Courageous Conversations with Independence House
February 16, 2023
Children’s Cove partners with numerous organizations across Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard to support survivors of child sexual abuse and their non-offending family members to provide a comprehensive trauma informed response. These collaborations help us make strides toward creating a community free from abuse, where children have a voice that is heard, and where they live healthy, safe, and empowered lives.
One of the organizations we work closely with is Independence House, which is the Sexual and Domestic Violence Agency for Cape Cod. Beginning this month, they will engage in a new campaign titled Courageous Conversations.
Chris Morin, Director of Prevention, Education and Outreach at Independence House offers why this upcoming campaign is so critical:
In 2021, Independence House received over seven thousand contacts from people needing assistance due to domestic or sexual violence. The requests included counseling services, hotline calls, court advocacy, medical accompaniment, and emergency shelter. An FBI statistic for 2019, collected from local police departments, showed that Cape Cod had over 100 sexual assaults, a crime which more than 90% of the time goes unreported. Since 2017, six Cape Cod women have died due to domestic violence homicide.
Many people come to Independence House when they are at the “end of their rope,” having experienced abuse for years. Regarding the six women who died and the hundreds of clients we see each year, each victim had at least one person in their lives who witnessed something called a “red flag” or a sign which meant something was wrong in their relationship. The question that remains is could the abuse and deaths been prevented?
Independence House believes that Cape Cod community members want to know how they can help prevent domestic and sexual violence. We would like to hear what you have to say about abuse and your thoughts about why it is a silent epidemic.
We are asking community members to join one of a series of small, facilitated, focus groups to discuss the dynamics of abuse and what we can do as community members to prevent it. Each group will have 6 to 8 members and will be held at locations across Cape Cod, either in person and online via Zoom, with times available during the day and evening.
Here is a schedule of upcoming focus groups:
- February 28, 6:00-7:30pm – Independence House, Hyannis
- March 13, 10:00-11:30am – ZOOM
- March 14, 6:00-7:30pm – Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth
- March 16, 6:00-7:30pm – Independence House, Orleans
- March 17, 2:00-3:30pm – ZOOM
- March 20, 6:00-7:30pm – Independence House, Orleans
- March 22, 6:00-7:30pm – Independence House, Hyannis
- April 5, 6:00-7:30pm – Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth
- April 6, 6:00-7:30pm – Independence House, Orleans
- April 7, 1:00-2:30pm – ZOOM
- April 17, 6:00-7:30pm – ZOOM
If you would like to join one of the focus groups above, please contact Chris Morin with the following information:
- Name
- Contact information
- Date and time of the session you would like to attend
- Town where you reside
The stigma and challenges associated with talking about sexual abuse, domestic violence, and sexual exploitation are a large part of why crimes against children, teens and adults continue to be a public health crisis across our communities. Children’s Cove encourages any member of our community to participate in these Courageous Conversations.
To learn more about our partners at Independence House, visit their website.
