A Message From the Executive Director: Another Pandemic Summer

We all had hoped that by this summer most of COViD 19 would be behind us and the pandemic would be subsiding. Unfortunately, this is not the case and the Delta variant has imposed more fear, caution and concern. Like everyone else, we have been monitoring health and safety for the past 18 months and have adapted our services and programming with this overarching priority. At POV we continued to work remotely and have been developing our own hybrid model of work and service. So, this summer finds us tiptoeing carefully back into our offices while continuing to provide our emergency, crisis intervention, advocacy and healing services. Our staff and volunteers have excelled in their commitment to serve survivors and our communities while also managing this pandemic for their own children and families. We are all more than workers, we are members of the same communities that we serve. Our staff deserve a shout out of gratitude and appreciation along with our volunteers who continue to show up, cultivate compassion and share it.  It is important to acknowledge that working and living under these fears has not been easy. What an extraordinary and historical time we are all living in. Care for one another and our recognition of how interdependent we are to one another is our great pandemic lesson. Let’s learn this lesson well as we also figure out how to survive and live with COVID and its variances, as we also navigate the challenges of equity and belonging. The phrase “we are in this together” can seem cliched but there is also truth to it. Our intentions and behaviors impact one another. May you all stay safe and may we together in community free ourselves from this public health threat that has disrupted our lives, our economy, our politics and more often than not, our emotional health.

Please stay safe: mask, vaccinate, monitor.

And remember: if you need POV, we are here.

Program Announcement: Youth Over Violence Leadership Institute

Our 11th annual Youth Over Violence Summer Institute has come to an end. 14 total graduates consisting of 4 ambassadors and 10 youth leaders completed the virtual summer program this year, gaining violence prevention training and building advocacy skills. During the graduation earlier this month, the youth presented their projects which included collages, presentations, videos and social media posts on topics like mental health in the LGBTQIA+ community, the impacts of school on mental health, sexual violence in the immigrant community and consent. The graduates will bring their learnings back to their schools and continue to meet regularly throughout the year.

What did you appreciate about the YOV Summer Institute?

“Being able to feel my voice was heard and knowing there are people who care just as I do…that there is hope and that we will get stronger…letting people know that young people have a voice and it’s strong... we know what we are talking about.”

- Abby, YOV 2021 graduate
 

Program Spotlight: POV Clinical Internship Program

Peace Over Violence internship opportunities have expanded to providing experiential learning to students in programs including social work, marriage and family therapy, psychology, rehabilitation services and professional clinical counseling. POV has created an opportunity for students to be mentored in an environment where they work alongside clinical staff who coach them through clinical practice. POV only accepts second year students due to the intensity of cases. This last academic year we received over 100 applicants from local private universities, local UCs, out of state universities and many virtual programs. This is a record for us! We only had 10 available positions for interns so it was difficult to make decisions when all the candidates were highly qualified and eager to begin.

The main function of the clinical intern/trainee is to provide psychotherapy to survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence and their significant others. The intern/trainee will provide information, advocacy, and crisis intervention to callers on the LA Rape and Battering Hotline. Bachelor of Social Work student interns can also provide clinical case management as part of our CalWORKS program and help co-facilitate psychoeducational groups. 

Peace Over Violence prides itself on being a leader in training new clinicians and we have a reputation as such; many partners look to us for referrals and know their clients will receive the services they need. The community we serve is incredibly diverse and this program provides valuable and sought after training. We know that this is an important role and we see it as training future colleagues and partners - and the next generation of trauma therapists. 
 

POV’s People: Where are they now? 

Throughout this year, we will be highlighting individuals or groups that have impacted our work over the last 50 years. 

Samia Bano

I first heard about Peace Over Violence as a UCLA student. I was impressed by the holistic range of services offered, particularly the Women's Self-Defense program. POV was making classes accessible to the community free of cost, and they were being taught by women sensitive to the particular needs of survivors of sexual violence. As a survivor of child sexual abuse, I very much appriciated this trauma-informed approch and was highly motivated to start volunteering. It was my way of staying engaged in the fight to combat sexual and other forms of relationship violence after my graduation from UCLA. 

I first signed up for Crisis Counselor Advocate Training in 2008. A few months after that I was able to go through the Women's Self-Defense Instructor Training, and then I was invited to become a trainer of other crisis counselor advocates, and also a member of the Survivor Speaker’s Bureau. I wasn't just going through all of these trainings. I was actively participating, not to mention showing up to volunteer at any other occasion I could - like at the POV annual awards event, participating in and volunteering at various Denim Day events, etc. I was at POV so often, my mom actually started telling people I worked at POV!

POV Reads

Malala: I Survived the Taliban. I Fear for My Afghan Sisters.

Osaka and Biles: The ‘No’s’ heard around the world

Self-defense can be hard to remember under stress. Here are 9 easy tips from experts.

PEACE

POV is hiring!

• Human Resources Generalist
• Controller
• Associate Designer & Digital Arts Coordinator