‘If I can help one person, then it’s worth it.’
V Teamer Aliza Rockstead shares how her peers helped her open up about domestic violence.
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On today’s edition of Up To Speed, we meet V Teamer Aliza Rockstead, a manager for the GTS Transformation, Advisory & Governance (TAG) team based in Tampa, FL.
Aliza experienced early trauma as a child. Her half brother passed away when she was two years old.
“My mom just shut down,” Aliza said. “My sister who was 13 at the time ended up caring for me so there is this abandonment that continued to cause problems throughout my entire life.”
Aliza is a domestic violence survivor. She For quite some time, she felt embarrassed that she permitted the behavior as long as she did, but has worked through it.
“I’ve forgiven myself for not establishing the boundaries,” said Aliza. “Every situation like that is an experience that you will end up learning from, I was a victim and then I became a survivor and now I'm becoming an advocate to pay it forward.”
Working at Verizon has been an enormous part of her healing journey.
“I've never met a group of more empathetic, lovely people than I have at Verizon,” Aliza said. “To have the culture that we have is a blessing. I can't even explain to you or anyone out there how comforting it is to know that I can talk about something so dark with a group of people who I might not necessarily have ever met before – but know that if I needed to they would sit, listen and be there for me.
She emphasizes how much Verizon’s stance on domestic violence and their dedication to overcoming the stigma has meant to her, she credits it for helping her be brave and embrace her truth.
As for what people can do to help, she asks that we continue to encourage conversations about domestic violence. Noting that even if it inspires just one person to speak up and get out of a bad situation, it'll be worth it.
Important resources
V Teamers can find important resources that are detailed here on VZWeb. Verizon provides resources through the Anthem Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The EAP is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-888-441-8674. You can also access the EAP online at http://www.anthem.com/eap/verizon. For International support, go to our EAP site: http://www.anthem.com/eap/global or go here to access your country specific support number.
