In the past four years of my life, voluteer work has left an indelible mark on my heart and mind. When I became a voluteer, I had a very vague notion of leadership. As my high school days come to an end, I am left with the feeling that I have finally come into my own shoes, discovering the things that are important to me and those that are not. I have found my personal leadership style, and I now pay attention to the leaders I come across each day. For this reason, voluteering has been both an enlightening and inspiring experience, for I am surrounded by peers, mentors, and the voluteer program director, all of whom are leaders with creative visions of their own.
At the beginning of the school year, my voluteer project goal was to
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I chose this topic because I feel it meets a true community need; too many young people, girls in particular, are falling prey to abusive relationships. The effects are far-reaching, and the loss of self-esteen that so often occurs leaves invisible scars. I also feel that emotional abuse among young girls in dating realtionships is far too often ignored, and when it is recognized, many people do not know how to help the young girls deal with it in an effective manner.
My program, "The Wounds of Words," was held on the campus of area high schools. Three women spoke; one was a specialist on dating and domestic violence, and the other two were survivors of emotionally and physically abusive relationships. Approximately two hundred people attended the program; some came out of concern for loved ones, others came out of concern for themselves. Regardless of their reasons for coming, I knew as I listened to the speakers and their courageous stories that if one girl could be saved from the emotional abuse that may await her in the future because of my program, the program was a success.
I am more resolved than ever to continue working with women's issues; I feel that it is my place as a young woman, as a young leader, to help someone else see the beauty in herself. I am now thinking of obtaining a minor in Women's Studies at Harvard University and
On a more personal level, the Leadership Program has taught me the value of time management, organization, and confidence. Each of these characteristics was developed through the personal service project that I designed. My personal project was focused on my area of interest, dietetics. I chose to work with pediatric obesity patients at the University Children's Hospital. Lori Hardford, a local dietician, and myself will be holding a five week seminar with these children. During these five weeks we will work to teach the children the importance of good nutrition through hands on activities. The main emphasis will be to teach the obese children the four food groups, balanced meals, portion sizes, and healthy snack options. Then during the fifth week, the group will meet to play a game (similar to trivial pursuit) that reflects on what they have learned the previous four sessions. By planning my individual project, time management was essential. I had to balance my class load with planning the project and meeting with Lori Hardford. It was very difficult to find time when both Lori and I were available to talk.
On Thursday night I went to the “Shatter the Silence, Stop the Violence” seminar by the Sexual Assault and Violence Education (SAVE) Committee. During the seminar I learned about several parts of dating and domestic violence, as well as healthy, unhealthy, and abusive relationships. I was familiar with many of these topics, but hadn’t gone so far in depth with them before.
Throughout my life I always thought the little things that we do to help people in our community are the things that made the biggest difference. I learned in church one day on a Sunday about how to improve ourselves to get closer to God. The pastor said that we are so busy with our daily activities that sometimes we get distracted on things that matter the most. Sometimes even though we might be busy, we should just take a brief moment to help others in need. That is why I find community service important because you are not just building our career we are also building our character as a leader and as a citizen.
Laura Jackson spoke as a guest speaker at Texas A&M University-Commerce (where I am proud to be a student) on September 22nd to discuss the importance of healing from sexual, physical, mental, and psychological abuse. Her life story was horrific, but somehow she survived to tell about it. She addressed different topics such as raising awareness about domestic violence and the importance of a personal relationship with God. I was honored to hear her speak and acquired knowledge from her that I can apply to my life and my surroundings.
They cannot hide” (Domestic Violence). Although counselors are close by, a teen may fear that revealing their abuse will not only slander their abusers reputation, but theirs as well. With nearly 1.5 million high school students experiencing physical abuse yearly from a dating partner (Love is Respect), this problem needs to be addressed in an appropriate classroom setting. Teens need to be taught the warning signs, and also how to handle an abusive situation. “Violent relationships in adolescence can have serious ramifications by putting the victims at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky sexual behavior and further domestic violence” (Love is Respect). And with adolescence being an important time for a child to transition into young adulthood, being faced with an abusive relationship may put a chip in their development. As the future of the American nation grows, abuse should not be allowed to grow with them.
Immediately upon hearing about another abusive case in the news, many people’s minds are triggered to automatically associate violence in relationships with adults. In reality, our society is often unaware that 1 in 3 teens experience dating violence on a daily basis. This is a total of 1.5 million students across the country, according to the National Dating Abuse Hotline and awareness group, Break the Cycle. Meaning, in an average American graduating class of three hundred, one hundred of those students will have experienced forms of physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, verbal, financial, technological or spiritual/cultural abuse. “Dating violence is controlling, abusive, and aggressive behavior in
Dating violence is most commonly thought of in mature adult relationships, but it is also alarmingly common among youth. Youth experience many forms of dating violence. Dating violence includes a large range of abusive behaviors, such as physical, emotional, and sexual assault. These abusive behaviors occur between two people who have entered a romantic or sexual relationship together, and consider themselves to be a couple. Dating violence and victimization may occur in any romantic or sexual relationship, but the population of heterosexual female youth are more susceptible to experiencing this abuse. This paper is intended to examine the relationship that risk factors play in both the lives of perpetrators and victims alike. Risk factors are any characteristics that an individual possesses that could provide them with a predisposition towards violence, or towards being victimized by a romantic partner. Risk factors may include, but are not limited to: substance abuse, poor performance in school, lack of social acceptance, and mental health (Dank, Lachman, Zweig, & Yahner, 2013). Other risk factors can include family life and deviancy (Vézina & Hébert, 2007). An intervention method of decreasing youth dating violence will also be examined. This method consists of providing youth with appropriate ways of behaving in a relationship through a variety of techniques. By examining the roles played by both risk factors and intervention, it is apparent that female youth are more
In the United States, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury in women between the ages of 15 and 44 (Nies & McEwen, 2015, p. 329). I have always struggled with understanding why women stay in abusive relationships. Growing up witnessing my own mother be a victim of domestic violence has made me less than empathetic for women who are in those situations and don’t do something to help themselves or their children. For as long as I can remember, I have said that if a person is in an abusive relationship and doesn’t take steps to get out of it, I have no sympathy for them. My goals for this experience were to identify at least two reasons why women stay in an abusive relationship and to identify at least two resources
I have fallen in love once, but it wasn’t your ideal love story. The guy I was in love with, seemed harmless when I first became involved with him. However, as the relationship grew, he began to abuse me: emotionally and physically. I was terrified, as he began to holler deleterious phrases and names at me, along with leaving bruises on my body. Who could I have turned to? What if he continues to hurt me, or even exceed the damage he’s already done if I were to tell anyone? Dating abuse: one of the many problems in the world that is mildly prominent, but is not being acknowledged to its full potential. Empathy and compassion should be directed towards dating abuse, because this is a continuous event that is still occurring to young adolescents today. Due to the unawareness of dating abuse, students and teachers should put in the effort to inform each other and those around them of dating abuse, as well as how to address it.
The results of this study show those women with a history of childhood physical abuse had experienced dating violence as well. “One hundred thirteen women (36.7%) reported a history of child physical abuse (see Table 1), and 82 (26.6%) women reported a history of moderate to severe dating violence. Of the 113 women with a child abuse history, 39 (34.5%) reported a history of moderate to severe dating violence. Of the 195 who reported minor or no child abuse history, 43 (22.1%) reported being the victims of moderate to severe dating violence” (Fiorillo, Papa & Follette, 2013). Differences in the rate of dating violence among women versus a history of non-child physical abuse were considerable. This shows that child physical abuse has a correlation with re-victimization through dating violence.
A problem that is becoming more and more common is teen dating abuse. The big issue of domestic violence has spilled over onto our kids with more and more girls getting abused by their boyfriends. Is this a problem that people isn't talking about, don't want to talk about, or want to stay blissfully ignorant that this is really going on. The fact is, it is going on and it must be dealt with. Here are some statistics for you based on a study provided by Liz Clairborne Inc; 13% of girls in a relationship reported physical abuse. 1 in 4 teen girls, who has been in a relationship, has been forced to perform sexual acts, and 1 in 5 have been threatened. The hard facts; our girls are getting physically and sexually abused by boys that we probably
Research on adolescent dating violence suggested that females were more likely than males to be victimizes by their dating partners (Roscoe & Kelsey, 1986). However currently some studies have reported similar dating violence rates for men and women (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004). Some studies have reported similar dating violence victimization rates for males and females (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004). According to a recent study of approximately 2,500 students attending two lU.S. universities, 24% of males showed physical violence against a partner, 32% of females showed physical violence against a partner, 57% of females committed psychological abuse against a partner, and 50% of male respondents committed psychological abuse against a partner (Gover,
Over the past seven years, our volunteer-run organization has reached over 80,000 people on a national level; educating about healthy relationships, spreading awareness about domestic violence, and leading preventative programs for victims and survivors. The majority of our volunteers are survivors who have left their domestic violence situations and have decided to dedicate their time and love to help our cause and, in return, have allowed themselves to grow and thrive in their own journey of healing, whether it is through our amazing fundraising and scholarship campaigns, planning our survivor retreats, or taking a shift on our seven day advocate-run helpline. We could not be where we are today without our amazing volunteers.
One in three teenagers experience dating abuse. Teenage abuse can also be as deadly as adult abusive relationships. Zero percent of high school students reported physical abuse and ten percent reported sexual victimization. When teenagers are still young they might not fully be aware about what is happening because they are not adults. Dating violence within teenagers can start as young as eleven years old too 17 years old. When individuals are only eleven years old they are still learning how to do math, let alone undergoing dating abuse. It is hard to imagine little teenagers being abused in a relationship. No one should have to go through dating abuse, ecspecially teenagers. According to Violence Prevention twenty one percent of high school girls were abused, and ten percent were males. The thirty three percent were sexually abused or physically abused. Dating abuse is unfotrunate because teenagers who are being abused are scared to ask for help because they are too scared to get caught by their abuser and they do not know who and where to turn to for help. Starting abuse in a teenagers life rather than an adults life is related to a higher risk of suicide. Individuals who are depressed and emotionally unstable from all of the abuse commit suicide because they essentially believe they have nothing to live for, which is very unfortunate because no one should have to feel that way. I was very happy to find out that eighty six percent of teenagers says that they would talk to one of their friends about their partner abusing them and only seven percent would report to the police. There are many preventative measures that women who are physically, sexually, emotional abused can rely on. There are educational programs which are designed to keep abuse from happening, which are called primary programs. Secondary programs are programs for groups who believe they are
The section that really grabbed my attention is “Human Rights Abuses in Girls’ Institutions?” I would like to add that abusive people such as the girls who are being abused in the system are psychologically ill and or medically ill, they perpetrate abuse on those people around them. The second step to overcome the abuse is to educate yourself. Girls need to gain confidence and knowledge to learn everything they can about what they have gone through and turn their lives around. Many young girls can read books or research in the Internet about emotional abuse. Resources can help them understand the nature of the person who abused you and gain insights about your own personality. You can take part in counseling groups where you can find comfort in others who are going through the same experience as you are. Be in the company of supportive and loving people who will guide you all the way. I think that is very important for females to research everything that they do not know about what they are going through, in that way they can get help from sources that can give them tips about what to do in some situations for example in cases when they are experiencing anxiety or depression. Another thing that is very important is to look for a professional that can help them on their process. Therapy can be very important on the process; women can find in it a lot of answers to their questions. Going to counseling groups is another important part on the process. By listening to the other