From the Director's Desk

Traveling through air and cyberspace to bring Circles of Safety around the globe

The impact of bringing Stop It Now!’s message and resources to others feels profound to me lately. Two of our major prevention activities of late have taken place in two very different environments: on the beautiful island of Grenada and (electronically) with Minnesota Early Childhood Care and Education professionals. As I deliver our training series, Circles of Safety, I am struck by the appreciation for support and tools to keep children safe from sexual abuse. I am also aware of the severe lack of resources and information offered to adults in educational and care roles with children.

In Grenada, Stop It Now!, through our collaborative work with Sweet Water Foundation, has now twice facilitated Circles of Safety for Youth Serving Environments. We have also just completed training Sweet Water’s first group of phone counselors for Grenada’s own new Helpline for anyone with a concern about sexual abuse. The participants in these trainings have included ministry representatives, college students, and school counselors.

And closer to home, Stop It Now! has been working through an e-learning process to train professional child care and education instructors in Minnesota. Child Care Aware Minnesota sponsored and hosted this training via their e-classroom setting. After participating in the training, instructors will bring Circles of Safety: Understanding and Responding to Children’s Sexual Behaviors to community based day care providers. Next, instructors will train to deliver Circles of Safety: Understanding and Responding to Adult Behavior and Creating Safe Environments. The training is approved by the Minnesota Center for Professional Development and will also be available through Child Care Aware Minnesota’s online self-learning platform.

While the environments, cultures and needs differ between Grenada and Minnesota, what stands out are the similarities. I’ve noticed these two themes threaded through each training experience:

• Hope and empowerment grows through education of what can be done to keep children safe;
• Opportunities for prevention abound – from buses to schools – to policies and procedures – to conversations and beyond.

There is no greater pleasure as a trainer and as an ambassador for prevention than to witness the proverbial lightbulb turn on when adults realize that there are doable and reasonable safety planning steps that any adult can take to strengthen safety for children. Circles of Safety often takes its audience on a journey that, for many, begins with their hesitation to commit to the belief that sexual abuse can be prevented. As the training wraps up, the energy has visibly shifted to a sense that there are indeed practical action steps for every adult and that protecting children is a possibility. With this comes hope and a sense of empowerment that is both motivating and inspirational. With hope comes the possibility of action.

While hope blooms, awareness and understanding about what creates safer environments also grows. In Minnesota, there was an emerging recognition of the barriers faced by child care providers in speaking up about children’s sexual health and the need for additional education about children’s sexuality. In Grenada, training participants called out system and resource inadequacies. In both environments, trainees identified the need for more education, support, preparation, and tools.

What has struck me most is that the more adults realize that child sexual abuse is not a hopeless case, the more they are ready to take on the mantle, and become advocates for more services and supports for children, families and communities.

Yes, the challenges are different around the world. Yet what remains so clear is that when adults come together and talk about what they can do to create and promote safety for children, children are indeed safer. As I wrap this up, I hear a Helpline counselor thank another person for taking the step of reaching out and sharing his concerns. This is what I think is so profound - the opportunity to shift individuals from that place of hopelessness to a places of strength, courage, engagement, and of course, hope itself.

You can participate in creating this hope. Could your group or organization improve by a greater understanding of healthy childhood sexual development, warning signs of problems, and practical steps to provide safe environments for children? Stop It Now! is currently scheduling Circle of Safety trainings for 2016. Contact us to start this transformation in your group.