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Welcome to the March 2015 edition of Hope House's Community Education E-bulletin! February was Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month Sadly the potential severity of teen dating violence was made all too real last month when 17-year-old Dean Sutcliffe killed his ex-girlfriend's sister and mom's boyfriend in Mazomanie. Please see the list of articles and resources below related to this case and other teen dating violence issues:
Hope House Donation Needs Monetary donations are most needed. Individuals have the option of donating online. Please note that a portion of your online donation will go towards PayPal fees. Donations can be mailed to Hope House, P.O. Box 557, Baraboo, WI 53913. We also appreciate gas cards, gift cards (Walmart, Kwik Trip, Walgreens, Kohl’s), taxi vouchers from Baraboo Taxi, and used cell phones, iPods and iPads. Please note that we are not accepting stuffed animals, clothes (except for sweatshirts and sweatpants), shoes, TVs, bar soap, hats, scarves or travel-size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, or body wash. Current needs include
Special Note about Travel-Size Items: We encourage those looking to donate travel-size items to donate them to the Backpack Project. The Backpack Project strives to provide Baraboo School District students who are financially challenged to enter the school doors on the first day ‘just like everyone else’ and to show these children the community supports and encourages them to learn and do their best. If interested in donating towards this project, please contact Becky Hovde at 608-963-8230 or hivebiz@centurytel.net.
Miscellaneous
Local News
 Resources Child Abuse and Children with Disabilities: Teachers College at Columbia University has created web resources that are specifically focused on preparing for and conducting interviews with children who have been abused who also have disabilities. To view these resources, click here. OVC’s Victim Assistance Training (VAT) Online has added five new modules to its curriculum: sexual assault, LGBTQ populations, victims with substance abuse issues, financial crimes, and identity theft. VAT training is free and high-quality. For more information, click here. Transgender Sexual Violence Project: Summary of Wisconsin Data: "The Transgender Sexual Violence Project, sponsored by FORGE (For Ourselves: Reworking Gender Expression), conducted a national survey on sexual violence within the transgender and SOFFA (Significant Others, Friends, Family and Allies) community...We broadly define transgender to include a large population of people who do not strictly adhere to societally constructed gender norms and stereotypes." View the data here. National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (Feb 22-28): The National Eating Disorders Association has created tools and resources to understand eating disorders and support individuals and families on the journey to recovery. They have an information and referral helpline, lesson plans on digital media literacy, awareness materials, and toolkits for parents, educators, and coaches. You might also be interested in the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s online resource collection on sexual violence, trauma, and eating disorders, which you can view here. Training Opportunity Together for Children Conference: This conference will be held April 15-16 in Lake Geneva. Workshops include Teen Sexual Abuse: What Professionals Need to Know for Prevention and Response; Child Sexual Abuse in a Technological World: Implications for Investigation, Prosecutions and Victim Impact; A Collaborative Model for Reducing Truancy; Maximizing the Benefits of Team Building; Dangerous Homes? What injuries should make you worry about abuse after household 'accidents'; Promoting Resiliency in Young Children in Poverty who have Experienced Complex Trauma; and more. For more information and to register, visit www.preventchildabusewi.org. Faith Communities' Section Save the Date: The next Faith Leaders for Healthy Relationships (FLHR) luncheon will be on April 28 on Spiritual Integrity - how to help individuals re-establish trust in themselves, others, and in a higher power when someone has broken that trust due to experiences of abuse, cheating, crossing boundaries, pastoral misconduct, or conflicts in the church. Thanks to everyone that participated in the last FLHR luncheon, Community Resources Panel, on January 21 at Trappers Turn Golf Club! More Pastors Embrace Talk of Mental Ills: “Evangelical leaders are increasingly opening up about family suicides, their own clinical depression and the relief they have received from psychiatric medication…This month, a mental health advisory group appointed by Dr. Page offered a variety of proposals to help Southern Baptist congregants and their families with mental health challenges, the first time the church has addressed the subject in a direct and comprehensive manner. The proposals include providing churches with a database of Christian counselors and mental health providers, and offering more robust education about mental health in seminaries and at Christian colleges”…Read more  Parents' & Youth Service Providers' Section Teaching Digital Citizenship: "In partnership with Disney's Club Penguin, NetSmartz is proud to announce that our latest resource, Teaching Digital Citizenship, is available today! This free, online training tool provides practical tips for leading class discussions and highlights NetSmartz resources ideal for teaching each topic. This program provides an in-depth review of how to teach digital literacy and ethics, inappropriate content, online sexual solicitation, online privacy, sexting, and cyberbullying." Futures Without Violence’s How to Talk to Teens about Dating Violence: “Below you’ll find information and tools to help you talk to your kids about healthy relationships, guidelines on how to navigate their world of cell phones and social networking and how to talk to your kids about being an upstander vs. a bystander”…Read more Miss Representation Curriculum 2.0: "Watch this video with a young person in your life and complete the accompanying activity. Next, imagine a whole library of videos like this one, inspiring media literacy and learning. In the curriculum, we've paired multiple, age-appropriate, short videos with easy to implement lessons for both in and out of school. If you want to keep spreading the love, get the Miss Representation Curriculum 2.0 for your local classroom or community group." Putting Media to the Test: “Here at loveisrespect, we’re all about building and nurturing healthy relationships, but unfortunately the media is not always on the same page. In honor of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, we’ve decided to dissect some media and put it to the test. The Healthy Relationship test, that is! Below are the music videos for three chart-toppers from 2014 [Jealous by Nick Jonas, Blank Space by Taylor Swift, and Animals by Maroon 5]. To test them, we’re going to focus on both the lyrics and the imagery”…Check out the songs’ scorings  NO BULL Challenge: "A social action organization, NO BULL Challenge invites youth (ages 13 to 23) from around the world to take a stand against bullying and to promote digital responsibility, leadership, and social action through filmmaking and social media. To participate, create a short film, public service announcement (PSA) or vine. To learn more about how you can be a leader, make it all the way to the award show in Los Angeles, and win a scholarship and other prizes, go to www.nobullchallenge.org. Entry deadline: April 19, 2015." School Experiences of Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Students in Wisconsin: "The purpose of this research is to systematically document the experiences of transgender (trans) and gender non-conforming (GNC) students in Wisconsin schools to fill in the knowledge gaps about their unique needs. Six themes are addressed in the report: learning environment, physical facilities, health and wellness, safety, institutional and social support, and acceptance and respect"...Read the report
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Lantern Memorial Project: Since October 2013, Hope House has joined with other domestic violence programs around the state by implementing the Lantern Project. For our part in this statewide project, we added to the lamppost in front of Hope House a purple memorial wreath. We will turn on the light for a week every time there is a death related to domestic violence in Wisconsin. We will post information online about the person that was killed. If you drive by our building and see our lamppost on, please reflect on the deadly impact that domestic violence has on our communities.  Obituaries are not available online at this time. If it becomes available, we will re-post it here. --- "TOWN OF MAZOMANIE — A 17-year-old boy, apparently upset over a breakup two weeks ago, took a handgun to his ex-girlfriend’s trailer home Monday night and killed the girl’s teen sister and another person, authorities said Tuesday. Dean M. Sutcliffe was arrested Monday night at the scene of the shooting, said Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney. Investigators are recommending that prosecutors charge Sutcliffe with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide. Ariyl Brady, 16, and her mother’s boyfriend, Chris Schwichtenberg, a 39-year-old father of two boys, were fatally shot, said Schwichtenberg’s mother, Joyce Zimdars. Sutcliffe’s ex-girlfriend, Amanda Brady, 15, wasn’t at the home in the Rio Valley Estates trailer park at the time of the shooting, said her father, Justin Brady, of Deerfield. 'Amanda broke up with him and he took it out on my son and Ariyl,' Zimdars said of Sutcliffe. Zimdars described a shooting scene that began with a surprise knock at the door from Sutcliffe in the quiet of the night. 'Chris went to (open) the door and from what I understand the kid just started shooting,' Zimdars said. Deputies were called to the mobile home park at 10359 Highway Y, four miles north of Mazomanie, around 11:30 p.m. on Monday and found the two victims suffering from gunshot wounds that proved fatal, Mahoney said. They also found Sutcliffe, Mahoney said. 'He was there and immediately surrendered to deputies,' Mahoney said. Mary Brady, Schwichtenberg’s girlfriend and Ariyl and Amanda Brady’s mother, shared the trailer home with Schwichtenberg. Mary Brady was there at the time of the shooting, and ran to warn Schwichtenberg’s two teenage sons to stay in their room before she called 911, Zimdars said. They were all unharmed, Mahoney said. Sutcliffe and both Brady sisters were students at Wisconsin Heights High School, although according to Sutcliffe’s Facebook page he left the school last month and enrolled in the Wisconsin Challenge Academy, a program for at-risk youth. Counselors were on hand at the high school to provide support to students and staff there, said Mark Elworthy, superintendent of the Wisconsin Heights School District. 'We have people who are available and dedicated for the next couple of days for that purpose,' Elworthy said. Schwichtenberg raised his boys alone after their mother died about 10 years ago, Zimdars said, and was the manager of the mobile home park since 2002. Two of his sisters, Julie and Paula, also live at the trailer park, Zimdars added. 'He was my only son. Everybody around here loved him,' said a somber Zimdars, 61, of Madison, who was speaking from Paula’s home Tuesday morning prior to meeting with authorities. Zimdars said she was feeling numb ever since receiving the news just after midnight that her son was killed. 'Chris did everything he could for everybody,' said Zimdars. Residents of the trailer park described Schwichtenberg as an exceptional manager who took the time to make sure everybody’s needs were met. He was especially helpful to the many elderly residents who lived there, said James Eveland, 66. 'He plowed the snow for me when I was sick. He took care of things for me,' Eveland said. 'He’d do anything for everybody.' Another resident, Travis Spencer, 32, said Ariyl Brady always came to the aid of his young daughter when she was picked on by older kids on the bus to school. He added that Schwichtenberg earned the residents’ respect as a good father to his boys. 'It makes no sense why somebody would do something like what happened to Chris and (Ariyl),' Spencer said. 'Everybody goes through hard times. You just have to deal with it.' Sutcliffe’s Facebook page indicates that he and Amanda Brady started dating last September. Mahoney said deputies had multiple interactions with Sutcliffe because of what the sheriff called 'family dynamics and school attendance issues.' In an October Facebook post, Sutcliffe announced his plan to start attending the Challenge Academy, and thanked two Dane County deputies that he said helped 'steer me in the right direction.' The contact with law enforcement was not related to Sutcliffe’s relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Mahoney said. Officials with Domestic Abuse Intervention Services said the shooting shows that domestic violence can be as serious a problem in teen relationships as it is in adult ones, and that 1.5 million high school students experience physical abuse each year. 'As a community we need to support teens in building healthy relationships and also work to address the root causes of domestic violence with youth,' said Shannon Barry, the Madison group’s executive director." Read the article in the Wisconsin State Journal Read the Channel 3000 article |
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