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By: Shelby Bubnick  Children who have witnessed domestic violence may experience significant long-term effects. According to the Childhood Domestic Violence Association, 40 million adult Americans grew up living with domestic violence. Witnessing domestic violence can have a lasting impact on their lives and alter their hopes for the future.
Children who grow up in homes with domestic violence are three times more likely to repeat the cycle in adulthood as a victim in an abusive relationships or by becoming abusers themselves. * This can happen because violence becomes a norm in the eyes of the child and feel that they are at fault. 30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household. ** Studies support the findings that rates of abuse are higher among those who were abused as children or who witnessed abuse as children. ** These children can also be at higher risk for health problems when they become adults. These can be psychological, such as depression and anxiety. While others may experience problems with their physical health such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and more. Many studies show that stress and trauma can impair children’s brain development. Adults who experienced significant early life stress have differences in brain structure compared to people who experienced low levels of early stress. * Early exposure to violence can influence an infant’s stress reactivity. This can have lifelong effects on psychological and physical health. Domestic violence can even affect a child before they are born as domestic violence often begins or grows more intense during pregnancy. This results in maternal stress, which can interfere with fetal brain development. * Long-term effects of witnessing domestic violence as a child:
*cdv.org **domesticshelters.org By: Shelby Bubnick  Children are often the silent victims of domestic violence. 1 in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to the violence. * Although children can be resilient, many who witness or overhear abuse – whether the abuse is emotional, verbal, or physical, are at high risk for profound short-term psychological, mental and social effects.
Domestic violence in the home can create a tense environment. As a result, children who live in these homes might experience fear and anxiety. Younger children who witness abuse may start to regress to toddler behavior (thumb sucking, bed-wetting, increased whining and crying). School-aged children may blame themselves for the abuse. This self-blame reaction can occur naturally, or because the abuser told the child that they are responsible for the violence. Either way, this can hurt a child’s self-esteem. Low self-esteem can affect the child’s participation in classes and school activities which may isolate them. Teenagers who witness abuse may experience different short-term effects than young children. Teens might respond to this violence by acting out in negative ways such as, fighting with family members and skipping school. Teens are also more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol to cope with the stress and anxieties of their home life. These teens may experience low self-esteem and have trouble making friends. In some cases, these effects can ultimately cause depression. It is essential to recognize the short-term effects of witnessing domestic violence to help the child recover. Witnessing abuse is traumatizing, and it may be something the child never forgets. Connect with community resources; educate yourself and your kids. The sooner a child gets help, the better their chances of becoming a healthy adult. If a child has witnessed domestic violence:
To speak with an advocate and learn more about services at Beacon of Hope Crisis Center please call our crisis line (317) 731-6140. We are here to help. *ncadv.org By: Savannah Tipton  Some warning signs of dating violence:
 - If in a life-threatening emergency situation call 911. - If you or someone you know is experiencing any of these warning signs - call our confidential crisis line at 317-731-6140.  By Lydia Wood Echo is a certified therapy dog through Therapy Dogs International. Over the last several months, Echo has made a home at Beacon of Hope Crisis Center. He sits in on appointments for advocacy services and counseling to assist clients that have experienced trauma. While Echo is still new to Beacon of Hope, therapy dogs have been utilized for years. New research shows just how beneficial a therapy dog can be. Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) has recently been used to lessen the effects of serious pain, both mental and physical. Having an animal present can lower cortisol levels and raise dopamine and serotonin levels. This greatly lowers stress and raises relaxation. This helps make expressing one’s trauma less difficult. In fact, in recent studies AAT can lower depressive symptoms long term in victims of trauma. Acute anxiety from speaking of one’s trauma is often lowered in the presence of a therapy dog, but those anxious effects are often lowered long-term as well in many of the individuals studied. If someone starts to feel uncomfortable, Echo will snuggle in closer instead of shying away. He will rest his head on your lap if you are sad. He makes perfect eye contact to help reduce anxiety or stress clients may have. It is the most precious thing to watch as he takes it upon himself to improve the mood of others.  His impact is shown in this drawing a client made. For this client, Echo represented a breath of fresh air. He brought the light through their darkness. Though Echo can't comprehend the 2-dimensional tribute to the work he does, he feels it. His comforting presence benefits his clients not only in sessions, but in their daily lives.
By: Shelby Bubnick Personal Impact of Dating Violence
By Tiffany Wilson  On behalf of Beacon of Hope Crisis Center, we would like to extend our appreciation to our law enforcement partners for their dedication and commitment to serving and protecting the community. We are honored to have a strong and collaborative partnership with each one. Together in collaboration we are protecting the community and intervening earlier with victim advocacy. We love making a positive difference together. Together our work is helping to reduce our overall homicide rates. Thank you for all that you do!
By: Savannah Tipton  We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the many donors, sponsors, and community members that have supported our organization and the victims within our community. Thank you for your ongoing support!
As a non-profit organization, Beacon of Hope Crisis Center largely relies on donations to keep our organization running. We are constantly preparing crisis bundles and other donations for victims as needs arise. In addition to those much-needed crisis bundles, sometimes what often gets forgotten is the office victims come to in search of services. Donations of office and cleaning supplies, water, etc. help us create a comfortable environment for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault within our community. We served over 900 victims in 2017 and we have continued to grow as an organization since. Community outreach and new partnerships have attributed to more victims in need of our services being able to reach out to us and receive those vital services. Please consider donating TODAY! Items Needed:
By: Sandra K. Ziebold  Congratulations to our Indianapolis Brackets For Good nonprofit match-up competitor, Brookside Community Development Corporation (Brookside CDC), on winning Round 2 of the #BFG18 tournament. Thank you for being such a great opponent in the tournament. We immensely thank every donor for helping. We displayed a valiant effort but admit Brookside CDC overtook us in the game. Our team here at Beacon of Hope Crisis Center absolutely wanted to win but we are now thrilled to encourage support for Brookside CDC as they advance to a win in Round 3. What I liked best about this match-up is that the Brookside community received a double win in Round 2! The double win is that both of our organizations serve the Brookside neighborhood and both of our organizations benefited from numerous donations! Every organization competing in Brackets For Good wants to advance and keep raising much needed funds. At the same time as we are disappointed that we lost Round 2 we truly couldn't be more thrilled about Brookside Community Development Corporation advancing in the tournament. Brookside CDC is all about play-based childhood trauma reversal initiatives, societal reentry, and focusing on ending generational poverty to create opportunities of renewal and transformation for the residents of Brookside. Please rally behind them Indianapolis, let's help them win Round 3! 46201 is where a large number of the clients we serve at Beacon of Hope Crisis Center reside. Center Township is one of the reasons why we relocated and expanded our agency, ensuring we were accessible by way of a bus-line. We serve all of Central Indiana and our data shows Marion county and Center Township at the top in our service numbers. Beacon of Hope Crisis Center is focused on helping to reduce our overall homicide rates by serving victims of domestic violence and intervening before situations escalate. I encourage everyone reading this to follow us and learn more about the positive difference Beacon of Hope Crisis Center is making in Central Indiana for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Please continue to consider us in your portfolio of charities when making individual and mission gifts. Good luck to Brookside CDC in Round 3! Track Their Progress Here Ways to follow and contact Beacon of Hope Crisis Center: By: Lydia Wood, Victim Advocate and Trauma Therapy Dog Handler  "Echo!" someone calls. He perks his ears, lifting his head even though he was just in a deep sleep, looking for whomever just called his name. "Hey, handsome boy!" it's the counselor who frequently uses Echo for his calming presence in her sessions with clients. She says, "You ready to work, buddy?" He sits up and stretches out his paws for a long bow-like stretch paired with a yawn. He stands up and puts one paw off of his bed, looking at me as a way to ask if he can get up.
"You're free!" I say, giving him permission to greet the counselor. He leaps over to her, showing his excitement for the day. "Heel," I tell him after he's gotten a decent amount of post-nap scratches. He obediently comes over and enthusiastically places himself at my left side, ready to go greet the client at the door. We walk together with the counselor to the front door of the office to greet the client and walk them back to the counseling room. We open the door and he wags his whole body with excitement as he sees his client for the next hour; a young child, the perfect height for Echo to greet with an enthusiastic face lick. "You're free!" I tell Echo, giving him permission to leave my side. He goes over to the child and leans on his legs, whacking the furniture with his tail on the way over. We walk the child back to the counseling room where they decide to sit on the floor, holding Echo in their arms. The child tells the counselor about their week. Echo looks admiringly up at the child as they talk, firmly believing that every word the child says is the best sound he's ever heard. The smile upon the child’s face says it all. Echo has thoroughly engaged with that child and made the child’s day even brighter by his presence. As Echo gains more and more clients, his excitement at the call of duty only grows as he greets each client at the door and listens to the cadence of their stories. He may not understand the words they say, but it's clear he understands the importance of them. Echo has been a great addition to the Beacon of Hope Crisis Center Team and we are so excited to see him grow as he continues to work with clients. By: The Beacon of Hope Crisis Center Team  Thank you donors for helping us win Round 1 of our match up in the Brackets For Good Tournament. Because of you Beacon of Hope Crisis Center advanced to Round 2! We still need you please stick with us, share and rally more support for us so that we keep advancing. Staying in this we could win an additional $10,000 for our cause. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! |
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