Transitioning Times

Transitions is pleased to have received two volunteers through Americorps, continuing our relationship with this valuable program.  Disneyanna is providing direct services to child clients and Ethel is serving as a volunteer in our Education Department.  They started working in September and have been settling in nicely.  Please see the introductions they provided below. My name is Ethel Friar.   During the last fifteen years I have had many opportunities to travel throughout the U.S. and Asia.   Although my first love is writing (and reading) fiction, I have volunteered extensively in the different places where I have lived – in orphanages, international schools, private tutoring, churches, and libraries.   My favorite volunteer positions were teaching English to Chinese children in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and in the Montessori classroom at the Soong Ching Ling Kindergarten in Shanghai, China.   With this in mind, I am greatly looking forward to the yea...

As many of you may know by now October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.   When discussing domestic violence it is important to discuss the issue of bullying.   Initially, bullying may not seem to be related to domestic violence.   However, a number of studies and researchers have found a connection between bullying and domestic violence, and have suggested that by teaching students about bullying we may be able to prevent domestic violence in the future. In one study led by Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found that those who act abusively towards others are likely to do so through childhood even into adulthood.   The study found a link between bullying others at school and domestic violence later in life.   Those who are bullies and are abusive in their younger years do not always outgrow these abusive behaviors. This fact leads to the question what influences those who bully?   One study by the Center for Disease control, found tha...

When individuals recognize the abuse in their lives, they frequently reach out to others for help. Victims of abuse may appeal to friends, family, doctors, counselors, Children and Youth workers, Transitions, law enforcement, the courts, etc. or any combination thereof for assistance in ending the violence. Transitions regularly receives referrals from these various sources to provide one of our many services–Legal Advocacy. What does a Legal Advocate do? Simply put… ‘Trained staff provide clarification of the legal process and transactions, assist clients in filing Protection From Abuse (PFA) Orders and accompany victims to court hearings’ (Transitions, 2011). In reality legal advocates provide multiple services in addition to explaining legal options, assisting with paperwork and accompanying to hearings. We also talk about the violence, discuss safety planning with victims, and make referrals to other agencies, which can provide services specific to individuals needs e.g....

Imagine getting physically abused or even raped by someone you thought you trusted. The mere idea of it is enough to send chills down someone’s spine. Yet statistics depict a grave situation where frequencies of such events keep increasing at a staggering rate. The Clothesline Project, established in 1990 by a coalition of women who had suffered some form of domestic abuse, has become one of the many prolific means of relating stories of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. With 500 projects in 41 states and 51 countries, the Project involves survivors to write messages on shirts regarding their experience with domestic violence or sexual abuse and hang them on a clothesline. Supporters of survivors can also write encouraging messages to boost self-esteem of survivors and also to commemorate victims who had passed away because of domestic violence and assault. The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that it provides freedom to anyone making the shirts in any way t...

    We are pleased to annouce that the film BULLY will be shown at the Campus Theatre  in Lewisburg.  This event is sponsored by Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Susquehanna Valley .  The film will be showing Friday, Sept. 21st at 8:30pm, Saturday, Sept. 22nd at 8:00pm, Sunday, Sept. 23rd at 2:00 and 5:30 pm.  "Over 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, making it the most common form of violence experienced by young people in the nation. The new documentary film BULLY, directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, brings human scale to this startling statistic, offering an intimate, unflinching look at how bullying has touched five kids and their families." (from  http://thebullyproject.com/indexflash.html#/story ) You may remember in late February, there was outcry when this film received a NC-17 rating, then it was downgraded to R, and currently has a PG-13 rating .  Critics were...

Thank you to John Deppen , who took the opportunity to address Military Sexual Trauma in his column in The Daily Item this Sunday.  His column typically covers Civil War, history, reenactment information, and other Veterans' causes.  Our sincerest gratitude goes to John Deppen, who took the opportunity to cover an unpopular topic.  If you cannot read the above, please see the text of the column below. Sexual trauma is hidden danger for today's servicewomen Your daughter is a soldier in the United States Army.  You know that, as a volunteer in the military, she may be in danger, especially in a time of war.  After all, 140 American service-women have died as a result of enemy action in Iraq and Afghanistan.  What you may not know is that the more likely danger to your daughter comes not from enemy action, but from a more indifious and cruel enemy, an enemy that has a name--Military Sexual Trauma. Military Sexual Trauma is...

We would be remiss if Transitions didn't include some mention of Representative Todd Akin's comments in our blog.  In case you have not heard, Rep. Akin (R-Mo.), while being interviewed on KTVI-TV, was asked if he supports abortion in cases of rape.  His response included the following statements:  “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” Herein sparks the outrage. There have been many articles and statements  about the comments, what they mean, what consequences there may be for both Rep. Akin and the Republican Party, as well as general outcry about the words he chose and what he's saying.  We wish to add our voice to all the other voices who are loudly saying that this is unacceptable.  We stand with President Obama and other organizations saying that rape is rape.  There is no q...