Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Senator Brown Shares His Story

Senator Scott Brown revealed in an interview to air on "60 Minutes" that he, like 39 million other Americans, was sexually abused as a child. He supported me and my efforts; I support and salute him for sharing his truth with us.You can read my original post about Senator Brown here:

http://kissesfromdolce.blogspot.com/2009/12/ma-state-senator-and-republican-u.html?spref=tw

Thank you, Senator.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Have Your Say!

FindYouthInfo.gov has held "listening sessions" in major cities around the U.S., seeking input as it works to create a new uniform Federal Youth Policy to improve education and youth outcomes in this country. I attended the Boston session, where I spoke about requiring evidence-based child abuse prevention trainings to any and all adults working with youth. The session was fascinating, with folks from all over New England speaking about the issues they believed would pave a better path for U.S. youngsters.
FindYouthInfo has a website and is seeking input from all those who wish to contribute. I have included the link where you can not only contribute your thoughts, but also read summaries of the various listening sessions. I encourage you to click on the link and have your say: reiterate your belief that all adults serving youth in the public education community be REQUIRED to be trained in abuse prevention. We know evidence-based training changes peoples attitudes and behaviors and it is readily available with the Stewards of Children training.

http://www.findyouthinfo.org/provideinput.aspx

The time is NOW to have your say!
I hope you will take a few minutes to help further the cause of abuse prevention and see something so important woven into the fabric of this new policy. Thank you so very much.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Exponential Prevention


One of the best things about what I do is seeing the people I've trained go on to do their own trainings. Tony Calcia, the VP/COO of the Hockomock Area YMCA, is one of those people. Probably one of the most enthusiastic folks I've met along this road, Tony is passionate about getting out there to educate not just his staff and associates, but, also, the public, about how they as adults can keep kids safer. Tony was in one of my very first facilitator trainings in 2010; now he and 2 of his staff, also trained facilitators, are planning their first Stewards of Children training for 60 people. The MA Y's as a whole are in the midst of a child sexual abuse prevention initiative, stemming from events last year in Melrose (you can read more about that here). That initiative is looking beyond MA to, hopefully, involve many Y's across the country. Given the enormous presence and power of Y's in our communities, their ability to effectively organize and engage people, offer education and opportunities for building a better life, their impact on child sexual abuse prevention could be enormous, both within their facilities and in the homes/lives of the people they serve.
I'm honored to have been a part of that effort and I'm excited to see it move forward. Go, Tony and team!