IGNITE 2021 Sessions

Rabbi Avremi Zippel: Resiliency Through Role Models

Survivors of CSA represent the entire spectrum of humanity, as they can be found in any and every community, the world over. By being able to show our children and ourselves positive examples of those that have survived CSA and gone on to live and lead healthy and productive lives, we are able to destigmatize the issue as it is perceived by society, and give survivors still in the shadows the inspiration and the courage to come forward, and join a brotherhood and sisterhood of defiance and determination.

Rachael Denhollander: Attorney, Author, Educator, Sexual Abuse Advocate

Rachael Denhollander is an attorney, author, advocate, and educator who is recognized as a leading voice on the topic of sexual abuse. Possessing a unique blend of professional skills, personal experiences, and dynamic communication style, she is a sought-after media commentator, speaker, and consultant. Her grasp of legal issues, corporate ethics, effective leadership strategies, and investigative practices are coupled with a trauma-informed, deeply compassionate understanding of the realities facing survivors of sexual abuse and their path toward healing. Bridging the gap between survivors and the society and institutions that may have failed them, Denhollander forces audiences to ask the question, “What is a girl or boy worth?” while equipping them with the tools to answer, “Everything.”

Alexandra Zarini: The Gucci Children’s Foundation

Helena Duch and Brigette De Lay: Oak Foundation and the Global Effort to Eradicate Child Sexual Abuse

This keynote address will highlight the importance of investing in a large global effort to eradicate child sexual abuse. The Oak Foundation has invested $10.3 million to identify, validate, and disseminate a catalog of effective perpetration prevention interventions worldwide. This presentation will share details of this transformative work. 

Helping Parents Who Are CSA Survivors Break Intergenerational Cycles and Empower Their Families – Rosalia Rivera, CONSENT Parenting

CSA survivors that are parents are challenged to teach abuse prevention due to their unhealed traumas, triggers, and inability to navigate the mental health issues that get exacerbated when considering prevention information. This group opts to overprotect vs educate and ill equips their children, making them particularly vulnerable to grooming. Using a trauma-informed survivor-focused model for teaching consent and abuse prevention education, a CSAS parent can better navigate this education process and empower their families.

Child Sexual Abuse Material Collecting and Connection to Hands-On Offending – Lt. Joe Laramie, ret., National Criminal Justice Training Center

This workshop looks at the myth that those who collect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are just looking at pictures or watching videos, and not a risk to offend against children. You will hear of the short and long-term impact CSAM has on victims and the importance of aggressive law enforcement and multi-disciplinary team investigations, along with the importance of mandated reporting of CSAM cases.

The Connection Between Racism, Oppression, Latinx Culture and Sexual Violence – Rosa Beltré, Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence

Colorism is prevalent in Latin America. The Proximity to Eurocentricity and whiteness is how our ancestors survived through oppression, a painful legacy that still prevails and needs to be eradicated, if we want to come together as a community of practice, collaborating to end sexual violence. Though white supremacy continues to permeate our culture in historical and ever-changing ways, efforts to resist and create equitable alternatives are also growing and evolving. What are some of the innovations in the movement for racial justice? What are the opportunities to advance proactive and preventative strategies while still resisting and responding to racism, oppression and culture extermination? How do we dismantle systematic racism, confront the anti-blackness within the community and create structural and systematic equity? I will invite participants to discuss these questions, reconcile with the privilege their light skin gives them in a tainted system and share innovative anti-oppression strategies that will ease the pathway to increasing racial equity inside in the work their organization works to achieve.

Empowering Our Young Ones through Vocabulary and Agency in the Black Community – Dr. Jameelah Medina, PhD, Dr. J Medina Coaching

Within the black community, there is a common theme as it relates to parenting style. There is often a lack of encouragement and fostering of children’s responsible agency in family life, cultural, and economic activities, and their own developmental learning from an early age, especially within the peer culture and intergenerational dynamic. This session will discuss the common parenting styles, attitudes and traditions within the black American community, and learn ways to equip parents to empower young ones through vocabulary and agency.

“Whose Life Is It, Anyway?” Having the Best Information I Need to Assist My Child with Autism and/or Intellectual Challenges in Making Healthy & Safe Choices for Themselves – Barbara J. Thomas, TECS, Education Center

Assisting our children and teens with intellectual and developmental challenges in navigating puberty and “life” is now coupled with all that living in our out of control, crazy world has to offer – good AND bad! If not taught the right skills in how to be Happy, Healthy and Safe is essential. What should we teach to avoid that? Assisting our school-age children in understanding who they are, how they “fit” into society and, most importantly, how to be happy, healthy and safe NEEDS to be Priority #1!

Mobilizing the Moms – Tracy Leonard, Safe Spaces

Moms are a powerful force, but are you reaching all of the moms? Are they ready to be mobilized in your community efforts to stop child sexual abuse? Learn about creative and innovative ways to connect with the moms in your community.

Abuse Prevention During the COVID Crisis: Back to Basics – Lauren Kennedy & Kathi Forte, The Redwoods Group

For many organizations, COVID-19 has upended daily operations, creating the risk that abuse prevention protocols will be sidelined. Using lessons from real-world incidents, this session will explore a simple, “Four Rules” framework that can be used to ensure robust abuse prevention practices, even as staff navigate an ever-changing “new normal.”

A Call To Action: Change The Stats in the Black Community – Dr. Andrea A. Anthony, A+ Educational and Safeguarding Consultant Group, LLC

Long before Rosa Parks became the patron saint of the Bus Boycott, she was an anti-rape activist and investigator. Using historical facts, evidence and research, the black community’s time is NOW to break the barriers around the cultural of silence. Be inspired and engaged in the mind shift to IGNITE the “Village Mentality” and SAFEGUARD our children.

From Knowing to Acting: How to Talk with Leaders About Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct – Jamie Forbes & Amy Wheeler, Learning Courage 

Help leaders shift from knowing they need to do more to actually taking action. Too often fear can be a driving force in administrative decision making. We will show that using a survivor-focused lens helps convince and reassure leaders that they will be both doing the right thing and reducing likelihood of legal battles, in addition to saving time and spending less on professional resources and survivor support.

What Can Happen When Children “Go Live” – Susan Kennedy, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)

Live streaming has become a popular way for children and adults to connect with others, particularly over the past year during the covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) we see in our CyberTipline reports the possibilities for exploitation and harm when children and teens use technology to “go live.” Live streaming presents unique challenges to child safety online for children of all ages. This workshop we will discuss NCMEC data and insights related to live streaming and share NetSmartz resources free to use in your local community to raise awareness about these issues in your community.

Conquering ACES by Meeting the Needs of Victims in the Juvenile Justice System – Kimber Tower & Ashley Stallings, Upper Valley Child Advocacy Center

The HOPE (Health Outcomes from Positive Experience) Conquers ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) training (provided by Idaho Children’s Trust Fund) encompasses a wide range of topics designed to increase understanding of trauma and engage participants in ways to strengthen families. Providing positive experiences for Idaho’s children from supportive adults helps our communities to prevent and mitigate the impact of ACES. This session would be an introduction to Child Advocacy Centers, how they serve communities, and national best practices in both intervention and prevention services. this session will also discuss the juvenile corrections program and use experiences working within that program to articulate the unique barriers victims who are currently incarcerated (but were victimized prior to that time) face with disclosure and response to abuse. Examples of some roadblocks will be provided and ways to overcome them them. From there, participants will brainstorm ideas on how and where to begin these conversations in order to better respond to this unique population of children.

Grant Writing Best Practices: From Research Through Writing – Diane H. Leonard, GPC, STSI, DH Leonard Consulting

In this interactive webinar will provide you with the basic knowledge and understanding of how to find potential grants to apply for, reach out to build relationships with grant makers, and ultimately craft a grant application that will be successful in securing funding. We will walk through the basic best practices of these three steps in the grant life cycle: research, relationships, and writing, to help you feel more confident as you seek grant revenue for your nonprofit organization.

Community Resiliency Model – Kelly Purcell, New Hanover Resiliency Task Force

The Community Resiliency Model teaches six wellness skills to regulate the nervous system and get back into the Resilient Zone. The CRM skills are based on cutting-edge neuroscience and the biology of the human nervous system. Participants will learn how highly stressful and traumatic experiences cause a biological response and how to use the CRM skills to promote wellbeing in mind, body and spirit.

Protecting Children in Sport – Kyle Lubrano, USA Baseball

Abuse occurring in sport is not specific to one sport and like anywhere adults have access to minors, there are bad actors. Multiple acts and laws have passed to continue to increase awareness, education and prevention and reporting requirements of adults working with minor athletes. This session will take attendees through what the law states, the requirements and how youth sport organizations from the grassroots level to the National Governing Body level are doing to comply with the law.

Statewide Initiatives Panel – Anne Auld (Illuminate Colorado), Tiffany Sawyer & Nikki Berger (Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, Inc.), Rachelle Soden (Kansas Children’s Service League), & Mary Ratliff (The Ford Family Foundation)

Several states have used Stewards of Children® to anchor CSA prevention programming and build powerful CSA prevention movements. Statewide implementation of Stewards of Children® can look different depending on multiple factors, but there are also similarities. Connecting over commonalities and curious about differences, folks from Oregon, Georgia, Kansas, and Colorado initiatives formed a supportive learning community. This group celebrates the success, accessibility, and scalability of Stewards of Children® and analyzes and addresses barriers to each state’s unique outreach, implementation, evaluation, and facilitator support components. Each of these statewide coordinated efforts have different funding sources and project infrastructure, but have elevated their individual efforts by leveraging this space of shared learning and shared goal attainment – the elimination of child sexual abuse. Sharing their unique approaches, technical aspects, and inspirations has strengthened their individual efforts and reinforced this collaborative learning community. If you are a part of a statewide organizational initiative, or looking to start one, this presentation will include how four initiatives have maximized a variety of funding streams, how they have partnered across their state, and how they have benefitted from the relationships built with other states doing similar work. Learn about strategy, partnerships, data collection and evaluation efforts, and their plans moving forward.

Building a Partnership with Schools for Impactful Prevention Work – Stacy Pendarvis, Carol Neal Rossi, Beth Dudjak (Monique Burr Foundation for Children), & Stefani Szwejbka, MCJ

To date, 38 states have now passed some sort of legislation requiring abuse prevention in schools or forming a task force to study the issue further and make recommendations. While this legislation is a promising step, the lack of consistency, lack of direction, and lack of funding is often challenging. Despite these challenges, many organizations across the United States are successfully partnering with schools to provide prevention education. If you want to do more than “check the box” and develop meaningful, impactful abuse prevention education in schools, this session can help you.

Life Under the Mushroom Cloud: Mitigating Secondary Traumatic Stress in Advocates, Families, and Communities – Rev. Dr. Jay Kieve, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina, and Laura Thien, Julie Valentine Center

Secondary traumatic stress (STS, sometimes called “compassion fatigue” or “burnout”) is the physical, mental, and emotional response to learning of another person’s traumatic experience. The manifestations of STS often mimic the post-traumatic stress of survivors and may be the result of encountering a single traumatic event or the accumulation many traumatic events. Social workers, mental health counselors, and victim advocates sometimes experience STS and their professional organizations offer resources for resiliency that reduce STS. This session seeks to adapt practices that develop resiliency to advocates for prevention and the families or communities they serve after abuse is disclosed/discovered.

Social Behavior Change: Comprehensive Child Protection – Lia Gil and Amy Nguyen, Darkness to Light

When using a Social Behavior Change (SBC) approach, practitioners tackle stigmas and social norms to address the systemic issues that threaten health and well-being of a community. In recent years, Darkness to Light has found success in using a SBC approach in the field of child sexual abuse prevention. Attendees will learn about the SBC approach, the theory that drives it, and examples of how Darkness to Light has used this comprehensive approach to enable change in human behavior and social norms throughout multiple organizations.

The Impact of Self-Esteem and Social Support on Suicidality among Adults Attracted to Children – Maggie Ingram

This session explores the impact of self-esteem and perceived social support on suicidal ideation and behavior among adults attracted to children who have not offended against children. Factors associated with adverse mental health outcomes in this vulnerable population have long represented a gap in the literature. This study contributes to a small but growing body of work examining the impact of stigma-related stress on non-offending adults attracted to children.

Perspectives of People with Sexual Thoughts about Children and the Implications for Perpetration-Focused Primary Prevention – John Thorne

This session will discuss the perspectives of people with sexual thoughts about children, why they have not acted on these sexual thoughts, and implications for perpetration-focused primary prevention of child sexual abuse.

Developing the Preventing and Addressing Child Sexual Abuse in Youth-Serving Organizations: A Desk Guide for Organizational Leaders – Luciana Assini-Meytin

This session will feature a novel resource for youth-serving organizations, Preventing and Addressing Child Sexual Abuse in Youth-Serving Organizations: A Desk Guide for Organizational Leaders. The desk guide’s development and foundational principles will be discussed.

Using the Situational Prevention Approach – Keith Kaufman

This session will take a deeper look at the application of one of the overarching principles from Preventing and Addressing Child Sexual Abuse in Youth-Serving Organizations: A Desk Guide for Organizational Leaders and it’s application with one youth-serving organization sector. The Situational Prevention Approach to help elite sports tailor their prevention efforts to the team’s unique needs will also be discussed. 

Child Sexual Abuse Perpetration Prevention: Translating Knowledge to Action – Michael Seto

This session will describe the aims and scope of a new 5-year program of work to identify, evaluate, and share knowledge about the most promising child sexual abuse perpetration prevention interventions. Examples of different approaches will be described and new data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self help seeking through two major websites will be presented. Other prevention initiatives will also be mentioned.

Stand Strong, Walk Tall: Prehabilitation for a Better Future – Sarah Christofferson

This session will focus on the impact of Stand Strong, Walk Tall: Prehabilitation for a Better Future. Stand Strong, Walk Tall is a secondary, evidence-based prevention intervention to provide assessment and treatment services to individuals who have a sexual interest in children. 

Online, Clinician-Facilitated Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions for CSAM – Christoffer Rahm

This session will feature Prevent It, an online clinician-facilitated cognitive-behavioral intervention for users of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The intervention aims to reduce CSAM use and prevent child sexual abuse offenses.