Lyke Me, Advocacy Group Foundation

Good morning.... This past 18 months has been amazing. From facilitating workshops, to supervising a State Mandated Summer Feeding Program to becoming a Community Partner II to moving into a new position as, Family Partner and back around to facilitation before I go full-time into case management. Shall I say...God is bringing me full circle!!! Making me well rounded in His purpose for my life. Aligning my steps to be parallel to the Masters Degree He ordained me to complete.... Thus, with that said.... Please join me on Monday nights starting May 7th from 5:30-8p to share in the knowledge about Child Abuse Prevention. April is the awareness month for this subject. However, I am a firm believer that abuse does not choose months, days nor hours of the day to happen. Therefore, we will still talk about this public health issue in May and on into June. We will be viewing the movie/documentary "Resilience" touching on and discussing the study of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). This 5-week series is going to be powerful. So, you don't want to miss this. See flyer for details. NOTE: Deadlines for registration of each session is the Wednesday prior to that Monday's class.

Learned behaviors.... Children imitate what they see us do as adults... Early exposure to violence and abuse can reap the consequence of children developing into victims and/or predators from adolescence into adulthood.

A story about Teen Dating Violence.... Two teenagers (aboy and a girl) have been dating for 7 months. They finally experience their first real argument. It becomes heated, and the young man decides to take a break and walk away before it escalates any further. The young lady, on the other hand doesn't want to take a break. She wants to continue the argument and feels abandoned and disregard when her boyfriend attempts to walk away; so, she snatches on him. She tries to physic...ally force him to stay. He's not used to this type of behavior. He becomes startled by what's happening; breaks free and runs away. Later on that day, his girlfriend is blowing up his phone. She wants to talk again. The young man ignores the calls. He is too confused to talk. He thought they had a great relationship. He doesn't understand why his girlfriend became so violent with him. He was taught to never hit a girl. He was taught to talk out your problems; and to take a break if you feel you can't continue your conversation in a healthy manner. The next day, they see each other at school. Things a really awkward, and now they are both confused. After school, they finally talk. The young lady questions why her boyfriend left her in the middle of their argument? Why didn't he fight her back? She questions his love for her. She tells him, "If you really loved me, you would have grabbed, slapped and made me respect you. Still confused, he questioned why she would not let him go? Why would she put her hands on him? Why did she want and expect him to put his hands on her? He told her, "If you loved me, you wouldn't try to force me to do something I don't want to do." The young lady explained that she often saw her mother and father fight; and that this is how they handled their disagreements. The young man explained that his parents always talked out their problems, and if the argument got too bad, they agreed to take a time out until they were both in a space to talk to each other with respect. He let her know that he would never disrespect or abuse her; and if she could not promise the same, they would have to break up. The both apologized, and the young lady promised never act like that again. The young man suggested that they both get help. He wanted to support her by understanding why she did what she did; he also wanted her to get help. . The young lady agreed. They both began their day by asking their peer if there are any support groups on campus who could educate them on dating violence. This was their first step in finding a solution.

Good morning... The 1st day of February. The beginning of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. I could quote statistics, but today I won't. Let's talk what I know, witness and experienced first hand... Teen Dating Violence is a major problem in middle school. Children as young as 12 (some younger) are involved with other children in violent and unhealthy ways. They are demonstrating abusive and controlling behaviors that can lead to more serious consequences, such as physica...l or psychological injury, death or suicide. Don't believe me... Ask your child or a young person have they ever witnessed their peers, who are "dating" partners: 1. Go through one another's phone or property without permission. 2. Push, restrain, block, slap, kick, choke, snatch, spit or punch, etc. their partner. 3. Mentally and emotionally blackmail their partner in order to make them feel bad or less than. 4. Threaten their partner with some form of harm (starting rumors, sharing secrets, hurting their partner or themselves, etc.). 5. Withhold items that don't belong to them in order to control and manipulate their partner. 6. .....and, the list goes on.... Our children are forming unhealthy relationships and attachments based upon exposure to violence and abuse directly and indirectly. These are learned behaviors; most of what starts and is taught in the home and/or around the neighborhood. If you haven't already, it is time to have an open and honest conversation with your child/ren and our youth in general. Better yet, before you begin that conversation with them, how about you have that same conversation with yourself. We can't help them process and face what we are not ready to ourselves. #TeenDatingViolenceAwarenessMonth

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figuresm of light, but by making the darkness conscious." Carl Jung

Acts of service... "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?" MLK, Jr. #Day2

Happy birthday to a man who spoke and marched for love and peace amongst humanity. Silence kills... Let us lift our voices against violence and abuse. #Day1

Remembering the moment I woke up and the true healing began. This can be you...

Good morning... When you spend quality time with yourself; you gain the opportunity to find out....

It was great to donate the last of the brand new baby clothing my agency provided for our communities and their families. #UpliftFamilyServices #CarterBabyClothing

I love giving back and serving our young people. #IBelieveTheChildrenAreOurFuture

While engaging in a discussion between service providers and community members on the human services principle "Unconditional Positive Regard - accepting and respecting others as they are, without judgment or evaluation;" one of our leadership members shared this statement (paraphrasing).... "Coming from other countries where our government is allowed to treat us (the people) anyway they want to, is the conditioning that allows us (immigrants) to accept dismissive and disrespectful behaviors here in America. Thus, discouraging us from seeking services within the communities we live in as a result of the general population in America behaving just like the government we ran from in our country." Now, let that marinate....