault in prisons, and convinced 13 of the state’s rape crisis centers that working with inmates who have been victimized — many of whom also were convicted sex offenders — was important.