Register today…

1. ONLINE (here)
2. Buy tickets (contact helpline@helplinedelmor.org)
3. Register by phone 740-363-1835

Enjoy a lovely evening outdoors and support HelpLine – if you enjoy golf come early for a couples tournament. We’ll see you there!

HelpLine is excited to announce that a new branch of their Healing Circle support group is starting in Morrow County. The Healing Circle is a place where sexual assault survivors can go for support and empowerment during their journey towards healing.  It is a safe space for survivors to be heard, or just to listen.  If you have any questions about details of this group or the meeting location and times, please call Nora Flanagan SARN Coordinator at 740-262-1835 x105.

Learn more…

Violence has shaken the residents of the Chardon community to the core after the school shooting this past week. Our thoughts go out to the families of all involved in the tragedy. Recent news shows a link between family violence and the shooter suspect, a 17 year old boy. “Geauga County court records show the father of the teenager who police say shot five students at Chardon High School on Monday had been arrested many times for violent crimes against women.” Read more…

We understand that this kind of violence can occur anywhere. HelpLine offers violence prevention programs including those that address family violence and bullying. We can also connected those who’ve been affected by violence to help in our community. If you or someone you know needs help, call today 800-684-2324.

Read the full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57386904-504083/report-tj-lane-alleged-school-shooter-grew-up-with-family-violence/

In the News (Delaware Gazette):

BV junior leads charge against bullying

Abbey Fields sits in front of Buck­eye Val­ley High School where she is a junior. She started the “Thank Good­ness I’m Female (T.G.I.F.)” pro­gram aimed at address­ing rela­tional aggres­sion among girls. (Gazette | Melissa Mackey)

MELISSA MACKEY

Staff Writer

Abbey Fields, a Buck­eye Val­ley High School junior, knows what it’s like to be bul­lied since she expe­ri­enced it first­hand in ele­men­tary school.

“I expe­ri­enced almost all of it,” said Abbey, 17. “I was sex­u­ally harassed. Cyber­bul­ly­ing, gos­sip, rumors, verbal.”

Abbey’s mother, Beckie Fields, said that the bul­ly­ing was so bad that she even pulled her daugh­ter out of school for a period of time.

“It’s very real and harm­ful,” Fields said. “I don’t think we can do enough to edu­cate on how harm­ful it can be.”

In today’s age of smart­phones and social media, a per­son can vir­tu­ally bully another from any­where, Abbey said.

Abbey’s neg­a­tive expe­ri­ences with bul­ly­ing got her think­ing at a Youth 2 Youth work­shop she attended at Cap­i­tal Uni­ver­sity and how she could bring some­thing pos­i­tive back to the com­mu­nity. And that was how Thank Good­ness I’m Female — or T.G.I.F. — was born.

Abbey worked with Brande Urban, a pre­ven­tion edu­ca­tor with Help Line of Delaware and Mor­row coun­ties, to develop the pro­gram aimed at address­ing rela­tional aggres­sion among girls. Abbey even wrote and secured a grant through the Women’s Fund of Cen­tral Ohio that trained Buck­eye Val­ley High School stu­dents to lead meet­ings in the spring and fall for selected Buck­eye Val­ley Mid­dle School girls.

Abbey also con­ducted a youth sur­vey with results indi­cat­ing that out of 79 female stu­dents in the Buck­eye Val­ley dis­trict, 89 per­cent have felt excluded, had a rumor spread about them or had been given a dirty look by another female. More than 72 per­cent had one of these events occur in mid­dle school.

“These girls also report feel­ing rejected,” Abbey said.

The teen-led meet­ings, which are hosted at both Buck­eye Val­ley and Genoa mid­dle schools, focus on chang­ing rela­tional aggres­sion and pro­mot­ing strate­gies to stop bul­ly­ing through dis­cus­sion, inter­ac­tive activ­i­ties, group art and videos.

Those par­tic­i­pat­ing in the pro­gram even par­tic­i­pated in self-defense classes dubbed “Girls Kick Butt Day,” which teaches con­fi­dence and tech­niques in deal­ing with bullies.

T.G.I.F. is even the sub­ject of acco­lades. In Decem­ber, the Ohio Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion awarded the 2011 Asset Builder Award to the pro­gram for a school dis­trict youth-led group.

Abbey is going into the program’s third year and sees a big change in girls who are selected for the pro­gram. She said that other schools are either imple­ment­ing their own pro­grams or ask­ing for T.G.I.F. at their schools.

“We def­i­nitely want to help out in the Delaware com­mu­nity and expand out,” Abbey said.

She con­tin­ues look­ing for grant sources to keep the pro­gram going and will soon offer teacher and par­ent sessions.

“This gives teach­ers an oppor­tu­nity to see exactly what we teach the stu­dents,” Abbey said. “Par­ents don’t quite know what to do. Par­ents def­i­nitely strug­gle, so we’ll add a seg­ment for par­ents, too.”

Article link: http://delgazette.com/2012/02/bv-junior-leads-charge-against-bullying/