Transitioning Times

Transitions of PA is pleased to announce the Fourth Annual Teen Dating Violence Video Contest for high school students attending public or home schools in Northumberland, Snyder, or Union Counties.  Students are asked to create a brief video focused on teen dating violence awareness and ending dating abuse for a chance to win cash prizes. The contest is hosted by Transition of PA.  Founded in 1975, Transitions provides an array of free and confidential services to victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and all other serious crimes. Offering awareness and prevention education, medical and legal advocacy as well as confidential individual, family or group counseling, and professional training sessions, Transitions knows that violence and abuse do not just affect women and girls. It affects those who care about them, their families, their friends, their coworkers, and their communities. Teen Dating Violence is defined as physical, sexual, mental, verbal or emotional...

Throughout the past couple years working with survivors, a few times I have heard clients say that someone in their support system stopped talking to them because they chose to go back to their abuser. Sometimes the person can’t handle seeing their loved one go through continued abuse, and sometimes they deem the act as “tough love,” hoping if they cut ties, their loved one will choose to leave and stay away from their abuser. I am saddened when I hear this from my clients. In some cases, these loved ones have good intentions, but often with bad results. I understand the notion of tough love, but I don’t think cycles of violence and abuse are the place for tough love. There are an endless amount of reasons that survivors may return to their abuser, especially when kids are involved. Most of all, enduring abuse is psychological and traumatic. Experiencing trauma at the hands of an abuser creates trauma bonds in the survivor where they become psychologically bonded with their perpet...

I'm disheartened to see so many cases of sexual assault by people in power, though I'm not surprised one bit. Harvey Weinstein, Ben Affleck, Dr. Larry Nassar, Bill O’Reilly, Steven Seagal, R. Kelly, and even former president George H. W. Bush, along with several others, have recently been accused of sexual assault or harassment. This is our society; it is so deeply rooted in us. We let rape jokes slide, demean and dehumanize women, don’t hold perpetrators accountable, and blame victims for their assault. We teach people how not to get assaulted/raped, but we don't teach people to not rape. (Here’s a video put together by Huffington Post about many of the allegations that have come out following the allegations against Harvey Weinstein: https://www.facebook.com/HuffPost/videos/544774159200069/ ) Sexual assault and harassment are about power and control, and when perpetrators have additional power due to their position in society or industry, it is bound to be a bree...

Many young people have aspirations to have a career in nursing, but few specifically dream about becoming a forensic nurse. Most forensic nurses decide to take on the additional training and education after witnessing heartbreaking assaults and recognizing the need for forensic nursing as an important piece of the justice process. Others realize after years of a traditional nursing career, that they have a special talent for providing compassion and dignity to traumatized patients while maintaining an irreproachable level of excellence in technical skills. Transitions is grateful to honor the forensic nurses at Evangelical Community Hospital who make the SANE program a place of healing and restoration. When Transitions is called to the bedside of a survivor of sexual assault, we provide support and reassurance. There are many unknowns, and advocates can’t promise that the journey to justice will be without additional trauma. Victims often ask about what the experience will be ...