to cultivate the values and behaviors they will carry into the most important
relationships in their lives.
For those who might find themselves victims of abusive behavior, we hope
this program was a step in helping them to identify the harm and to learn
how to get help. For those who might discover abusive tendencies forming
in themselves, we hope this program gives them the courage to face those
behaviors and get the support they need to prevent them from becoming
engrained habits. And for all of us, we hope that we are becoming better
informed in how to help those around us in need.
a teachable moment from oliver!
On April 21 the Secondary Schools of the Academy of the New Church
conducted a Domestic Abuse Prevention Workshop for all students after
opening chapel. This was in conjunction with the production of the musical,
Oliver!, which had its first performance the following night. The schools have
also focused on bullying this year.
The workshop consisted of three parts:
1. Performance of a scene from Oliver! dealing with domestic
violence.
2. Educators from Laurel House (http://laurel-house.org/) addressed
the entire school about the topic.
3. Students broke into small discussion groups by class, led by the
faculty, aimed at p rocessing the information and strategizing
practical ways to apply it to life.
Counselors from the Growth Opportunity Center and Montgomery
County Intermediate Unit were available throughout the morning to speak
with any students who needed additional support.
The workshop was part of a greater initiative begun earlier in the year to
increase awareness of domestic abuse and work with students to make healthy
relationship decisions.
Two other areas of our project:
1. Students involved in the production of Oliver! helped with fund
raising and distributing information about domestic abuse
prevention.
2. Various resources have been compiled on this website, which
has been sent to all students: https://sites.google.com/site/
endingdomesticabuse/
The workshop was organized, along with the school principals, by Kendra
Knight. Contact: [email protected]
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