Stop child sexual abuse through global education

Hello, all. I hope you are all taking care of yourselves and your loved ones and others. This is, indeed, a very strange time for the world. We know that with the added stress of COVID-19 looming over us, Survivors (as well as all others) can feel an added sense of stress of being alone, coping alone, figure out alone. And children are at more risk due to the stress in families and the closure of schools and other normal activities. We at Stop the Silence® hope that we make lives that much easier by providing information, training, and support. Please take a little time to learn more about the risk of children during this time (see all the way at the bottom of this Report for additional resources). May you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving - there are still so many reasons to be thankful!

PLEASE NOTE THAT GIVING TUESDAY IS ON DECEMBER 1, 2020, A LITTLE MORE THAN A WEEK FROM NOW, AND PLEASE TRY TO GIVE WHAT YOU CAN. THANK YOU. 

As we noted last time, while some of our normal onsite training and other activities have been curtailed due to the virus, we keep going strong! I also mentioned in the last report that we would soon have some exciting news on various fronts. 

And, here, drumroll, please, is the biggest news right now: As of January 1, 2021, the partnership between Stop the Silence® and the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) will change, and Stop the Silence® will become a Department of IVAT, continuing with all the great programming that we have conducted for 20 years, but, now, we will have a larger professional base, an expanded network, and... more help! This change will help sustain the work of Stop the Silence® for years to come, focused on child sexual abuse (CSA) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) prevention, healing, and mitigation through advocacy, education, training, and policy development and reform. 

In the last report, I mentioned one of the other pieces of big news - a work in progress that is moving along quickly: our upcoming, new online Masters, Diploma, and Certificate program. I provide an update on that, below. 

Primary Activities this Past Quarter

1. Stop the Silence® - A Department of the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma

Stop the Silence® has been collaborating with IVAT for about 15 years. The partnership has been a strong one, We have presented at IVAT Summits in Hawaii and San Diego for over a decade; I have been a member of advisory committees and associated Boards (e.g., the National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence); we have partnered on grants and programming; we have served on committees together, etc., etc., etc. So, it is with confidence and excitement that we move forward as one, with all the Stop the Silence® programming being performed as a part of Stop the Silence® - A Department of IVAT (see our great new logo above!)

This past quarter, we have worked hard to put all the pieces together to make the change in status from a free-standing non-profit to a Department of IVAT.

Our programming remains the same, with a broader professional base, a wider reach, and more program assistance (it takes quite a bit to make all the programming work, as I am sure you can appreciate). 

We will continue:

• Our international model prevention, treatment and mitigation programming (currently, we are working on obtaining funding for Peru, Tajikistan, South Africa, and Indonesia)
• All the social media outreach on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. for survivors and others
• Our educational speaking engagements (like for the Mississippi Early Childhood Association Conference)
• Our distribution of information, research, and materials (we are currently working on an article for publication on our model)

2. An update on our New Zealand programming

We were not, as hoped for, able to make a last trip to New Zealand for the final, super big (300-500) training to form a larger base of those trained in New Zealand on CSA and ACEs, but we were able to find ways of expanding the base of understanding through other means. Stop the Silence® supported the work of Trust MYRIVR, one of our international partners, to provide broad TV-based education about CSA (note - content is sensitive, so watch a bit if you want and see whether you'd like to continue) and Trust MYRIVR members in reaching out to high schools in New Zealand with information about CSA and ACEs. 

3. Expanding our online education 

As I noted previously, Stop the Silence® has been working with Craig Hansen (soon to be Dr. Craig Hansen), a New Zealander who lives in Indonesia, to develop a Masters, Post-Graduate Diploma, and Post-Graduate Certificate Level Programmes in Child Trauma and Protection, Level 7. We have moved to the next stage and are in the process of further development for our online program that will be accredited by the University of Applied Research and Development. The University notes about itself that "Our reputation for research and international outlook is second to none and reflected in our performance in the latest QS World University Rankings where we are ranked first in the world for development studies."

Stay tuned for an announcement about the availability of the different levels of achievement (Masters, Diploma, Certificate) that will be available through a new online platform for Stop the Silence®. 

Thanks, all, for your interest and continued support. 

Keep safe, all. Keep well. Be kind. Help each other.

Additional Resources: The resources available online are vast and can be overwhelming. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Resource Sharing Project are national leaders in providing support and resources to advocates and community-based responders. The leaders of the “me too” movement have published a toolkit for survivors with ideas for self-care. Perhaps the most important thing we can do during this time is to make special efforts to ensure we are reaching out and checking-in with survivors we know and work with, in addition to our colleagues who are trying to provide support and interventions for victims and survivors.

Thanks for reading!

AND DO PLEASE NOTE THAT GIVING TUESDAY IS ON DECEMBER 1, 2020, A LITTLE MORE THAN A WEEK FROM NOW, AND PLEASE TRY TO GIVE WHAT YOU CAN. THANK YOU. 

Pamela J Pine, PhD, MPH, Founder and CEO, Stop the Silence®