Transitioning Times

Since its origin in 2007, Transitions’ Internet Safety program for Middle and High School students has been presented in nearly 2,000 classrooms to more than 40,000 students.  The program summarizes a number of safety issues and concerns related to teens being online through social media sites and chat rooms, talking to others they don’t know.   The Internet Safety program is just one key program included in the sizable collection of programs for students in our local schools.  Classroom discussions include; domestic violence, sexual assault prevention, sexual harassment, and healthy relationships to name a few.  The curriculums are created to build on each other grade by grade, year after year, with age appropriate dialogue and media.  Several schools have arranged their schedules for the students to participate in multi-session programs within the school year.  This style of programming is more primary prevention based.  Other schools still...

Individuals with disabilities experience sexual violence at alarming rates.  Victims of sexual violence who have intellectual/developmental disabilities are often overlooked because they may not be able to speak for themselves.  Many times, these individuals are completely physically and emotionally dependent on someone else and may have a difficult time communicating. Individuals with disabilities are not always taught how to set specific boundaries for themselves, and they are encouraged to be compliant with others.  Some victims are not capable of  giving consent to a sexual relationship. More than 90 percent of people with developmental disabilities will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives. Forty-nine percent will experience 10 or more abusive incidents (Valenti-Hein & Schwartz, 1995). There are many different ways to help individuals with developmental disabilities that have disclosed sexual violence. ·     ...

A few weeks ago, I found myself filled with remorse over a particular call for advocacy that came in at the rape crisis center where I work.  As a prevention education specialist, my main job is to instruct students on ways to stay safe in relationship to other people.  However, all employees are trained to provide on-call crisis services on a rotation schedule, and it was my week. Prison rape was an issue that I had never had an opportunity to address before in my professional life.  Bowled over by the depths of despair, humiliation, and physical damage that I witnessed, I realized that this was an issue I could no longer ignore.  I thought of the girls and boys in my elementary school programs.  As their faces spun in my mind, I realized that according to statistics, it is likely that some of these students will end up in prison.  Scientific studies show that abused children, bullied children, as well as kids who are bullies – all have a much higher ...

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month. Here at Transitions, we are involved in several aspects of working with this population. We offer services to survivors of human trafficking, provide education and outreach to the local schools and the community, and also participate in the Pennsylvania Alliance Against Trafficking in Humans (PAATH). These are just some of what we do with regard to human trafficking in this area of service. PAATH was formed as a work group, following the passage of Act 105 in the fall of 2014. This act significantly strengthened Pennsylvania’s legislation regarding human trafficking. From this statewide work group, three main committees were formed: the outreach and community awareness committee, the training committee, and the direct services committee. I personally co-represent Transitions on PAATH’s Direct Services Committee. This committee meets regularly and works to develop best practices for working with this populati...

Transitions, the Comprehensive Crime Victim Services Center serving Union, Snyder and Northumberland Counties, is pleased to announce that the PA Coalition on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has awarded STOP grants (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors Grants) to Snyder and Union Counties .  The STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program , whose source is the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), enhances the capacity of local communities to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution strategies to combat violent crimes against women and to develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving violent crimes against women.   Through this grant, over the next three years, a total of $750,000, largely for prosecution and law enforcement, will be provided to Snyder and Union Counties.  $125,000 each year will be funded for each county. The program provides 25 percent for law enforcement, 25 percent for pros...

The purpose of the Medical Advocacy Program is to support the development, implementation or enhancement of domestic violence medical advocacy projects in the Commonwealth which would assist in the implementation of domestic violence policies and procedures as well as provide training for health care workers to improve hospital, health center and clinic response to domestic violence victims seeking medical treatment. In FY 2015-2016, Transitions of PA was awarded this grant from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV).  Our work plan includes the development and implementation of training to medical professionals in Union, Snyder and Northumberland Counties on the topics of domestic violence/interpersonal violence, human trafficking and traumatic brain injury.  Domestic violence victims who present to a medical facility must, first and foremost, be identified.  Universal screening procedures have been implemented at local medical facilities and h...

If you ask 100 college students what the definition of sexual consent is, you may get 100 different answers.  Some may tell you that it is the absence of a verbal “no”.  Some may say that they “read between the lines” during vague conversations related to the topic and that if they don’t get a strong “No”, they move forcefully ahead.  And yet others say they interpret body language and nonverbal indicators to make their sexual decisions.  Any way you look at it, sexual consent seems to be very difficult for students to define and can be as confusing as an elaborate game of charades.  There should not be any doubt in the mind of an individual who wishes to engage in sexual activity that the other person does or does not want to have sex.  It’s not a guessing game.  Yet students will tell you they find the definition of sexual consent to be much like finding Bigfoot, it can be elusive and unexplained. The hugely popular “No means No” campaign tried...