Can every member of a community play a role in preventing power-based violence?
Dorothy Edwards will argue in the affirmative at her Chautauqua lecture on Thursday, Sept. 3 at Eastern Kentucky University. Edwards, executive director of Green Dot, etc., will present “What if We Could End Power-Based Violence?: The Green Dot Revolution” at 7:30 p.m. in O’Donnell Hall of the Whitlock Building. Her talk is free and open to the public.
Green Dot, etc. is a research and training center dedicated to effective intervention and the prevention of power-based personal violence. The organization has provided training to hundreds of schools, military installations and other institutions in the United States and around the world.
“I do this work because I believe with everything in me that current rates of power-based personal violence are not inevitable,” Edwards said. “I do this work because if I didn’t believe this could change, I would be accepting some truths about humanity that I am just not willing to accept. I am not willing to let this world dull my senses to this issue. I am not willing to be swallowed by the apathy around me. I am not willing to pretend it is not horrifying that thousands of women, children and men will be victims of sexual violence, partner violence, stalking and abuse every single day. I am defiant against a culture that tries to lull my soul into quiet complacency as our daughters and our sons, our partners and our sisters and our brothers, face violence and the threat of violence every single day.”
The Green Dot, etc. strategy is a comprehensive approach to violence prevention that capitalizes on the power of peer and cultural influence across all levels of the socio-ecological model. The model targets all community members as potential bystanders and seeks to engage them through awareness, education and skills practice in proactive behaviors that establish intolerance of violence as the norm, as well as reactive interventions in high-risk situations, resulting in the ultimate reduction of violence.
Edwards earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from Texas Woman’s University and worked for five years as the founding director of the University of Kentucky Violence Intervention and Prevention Center. She has also worked in counseling and teaching capacities at Appalachian State University and Texas Woman’s University, and founded the Community Education Program at Denton County Friends of the Family, which addressed sexual assault and relationship violence. She provides training and consultation in the areas of power-based personal violence, organizational capacity building, program implementation, strategic planning and community mobilization.
Edwards’ lecture is sponsored by the EKU Department of Women and Gender Studies, University Programs and the Honors Program.
For more information, visit www.chautauqua.eku.eduor contact Chautauqua Lecture Coordinator Dr. Erik Liddell at erik.liddell@eku.edu.