Addressing Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence
/0 Comments/in Guest Author /by Jean DouglasEmerging from an abusive relationship, Denise wanted her three children to leave that life behind, too. And giving them the resources they need to help them avoid the same path in their own lives was just as important.
Childhood exposure to domestic violence (DV) often has adverse effects on a child’s development and well-being. Children who are exposed to DV are at greater risk of developing attachment disorders and emotional disorders that have long-term impacts on their success in relationships. Exposed children are at increased risk for developing depression and anxiety and often demonstrate behavioral problems like aggression, non-compliance in school, and delinquency. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy for a parent escaping family violence to talk to their children about it, or vise versa, especially when the pain is still fresh. Additionally, many parents don’t have the tools on their own to address the negative effects of violence they may already be seeing. Knowing the effects this exposure has on kids, we saw a growing need to help them heal and to limit the effects of the violence on their lives going forward.
That’s why we created Camp PEACE, a Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence program that brings children exposed to domestic violence together for a month of activities that facilitate Peace Education, Action, Compassion and Empathy (PEACE). Based on principles of Peace Education and Cognitively-Based Compassion Training, through Camp PEACE we help children learn alternatives to violence while promoting tolerance, impartiality, affection, self-compassion and compassion for others.
“My kids still talk about it today,” said Denise, whose children attended the camp last year. “The No. 1 thing they got out of it was learning to have compassion for other people — learning how actions affect everyone around you.”
Her children aren’t just talking about the Camp experience, they’re living it, Denise said. Meditation skills help them through tough days, as do breathing techniques and tai chi, an ancient Chinese tradition introduced at the Camp as a way to reduce stress. The children wear their Camp PEACE T-shirts, use the meditation CD and share photographs from the Camp.
“I never thought meditation could have such a positive impact on kids,” Denise said.
Denise credits Women’s Resource Center and the Camp with more than the impact on her children’s lives. For example, volunteers from the Center picked Denise’s children up each day for Camp, giving her not only peace of mind, but more time to focus on her own work and life.
She and her children are looking forward to an extended version of Camp PEACE this year that offers two sessions of five weeks of Camp activities including coping activities and new experiences like farming and other activities outside of their daily life, like tasting goat’s milk. It’s not only good for the three children, it gives Denise free daycare and keeps her children learning and engaged.
“For me, Camp PEACE is knowing that my kids are learning something that I can’t really teach them, such as meditation and farming,” Denise said. “These are areas I don’t know about. It gives me peace to know that they are learning things I never learned as a child.”
Jean Douglas has served as Executive Director of Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence for more than 15 years. She has become known and recognized in Atlanta as a leader on the subjects of domestic violence and women’s issues. She has served on the Boards of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which envisions a Georgia free of domestic violence, and Georgia’s WIN List, a political action committee dedicated to electing women who advocate for women’s issues, and as a member of the DeKalb County Domestic Violence Task Force.
A Path Appears in the “House”
/0 Comments/in News /by Caroline BodainWhen A Path Appears premiered on PBS in January, it highlighted the success of early childhood intervention by such organizations as Nurse-Family Partnership and Save the Children. In particular, episode two follows Jennifer Garner and Nicholas Kristof as they visit a West Virginia home with Save the Children’s Tonya Bonecutter and meet Johnny Weethee and his mother, Truffles. As an early childhood coordinator, Tonya helps children with language, social and emotional development and equips parents with the skills to support their children’s growth. With Tonya’s assistance, Johnny was accepted into pre-K, and Truffles is working to break the cycle of poverty, sexual mistreatment and drug abuse.
However, in recent news, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has just cut funding for programs that help children succeed in school. “These cuts are devastatingly short-sighted,” says Anna Hardaway, state director of Save the Children’s U.S. programs. The cuts came on Tuesday as part of the governor’s $11 million decrease in his state budget. Save the Children suffered a loss of $375,000 in funding set aside for early childhood programs throughout West Virginia counties.
That loss is unfortunate for Save the Children, which touts a successful track record: 88 percent of the program’s three-year-olds score at or above the national average on pre-literacy exams. “There are mountains of research showing that whether a child is reading at grade level by third grade determines the whole course of their future. Our literacy programs are designed to get kids on track so they are equipped to succeed in school, graduate and go on to become productive members of society,” says Hardaway. “Fewer kids in West Virginia will have that chance now.”
On the national level, however, there is bipartisan support for home visitation programs. Last week, the House of Representatives reauthorized the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, which has already provided more than $1.9 billion to home visiting services since its creation in 2010. The bill would support at-risk pregnant women and parents with young children by providing $400 million of home-visiting funding each year for two years. The case for MIECHV is cemented in scientific research that shows home visits by nurses and other trained professionals during pregnancy and the early years of life improve the lives of families and children living in or near poverty. Essentially, it promotes child development and positive parenting. There’s also evidence that home-visiting programs can save money on public spending such as emergency room visits, child protective services and special education.
The long-awaited outcome of the MIECHV authorization has temporarily been put on hold as the Senate takes its two-week recess. Now it’s up to the Senate to act. Want to help? Contact your senator and ask them to reauthorize the MIECHV program.
How Volunteering Helped Me Find My Path
/0 Comments/in Guest Author /by Mark HoroszowskiWill I ever reach my full potential?
This was the question that used to keep me up at night, and it was especially persistent on paydays. I liked my old job, but I wasn’t passionate about it, and deep down I knew it wasn’t making the world a better place. Every time I got paid to do something that was only self-serving, I knew that I was moving further and further away from my true potential.
In 2010 it dawned on me that while I didn’t know how to reach my potential, I did know that staying put would never give me the opportunity to find it. So I quit and committed to a year of skills-based service.
In that year I volunteered with the American Cancer Society on its National Leadership Training Team, Relay For Life Advisory Team, as well as an Innovation Think Tank. I then traveled to Nepal to support the Nepal Wireless Initiative and some healthcare related initiatives using tele-health. I then relocated to Southeast Asia where I spent time with sustainable wood growers and coffee farmers in Indonesia. From there, I reconnected with my passion to fight cancer by supporting the National Cancer Society of Malaysia - an international partner of the ACS. Continuing south to New Zealand, I spent time with waste “up-cyclers” and then went to Argentina to finish my year of service with another social enterprise working to eliminate the idea of waste.
When you work for free like I did, you end up gravitating to the tasks that you love the most. Actually working on specific projects and waking up excited to do more of them, showed me what really made me come alive, more so than any aptitude test would.
When I got back, my friend showed me a quote from Howard Thurman, which now has a permanent place on my heart: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Coming Alive
When I was volunteering around the world that year, I blogged about the work I was doing. Complete strangers stumbled upon my work and started to ask me for volunteering suggestions and advice. As time went on, my humble blog amassed more followers. I started helping other people who were looking to volunteer their own skills around the world. Towards the end of my trip, I met Derk Norde, an experienced social entrepreneur who had previously founded the Business in Development Network - a foundation helping small businesses access capital.
We connected over our passion to empower small, locally-led organizations grow and make an impact. These organizations are vital to global development; they are the ones working to solve last-mile challenges and have the greatest potential to create jobs. Derk and I started to meet regularly for coffee and discuss insights and research we had collected about the best way to support these organizations. In these meetings we made a strikingly simple realization: small organizations needs expertise to grow, and people are looking to travel and volunteer their skills.
Even though our first meetings were four years ago, I vividly remember leaving those coffee chats with a strange sense of fulfillment. I realized that I had found a way to do work I loved doing, and do it for the purpose of empowering others to build a better world.
Those coffee chats turned into formal meetings, a business plan and then our own social enterprise: MovingWorlds.org. It’s a global platform that helps people volunteer their skills around the world for any length of time. Think of it like a short-term Peace Corps for skilled professionals. From one week to one year, we help people connect directly to field organizations overseas where they can live for free while volunteering their skills. It’s a membership community that guarantees a match to a volunteering project abroad and provides training, resources, and a facilitated planning process to help you have a trip that truly makes an impact. A small membership fee allows us to staff a global support team to help you find a project that fits your skills and passions… Our entire matching site, resources, and global team was designed to help you find your potential… to help you come alive.
When I reflect back on my entrepreneurial journey thus far, I realize that the hardest step to take was the first one: To admit that I had the potential to do more, and to start looking for ways to truly make an impact. A path appears only to those who look for it.
“He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.”
- Confucius
About the blogger:
Mark Horoszowski is co-founder and CEO of MovingWorlds.org, a global platform that connects people who want to travel and volunteer their expertise with social impact organizations around the globe. Since its launch in 2011, MovingWorlds.org has already helped unleash over 1 million dollars worth of professional skills to social enterprises around the world. Mark holds a Master’s in Accounting and a BA in Business from the University of Washington and sits on the American Cancer Society’s Nationwide Training Team.