Expressing Love Through Safety for Self and Family with Carol S2E3

We hear various recommendations for child sexual abuse prevention along with keeping ourselves and our children safe, such as talking to our children etc. However, we don’t often hear specifics about trainings and products that are available to help us. I wanted to explore that further and sought out Carol who I met at a Darkness to Light conference.

Our guest, Carol, was sexually abused by a member of the clergy when she was a child. Now, as an adult, she is an advocate, speaker and trainer for multiple sexual assault and sexual abuse focused organizations. She is also a Damsel in Defense independent distributor. In this capacity, she provides personal protection products and safety training for sexual assault survivors, their loved ones and the public. Carol joins us to discuss child sexual abuse prevention. In this interview she focuses on:

• A brief glimpse into her childhood including the sexual abuse perpetrated by a close member of the clergy as well as her family’s response
• Child Sexual Abuse prevention education and the need to target 3 distinct audiences
• An in-depth discussion around the Damsel in Defense SAFE Hearts 11 educational book series that help parents have those difficult “Kid-versations” as well as other personal safety products offered by Damsel in Defense (stun guns, personal alarms, pepper spray etc.)
• A comparison of the SAFE Heart children series to other sexual abuse trainings including Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children program geared towards adults and Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
• Her view on the top kid focused prevention strategies
• Her recommended read, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals the Protect Us from Violence, written by Gavin de Becker
• Other products and trainings such as the NRA’s Refuse to be a Victim, martial arts, Citizen’s Police Academy, and Neighborhood Watch offerings

Feedback is always welcome appreciated…drop us a line at info@tailofthebell.com. YANA!

• The “SAFE” in Damsel in Defense’s SAFE Hearts book series stands for Sharing Awareness for Family Empowerment. This family education line is designed to help adults and children navigate the most important, yet difficult conversations; to empower children to take ownership over their own hearts and bodies, raise their awareness, and give them the ability to protect themselves against anyone who may try to harm them. More information may be found at www.safehearts.com
• Darkness To Light’s Stewards of Children trainings, an adult focused prevention training program that centers on improving the awareness of the prevalence, consequences, and circumstances of child sexual abuse. The training highlights 5 steps to protecting children. More information may be obtained at www.d2l.org
• Children’s Bill of Rights – while only briefly mentioned in this episode, I performed a google search and discovered there were dozens of variations of Children’s Bill of Rights from different organizations. I’ve attached a link to a website that discusses this in more depth and was actually drafted in the 1990’s by a group of children from multiple countries. www.newciv.org/ncn/cbor.html
• Citizen Police Academy, a program designed to acquaint community residents with the activities of their local police department. Do a google search to find offerings near you.
• Neighborhood Watch programs can be found at www.nnw.org
• NRA’s Refuse to Be A Victim training can be found at https://rtbav.nra.org. Their website notes that it “teaches tips and techniques you need to be alerted to dangerous situations and to avoid criminal confrontation.”
• The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker is a non-fiction self-help book that demonstrates how every individual should learn to trust the inherent “gift” of their gut instinct and available on amazon or at book stores.

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Thanks for listening, and remember, YANA!