Reflection Paper On Family Violence

On Friday, September 2, my supervisor Ms. Carla Hungate and I attended a monthly Douglas County Task force on Family Violence meeting held at Douglas County courthouse. The meeting attracts a wide variety of government agencies (court clerks, law enforcement, magistrate, probation officers, DA, victims advocate from the prosecutor’s office, and DCFS). Also, community members (shelter and victim advocates, Share House, FVIP, clergy, nurses, residents of Douglas County, nurses, and doctors). Interaction ranges from information sharing to community consultation and, in some instances, active participation in the county decision- making process. The agenda of the meeting was to educate the citizens and the community to better understand domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and how to prevent it and hold the perpetrators accountable. My supervisor held my hands and introduced me to everybody in the room. The meeting lasted for five hours. By the end of the meeting, alliances were created and partnerships between existing organizations built trust and mechanisms for joint action. REACTION

I felt out of place and thought to myself, “Why did she bring me to this meeting.” I felt discombobulated and was looking for an excuse to leave the meeting. But I realized that much of my reaction was based on culture shock because I was in a room with people that looked different from me and have prominent titles. The turning point for me was when people came to me and started relating their ideas and thoughts to me. For the remainder of the meeting I began to build “social capital” social ties, networks and support which is associated with the domestic violence awareness and education