Everyone will agree that family violence is a real problem in our
community. Every day, there are women (and some men) in-the courthouse seeking
an order of protection against a spouse, former spouse, or a partner. A number
of agencies provide services to families affected by domestic violence. But
the first place a victim often turns is to a counselor or clergy.
Many of these professionals do not receive specialized training in school,
yet it is imperative that they understand the issues and know about the
-options available to both the battered and the batterer. Three local women
attorneys are spearheading an effort to reach out and educate the professional
community about family violence.
Leigh Joy Carson, Marta J. Papa and
Jody H. Wolff are attorneys who practice primarily in the area of family law
and they routinely see women (and some men) whose lives have been affected by
family violence. "Unfortunately, I often don't see victims of
abuse until they have been suffering for a very long time," says Papa.
'They wait until the abuse has become so violent that they have the bruises to
prove it; then they contact a lawyer. The severity of abuse might have been
prevented if her minister or Rabbi or neighbor or friend had-known how to
help.
The battered woman often has no idea where to get help. It is shameful and
embarrassing to reveal much of her story, and she may have lost so much
self-esteem and self-confidence that she feels trapped. If she reaches out, it
is often to a counselor or someone from the religious community and they need
to know how to help her.
Judge Thomas Frawley suggested the idea of an educational program for
clergy and other professional on family violence and these women responded to
the challenge. They have brought together a "who's who" panel of
speakers, including not only Judge Frawley (the Administrative Advocates
"Person of the Year" in 1997) but also Dee Joyce Hayes, the (Circuit
Attorney for the City of St. Louis) and Colonel Ron Henderson (Chief of Police
for the City Of St. Louis). These well known officials will join and expert on
Batterer's programs, the Director of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic
Violence, the Head of the Family Violence Unit and other experts in speaking
at a Symposium on Family Violence on April 13, 1999 from 9:15 12:15.
Washington University has graciously agreed to provide the space for the
Symposium, as well as the refreshments.
Each of the organizers of this program has had a unique role.
Leigh Joy Carson has been in charge
of "getting the word out" about the Symposium among local clergy and
their response so far has been tremendous. "We have had members of most
of the major denominations indicate that they would be attending, and more
pre-registrations come in every day," Carson says. Now the focus is
letting lay people know about the program so they can invite their clergy.
Marta J. Papa has been using her considerable connections to the mental
health community to publicize the program among psychologists, social workers
and marriage and family counselors. Again, the response has been very
positive. "Many therapists have told me that they will attend the
Symposium not for the edu-cational value, but to show sup-port for the
community out-reach and to be informal resources for the clergy, both at the
program and in the future," says Papa.
Jody H. Wolff has been working on contacting the administrators of local
Employ-ee Assistance Programs ("EAP"s). She has found that EAP
offered are very aware of the problem of family violence and they have offered
to help publicize the event. 'The EAP programs are already doing education in
the area of domes-tic violence. In fact, Ameren-UE does a program on domes-tic
Violence once a month," says Wolff.
Although Carson, Papa and Wolff are
either sole practitioners or members of a small firm (Wolff has one partner),
they all feel richly rewarded by the opportunity to work on the Symposium.
"It is a challenge, but the problem of family violence is so important,
it is time well spent," says Carson. 'Working on a community
out-reach program like this helps you realize that if we work together, we can
make a difference," says Wolff.
The public is invited to attend the Symposium at no charge. However,
pre-registration is appreciated. You can contact Marta J. Papa at 862-0202 or
fax her at 862-3626 for more information or to register.
