SWIC Newsletter - September 2009

SWIC Forging Partnerships with Faith Community

Alone, helpless, hopeless… that’s how women and children feel living with an abuser. When victims of domestic violence decide to break the silence and seek help, surveys show that a leader in their faith community will be among the first people they turn to.

Last summer, a SWIC staff person and a board member, who is a member of the local clergy, traveled to California to attend a seminar to learn how domestic violence organizations can better partner with the faith community to help families impacted by abuse. As a result of that seminar, SWIC has begun to contact various councils of churches in the Schuylkill County community to forge relationships and promote awareness of SWIC and its services.

As clergy clearly know and researchers and statisticians have only begun to substantiate in the last 20 years, trauma often raises spiritual concerns in individuals. SWIC seeks to partner with the faith community in order to (1) provide avenues whereby abuse victims may address spiritual concerns and (2) provide information to the faith community to address other needs of victims in a way that promotes safety for all.

Comments from the local faith community

What can the Faith Community do?

1. Discuss abuse when conducting premarital counseling.

2. Counsel separately any couples who divulge abusive behavior, for two reasons: (1) the victim may be afraid to be honest in front of the abuser, thereby rendering counseling ineffective; and (2) many victims who have been honest in front of a counselor have been severely abused later in retaliation.

3. Discuss abuse from the pulpit, spousal/partner abuse as well as child abuse.

4. Commit to send at least one person from your body to an annual 2-hour workshop to be sponsored and conducted by SWIC.

5. Place brochures and/or other materials (such as posters) in your building, -- in a resource area and/or in women’s restrooms.

6. Support SWIC’s efforts through collections of clothing, nonperishable food items, household items, cleaning supplies, hygiene items, etc.

7. Invite a SWIC staff person to speak and/or show a video at your church, -- during service, in a women’s group, in a Sunday School class, to a youth group, etc.

8. Plan a protocol for dealing with domestic violence that spills over into the church. (For example, what if the abuser is in a leadership role? What if violence occurs or threatens to occur on church property or at a church function?)

What can SWIC do?

Please let us know! If we can be a resource for the faith community in any way, -- providing information, brochures, contacts for other community resources; speaking at a function or group; -- or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact Darla at SWIC, 570.622.3991. Or contact Darla if you are willing to have SWIC representatives speak to your area organization of churches or to the leadership or any group within your individual church body.