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Tag: domestic violence

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Black History Month Community Share Legacies Op-eds

Sharing is Empowering

Brenda Sykes is the first Black CEO for Bay Area Turning Point

Editor’s Note:

Last week I facilitated a training and some of my key takeaways were:

100% were not aware of who the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating was.

100% were not able to identify the local domestic/sexual violence programs available to survivors.

99% had never heard of Adverse Child Experiences.

50% were using the Danger Assessment, however, did not know it was called a Danger Assessment or the entire purpose of completing the assessment with a survivor.

Over the years there are other lessons I have learned from the audiences that I train, including law enforcement agencies, healthcare providers, victim service advocates, educators, and other members of the coordinated community response model. These lessons reinforce the importance of ongoing training and communication. Yes, I also have learned and continue to learn new information, as I often say to myself- I cannot believe I did not know that.

Here is a challenge, periodically assess your organization and especially your direct services teams on their basic knowledge regarding domestic/sexual violence, do they know why they do the things they do, and the resources available to assist survivors. You can do this through assessments, games, one on ones, check-ins, etc.

Why do this? Because there are women, children, and men depending on our level of knowledge and ability to find out the information so they can be safer and healthier.

Collaboration includes providing information about our work to other members of the coordinated community response team so that we can identify gaps and fill them. Is your organization coordinating training and information sessions with other programs such as the local crisis center hosting an information session with Child Protective Services to share your services and to learn more about how cases are handled or law enforcement hosting community conversations and inviting other victim service programs to share how the domestic violence/sexual violence case is handled and hearing from the other agencies about how client experiences have been with law enforcement?

What’s in your toolbox? Let’s share so everyone is in the loop.

About the Author

HCDVCC Director of Training,
Thecia Jenkins

Categories
Op-eds TBI

The Intersection of TBI and IPV in Harris County

Intersection of TBI and IPV in Harris County

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, approximately 67% of women who experience domestic violence also have symptoms of traumatic brain injury. It is important that programs screen for TBI and also encourage law enforcement and healthcare partners to do the same.

Our Senior Program Director, Abeer Monem shares below facts about traumatic brain injury:

TBI as a result of head injury(ies) and/or strangulation, suffered at the hands of the perpetrator, can be mild to severe and cause many detrimental effects that impede the pursuit of safety and economic stability. Examples of the devastating cognitive effects of TBI that would clearly be impediments to obtaining and/or maintaining employment and, thus, economic stability, are as follows:

– Decreased concentration, attention span

– Difficulties with executive functioning (goal setting, self monitoring, planning, ability to solve problems, learn and organizing tasks)

– Memory loss

– Difficulty displaying appropriate emotional/communication responses

– May appear disorganized and impulsive

– Difficulty spelling, writing, and reading

– Difficulty understanding written or spoken communication

– Difficulty feeling initiative, sustaining motivation

– Depression

There are also behavioral and physical effects that include:

– Changes in behavior, personality or temperament

– Increased aggression and/or anxiety

– Decreased or increased inhibitions

– Quickly agitated or saddened

– Changes in emotional expression (flat, non-emotional, inappropriate or overreactions)

– Avoidance of people, family, friends

– Difficulty sleeping

– Increased irritability or impatience

– Hearing loss

– Headaches, neck pain

– Nausea and vomiting

– Changes in vision

– Ringing or buzzing in ears

– Dizziness, difficulty balancing

– Decrease in, or loss of, smell or taste

– Decreased coordination

– Loss of bowel or bladder control

– Increased sensitivity to noise or bright lights

– Seizures

– Weakness or numbness

A woman with a TBI who enters the criminal justice or family law system may face additional challenges. She may appear to be disorganized, aggressive, temperamental or confused. If her behaviors are misunderstood or misdiagnosed as indicating a mental health disability, which often happens, she may have difficulty obtaining custody or being credible as a victim or reliable witness.

Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix area) has paved the way for our county to incorporate their innovative approach to Harris county’s law enforcement response to an IPV incident.

· Officers and detectives do not limit testing to strangulation or sexual assault cases but offer ConQVerge Near Point Convergence (NPC) testing to all IPV victims reporting head trauma.

· Social workers and advocates assumed a larger role in testing and guiding victims through the process.

· Concussion information will be given out at the scene by nurses, officers, advocates an social workers as a part of an awareness campaign on the dangers of TBI for IPV survivors.

Why can’t we do something similar in Harris County? What are the possibilities that can be reality and really address the impact of IPV in Harris County?

• Add TBI screen questions Strangulation supplement that officers already complete?

• Establish concussion protocol when law enforcement responds to an IPV incident? Use advocates or forensic nurses to conduct the concussion protocol?

• Develop neurofeedback program – the only evidence-based treatment option – for our survivors to give them a chance to truly recover from the debilitating impact of head trauma?

• Develop a coordinated care system so no matter where the touch point for a survivor is, they receive the care they need after head trauma resulting from IPV?

 

For more information, please contact Abeer Monem.

About the Author

Abeer Monem is the Director of Housing and Innovative Services for HCDVCC and has worked in the field of domestic violence for over 25 years in both Harris and Fort Bend counties as a domestic violence advocate, trainer and programs director.

Categories
Black History Month Community Share Legacies Op-eds

Brenda Sykes is the first Black CEO for Bay Area Turning Point

Brenda Sykes is the first Black CEO for Bay Area Turning Point

Editor’s Note:

About fifteen years ago I began facilitating training on cultural competence as a contract trainer for Texas Council on Family Violence, it was a great opportunity to travel, share and learn throughout the state of Texas with crisis centers, law enforcement and other social service programs.

I have witnessed the evolution of this movement as the conversations have grown and are producing change in how this work is being done. Have we arrived yet, no, however change is happening.

One of those changes is looking at who is leading the work. There are men who are now a the leadership table and as we observe Black History Month; there are women of color (BIPOC) that are at the leadership table. This week help the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council celebrate the newest Chief Executive Officer, Brenda Sykes of Bay Area Turning Point; she is the agency’s first Black CEO.

Below is an interview with Brenda Sykes . . .

How domestic/sexual violence organizations can benefit when lead by individuals from underserved communities?

Within the next 20-30 years, Harris County’s demographics majority will be People of Color (POC). The data alone reflects the need to address various disparities ranging from access to education up to domestic violence and sexual assault services. Education of and lack of access to services relative to Domestic/sexual violence for POC looks drastically different from non-POC. POC view law enforcement, experiences of the criminal justice system, and the lack of POC in leadership roles as factors that prevent seeking services. Leaders in this movement who are POC can elevate the voices of the most underserved of an already uniquely underserved population. I am a black woman who addresses the need of ALL survivors; I am in a unique position to make a change at a local, regional, and state level as Advocates of Color and survivors of Color have a vocal, informed, and ally in elevating their needs. Leading a DV/SA organization connects my team and me to community leaders and stakeholders to influence change. And I am here for it!

Why are allies important?

Allies are essential assets in this work, as it cannot be effectively done without a united effort. Working in silos is not beneficial to anyone, especially those in need of services. Allyship allows conversations and promotes healing.

What do you hope your legacy will be?

I hope my legacy will be . . . To leave Bay Area Turning Point in a better position to serve those in need due to changes I, along with my peers and my team, have made so that my immediate area and beyond are greater for those contributions.

Thank you, Brenda 💜

About the Author

HCDVCC Director of Training,
Thecia Jenkins

Categories
Black History Month Op-eds

Black Health and Wellness

Editor’s Note:

February is the observation of Black History and the 2022 theme is “Black Health and Wellness”.

A history riddled with slavery, Jim Crow Laws, and disparate treatment has had an impact on Black people. Being in a state of complete, physical, mental and social well-being for many is a dream deferred. Access to adequate healthcare along with distrust of a system that has historically used Blacks as guinea pigs without apology, the resistance to mental health care, and micro-aggressions have led to issues that leave a high percentage of Black women and men with compromised health and wellness.

There is no excuse for domestic violence (a public health issue), however, looking at the societal root causes we must take note of the lack of control that both men and women often feel secondary to racial oppression. Approximately forty percent of Black women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Most will not seek assistance due to taboos of revealing “family problems” and working with a counselor/psychologist still is not welcome amongst most people of color.

The availability of culturally relevant services in Houston and Harris County is so important. So, Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council takes this Black History moment to salute Fresh Spirit founded by Dr. Conte Terrell almost twenty-five years ago to assist survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Dr. Conte’s program is open to all survivors, however, as a woman of color, she has been a beacon of hope for hundreds of Black women who are working to take their lives back.

There are many grassroot groups here in Houston and Harris County that are doing the work in their communities of color and HCDVCC desires to celebrate and support them. We have engaged in an intern to have interviews with these amazing unsung heroines/heroes to get a better understanding of the needs and the services being provided to link them to larger programs. Please contact Thecia Jenkins if you know of organizations that are providing culturally specific services that would like to be interviewed and possibly be included in a future project on building capacity.

For more information on Fresh Spirit, please visit www.freshspirit.org

About the Author

HCDVCC Director of Training,
Thecia Jenkins

Categories
Community Share Op-eds

TBI and Neurofeedback

This episode of Down The Rabbit Hole our Abeer Monem joins TCFV to talk about the intersection between traumatic brain injury (TBI) in people who have experienced domestic abuse, and an invaluable healing modality called neurofeedback. Please note that this episode carries a trigger warning for domestic violence.
Joining us we have two experts who are widely experienced in the field of helping survivors heal: Josh Brown from Fort Bend Women’s Center and Abeer Monem from the Harris Country Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. We start by learning that neurofeedback (also known as neurotherapy) teaches self-control of brain functions to develop healthier emotional patterns, before diving into the program that Abeer and Josh created that is pushing neurotherapy to the frontline of survivor care and support. You’ll hear Abeer describe the lightbulb moment when she realized the missing neurological information necessary for her patients’ healing, how she teamed up with Josh Brown, and the long road that led to the creation of the program. We also touch on issues of transport and hear some visionary steps to create much-needed mobile advocacy services. Finally, you’ll hear some moving testimonies of the truly transformational impact that neurofeedback has!
Find the Fort Bend Women’s Center HERE. Other resources mentioned in this episode include the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and VAWnet. If you want more information on this episode, you can email TCFV.

About the Author

Abeer Monem is the Director of Housing and Innovative Services for HCDVCC and has worked in the field of domestic violence for over 25 years in both Harris and Fort Bend counties as a domestic violence advocate, trainer and programs director.

Categories
Community Share Op-eds

Use Your Voice Through Voting

Use Your Voice Through Voting

Thank you Dr. Toby Myers (Board Member and Domestic Violence Expert) for sharing this important information on using the Mail-In Ballot

Editor’s Note:

The data is clear. People who receive mail-in ballots vote at a substantially higher rate than people who go to the polls in person. That’s why this information is so important. Please review the info below and take the appropriate action for yourself. AND PLEASE share this info with others who typically vote by mail, especially if they are not likely to have a computer or printer.

I hope there will be more public service announcements about these changes in the future, but we can’t afford a “wait and see” attitude. People who have routinely received an application for their mail-in ballot in the mail might not realize that the application didn’t arrive. And by the time they realize they don’t have a mail-in ballot it might be too late to apply for and receive one.

1. The process for obtaining and filing an Application for a Mail-in Ballot has changed.

If you or someone you know votes by mail, there are some important changes in the process. People who are unaware of these changes may end up being unable to vote by mail. For some, that will make them unable to vote at all.

Senate Bill 1 prohibits the distribution of mail-in ballot applications by the Election Administrator (EA).

If you have voted by mail in the past, you probably received an application for a mail-in ballot automatically each year, which reminded you to apply. You simply filled out the application and sent it in. You will no longer receive that application automatically. Instead, if you want to vote by mail, you must affirmatively request an application.

2. You can obtain a Vote by Mail Application in one of two ways. Go to the www.HarrisVotes.com website and click on “Voting by Mail.” There you’ll find a downloadable vote by mail application , a mail ballot tracker to monitor the process of

your application, and answers to any questions you might have. Just print the application, fill it out and mail it in.**

OR, if you do not have internet access or a printer and are unable to print an application on line, simply call the Election Administrator’s office at 713-755-6965 and ask them to mail you an application. They have personnel who will take your call and assist you.

Don’t delay! If you want to vote in the Primary, your application for a mail-in ballot must be received by the EA’s office no later than Friday, February 18, 2022. So to be safe, it should be mailed on or before Monday, February 14. Because mail delivery has slowed, apply now to be sure your application will arrive in time to be completed and sent back to Harris Votes well in advance of February 18. (If you miss the February 18 deadline, you won’t be able to vote in the primary BUT you will be able to vote in the November election.) ***

Senate Bill 1 creates new ID requirements for voting by mail.

SB1 establishes additional identification requirements for voting by mail. For the first time, the application for a mail-in ballot will ask for your full driver’s license number or the last four digits of your Social Security number. The same form of identification also must be included on the envelope you will use when you return your completed ballot. SB1 also requires that this identification information must match what is already on file in your individual voter record. In other words, the ID you provide now, in 2022, must be the same that you used when you registered to vote.

If you registered long ago, you may not remember which form of ID you used. However, the application and current voter registration forms ask for the last 4 digits of your SSN only if you don’t have a driver’s license. So using your driver’s license number would seem to be the best choice.

3. What if your ID information does not match what is in your voter record?

Don’t panic. Under this heading on the HarrisVotes website (see the link to “Senate Bill Election Law Effective December 2, 2021), the following statements appear:

Harris County Elections is here to ensure any simple mistakes are addressed.

  • If we spot any mistakes, we will proactively reach out to you directly to address any inconsistencies if you included a phone number or email when registering to vote. If not, we will mail you a letter with follow up information.
  • Still have questions? Call us at (713) 755-6965. Email: vbm@harrisvotes.com

NOTES:

** If you are 65 or older or are disabled, be sure to choose the “annual” ballot option. That option assures you will receive a ballot for all elections in the calendar year.

*** If you submit your application by FAX or EMAIL you must also submit it by mail and it must be received by the early voting clerk not later than the fourth business day after the transmission by fax or email is received. (TEC 84.007). · Email: vbm@HarrisVotes.com Fax: (713)-755-4983 or (713)-437-8683 Visit www.harrisvotes.com for more information. At the top of the welcome screen, you will see a red line that says “Senate Bill 1 Election Law Effective December 2, 2021. More info here.”

About the Author

Board Member of HCDVCC & DV Expert,

Dr. Toby Meyers

Categories
Press Release

3rd Annual Impossible2Possible PR

Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council to Host Domestic Violence Awareness Month Activities Through October

The Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council is set to host their 3rd Annual Impossible2Possible event to spread awareness of the dangers and reality of domestic violence.

Houston, Harris County, Texas — Domestic violence is a scary reality for approximately 10 million women and men each year. Unfortunately, nearly 67% of survivors of domestic violence suffer in silence and never report the abuse they are receiving from those that should be considered their safe space.

What makes domestic violence even worse is that a vast majority of those suffering believe there is simply no way out of the situation, whether it be fear of losing (or harm being inflicted on) children or having no place to call home.

The good news? There are resources to help these survivors, and while these resources are available upon request, the month of October helps bring further awareness to the situation and connect survivors with the necessary help – all thanks to Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month was first established in October 1987 and has been a welcome method of spreading awareness ever since.
In Harris County, TX, the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (HCDVCC) takes pride in the work they do to not only spread awareness, but help survivors in whatever way they can.

Whether working with local law enforcement agencies, advocacy organizations, victim support services, policymakers, or the community itself, HCDVCC strives to ensure that victims of domestic violence in Harris County, Texas are served by the people and resources they so desperately need.” says Executive Director, Barbie Brashear.

Harris County has several educational events planned throughout October, including the 3rd annual Summit Event – Impossible2Possible: Be the Catalyst for Survivors with Disabilities. Topics that will be covered include how to make programs accessible to those with disabilities, how to create an inclusive space for survivors of domestic violence and their families, as well as ableism and accessibility.
This year’s speakers will include:

  • Heidi Lersch: Disability Services Educator and Training Coordinator
  • Sashi Nisankarao: Licensed Texas Attorney & ADA Specialist
  • Marilyn Gilbreath: MS, Family Studies/Counseling
  • Heather Daley: Hotline Advocate – National Deaf Domestic Violence Hotline

 

About Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council: With a vision of a community where all persons have relationships that are safe, healthy, and free from domestic violence, HCDVCC leads efforts to build collaborative systems and innovative programs that help increase access to services and safety for those suffering from domestic violence.

Contact: To learn more about Domestic Violence Awareness Month or Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, please direct all questions to Thecia Jenkins at theciajenkins@hcdvcc.org or by phone at (281) 400-3680.

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Our Mission:
To improve Harris County’s response to domestic violence, we lead efforts to build collaborative systems and innovative programs that increase access to services and safety.
Our Vision:
We envision a community where all persons have relationships that are safe, healthy, and free from domestic violence.
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