Posted in A Way With Words, Advocacy, Beyond Words Live, Creative Ideas, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Great Quotes, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Law & Legislation, Love, Relationships, Sexual Assault, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Survivors, Victimology, Video Blogging, Video Documentary, Violence, Volunteering, Well said!, You Tube Videos, tagged Developing a Voice, Domestic Violence, dreams, future, Goals, inspiration, Kat, Kathryn, Kathy, Living, Making Changes, Moving Forward, Surviving, survivor stories, Thriving on April 19, 2012| 4 Comments »
Being a survivor from domestic violence can mean many things to many different people. Here is my story, and my journey after that in order to have a voice in helping others through a variety of advocacies that I do.
The story of my past experiences with domestic violence and how I have moved forward throughout the years to provide advocacy to others.
Posted in Beyond Words Live, Contests, Cooking, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Humor & Laughter, Recipes, Survivors on October 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »
How about this for a DVAM (Domestic Violence Awareness Month) creation donut?
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Health, Healthy Living, humanity, Law & Legislation, News, Our Heroes, Relationships, Society, Survivors, Victimology, Violence, tagged Glamour Magazine, National Domestic Violence Hotline, Tell Somebody Campaign on July 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Domestic Violence is no joke. Glamour and the National Domestic Violence Hotline are working on a campaign called, “Tell Somebody Campaign”. Click on the video below to learn more about what you can do to help stop domestic violence in your area.
#DVWarrior
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Counseling, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Customer Service, DV Warrior, Education, Health, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Keeping in Touch, Love, Positivism, Procrastination, Relationships, Self Help Sites, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Survivors, Volunteering on July 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue
Some of the tell tale signs of compassion fatigue are listed below.
Lack of enjoyment in day to day activities
Not deriving any joy from things that used to excite the person earlier
Difficulty in concentrating in any task
Feelings of anxiety and perpetual fear
Feelings of irritability triggered by trivial things
Isolation from family and friends
Detachment from work and life
Inability to take big or small decisions
Lack of interest in work
Avoidance of certain situations and people at work
Unprovoked outbursts of anger
Constant feeling of dread and imagination of doom
Causes of Compassion Fatigue
Some common causes of compassion fatigue are listed below.
Interacting with and taking care of terminally ill patients day in and day out
Caring for a physically or mentally challenged child
Counseling grief stricken families in times of grave environmental disasters
Counseling victims of sexual abuse
Working in a help line to support and encourage trauma victims
Working in close association with mentally challenged people
Providing support to people suffering from depression
As an advocate the key to success is being able to balance compassion so that fatigue is avoided, or if it occurs that it is quickly diverted and conquered. I am fortunate that I work at a place that takes “wellness” seriously and we are allowed to go into a wellness session for almost 2 hrs each month paid for and flexed time away from the phones, giving one an option and opportunity to balance a 40 hr work week on the phones with folks in various crisis situations with some downtime to take care of you (the advocate).
Sometimes the wellness sessions would include meditation methods, a bit of art therapy, a bit of learning of various techniques that we can also share with the callers, some yoga, some zumba, pottery making, learning to laugh, and so much more.
More important is to take application of the things learned from the wellness sessions to make a better quality of your own life. Healthy eats, exercise/movement, quiet time, time to voice and be an activist outside of the work environment, and so much more.
A great book that wasn’t mentioned in the connective article to read about compassion and taking care of yourself is a book called
by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk, which can be found on Amazon.com. It’s definitely a worthwhile book to read and may become your “Bible” beside you if you are a caregiver in any aspect. Their website is something that is valuable for continued support in your own journey for continued caregiving of others — http://traumastewardship.com/.
What ideas do you have to focus upon to combat compassion fatigue in your everyday life and continue on the enjoyment of the journey of Caregiving in the sense that it is really meant to be? Would love to hear more ideas from you.
Posted in A Way With Words, Accountability, Advocacy, Beyond Words Live, Business Ethics, Counseling, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Health, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Love, Positivism, Relationships, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Victimology, Volunteering on July 3, 2011| 2 Comments »
Empathy can be literally defined as:
em·pa·thy [ émpəthee ]
- understanding of another’s feelings:the ability to identify with and understand somebody else’s feelings or difficulties
- attribution of feelings to an object:the transfer of somebody’s own feelings and emotions to an object such as a painting
[ Early 20th century. < Greek empatheia “affection, passion” ]
Ashoka Fellow Molly Barker, Founder of Girls on the Run International®, who has been working to build-up Ashoka’s Empathy Initiative. suggests the following:
Empathy has been a hot topic at the summit. Typically considered a soft skill and not necessarily essential to leadership (at least in the traditional sense), Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka, has uncovered a number of thematic connections between all of those folks who are social entrepreneurs. Empathy has been and continues to be at the top of that list.
Empathy is one of those things … “things” because I’m not sure precisely what to call it … that I’ve taken for granted. I was raised in a very empathetic home. My family members are empathetic. My children are empathetic and most everyone – heck, EVERYONE! – I work with is empathetic. I’ve naturally, based on my own experiences, assumed that most people would understand why empathy is essential to being human … a kind of “duh” sort of thing. A clear and VERY obvious outcome of Girls on the Run is the ability of every girl and coach to give and receive within an empathetic context.
In my mind, without empathy we lack the ability to deeply connect with another living creature. Empathy affords us the experience of being one in experience with another, putting aside our own ego, the need to be right, and being with the emotions of another. It doesn’t mean fixing them, making the emotions go away or enabling the individual. To me it simply means being with their emotions without interference from me.
via So how do you get empathy, anyway? (Hint: You won’t find it in a lecture.) | Ashoka.org.
As an advocate, I am always under the impression that being with empathy is demonstrating a concern and understanding of the here and now of the caller/person communicating with (no matter the mode of communication). It isn’t a time of formulating one’s opinion of the situation; it is more important to sort through options and more options for the situation given at hand, as well as providing emotional support and guidance for catapulting forwarding to the light at the end of the tunnel, in order to move forward to, hopefully, without the burdens of the crisis situations at hand.
People need to have a voice in their lives moving forward, they need to see and weigh out the options available for them (because when in crisis mode, you rarely see through the mist of the tears caused by the emotional and/or physical pain currently enduring); however, they need to know that they aren’t crazy, that they have lives that are valued, and that they can do things and make great decisions that affect their own lives, as well as those around them.
How do YOU see empathy? How do you apply empathy in your daily lives?
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Advocacy Reports, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Education, Fund Raising, Health, Health Forums, Healthy Living, Human Relations, humanity, Language Growth, Law & Legislation, Mental Illness, Parenting, Positivism, predator safety, Relationships, Research, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Suicide, Survivors, Trainings & Conferences, Violence, Youth on June 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Domestic violence cases seem to prevail in spite of all the efforts of the advocates across the United States and throughout the world; however, that doesn’t stop the advocates from continuing to try. One focus has turned its head towards the affects upon childhood trauma. One such foundation taking this focus in their hands is the Makers of Memories with its public policy initiative:
The Makers of Memories Public Policy Initiative, launched earlier this month in Washington DC, has already begun to develop momentum towards our two key objectives of:
1) raising awareness about the problem of childhood exposure to domestic violence; and
2) developing a set of solutions to address this problem.
Participants from a wide range of national nonprofit organizations have agreed to collaborate on the educational content and distribution of our documentary film project, 43 Million Secrets, and have contacted us to explore ways that we can work together to motivate leaders and policy makers to take action to provide support and assistance to children who experience domestic violence. We also are exploring programmatic initiatives with these organizations. Some of the individuals and organizations we have engaged to collaborate on our work are featured below in the images from our meeting in Washington DC on June 14.
via Makers of Memories.
Posted in Accountability, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Human Relations, humanity, Law & Legislation, Security, Society, Survivors, Trainings & Conferences, Victimology, Violence on June 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Marsys’ Law created as a result, in California, when a woman was lured back to her ex-boyfriend who claimed wanted to get back with her and make up but in actuality had a shotgun ready to kill her when she entered his home. This event was a great opportunity to learn more.
PASADENA – The Pasadena Police Department will host a free Crime Victims’ Clinic from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday in the second floor assembly room at the department headquarters, 207 N. Garfield Ave.
The clinic will offer information on the Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights Act (Marsy’s Law) passed in 2008, giving victims of crimes and their families 17 constitutional rights.
Workshop participants will include the Pasadena Police Department, Justice for Homicide Victims, Pasadena Superior Court, L.A. District Attorney’s Office, Bailiff’s Office, Victim-Witness Assistance Program; Peace Over Violence and Crime Stoppers.
The clinic is being coordinated, organized and planned by Police Specialist III Patricia Magallanes.
via Crime victims’ rights to be discussed at police clinic – Pasadena Star-News.
Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Childhood Trauma, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Education, Healthy Living, humanity, Law & Legislation, Parenting, Relationships, Society, Survivors, Victimology, Violence on June 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Recently attended a child custody inservice presented by Barry Goldstein and Dr. Mo Hanna (who, incidently co-authored the book called Domestic Violence Abuse and Child Custody). Dr. Hanna also speaks to childhood trauma in her part of the presentation. The statistics presented in this video by Makers of Memories foundation are, indeed pretty staggering and worth taking note. In a quest to end domestic violence, we must take a look from all perspectives to really figure out a solution to end it forever.
Please reveiw and let me know what you think.
YouTube – 10 Shocking domestic violence statistics for 2011.
See also for more information:
http://domesticviolenceabuseandchildcustody.com
Posted in Advocacy, Counseling, Creative Ideas, Creativity, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Healthy Living, Humor & Laughter, Internet Communities, Relationships, Self Help Sites, Society, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Survivors, Victimology, Violence, tagged Activisim, Advocacy, Community Support, Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Voices, empowerment, Finding the Voice, support on June 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Everyone needs a place to go to where they can heal, be safe to talk, and empower others along their healing journey. For those traveling the healing journey due to domestic violence issues, Facebook’s page called, Domestic Violence Voices, offers just one such place.
It’s just a great feel good place with a great community spirit.
Posted in A Way With Words, Advocacy, Domestic Violence, DV Warrior, Victimology, Violence, Volunteering, tagged advocate, Blogger, Domestic Violence on June 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The other day, I popped onto the site and realized just how long it has been since I have been on this site writing and sharing with you all various tidbits of interest that embarked upon various issues — especially domestic violence issues — mixed in with a variety of diverse things.
What have I been doing since then?
Well…
mostly being a domestic violence warrior — networking and sharing survivor stories in an effort to make a change — hopefully, for the better.
Please keep feeling free to offer feedback, ideas, comment, opinions and suggestions. I love reading through all of them. 🙂
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Worldly Inquiring Mind "iWIM" :D 