By Alyssa Sperrazza
Staff Writer
EL RENO – Community leaders, law enforcement, county judges and social workers met at Canadian Valley Tech Center in El Reno Tuesday for a study tour led by the Family Justice Center and Alliance for Hope.
The group discussed ways to address family violence and abuse in an effective manner that offers hope, restoration and justice for communities.
The study tour had several speakers address the issues including Casey Gwinn, the president of the Alliance for Hope International, a nonprofit that serves as the umbrella for all Family Justice Centers (FJC) across the globe.
Gwinn spoke Monday at Mid-Del schools, talking with administrators, teachers and other educators about childhood trauma within schools, hoping to begin helping students from earlier ages so they can receive treatment and assistance, preventing long-term effects.
Introducing trauma-informed, hope-centered education is something State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister has announced as a goal within Oklahoma public schools. The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) addressed one of the nation’s most prevalent public health problems, childhood trauma, at a summit last year, educating those who work within the public school districts which are often the first to encounter trauma in individual children.
Gwinn said Oklahoma has some of the lowest-hope outcomes of any state in America. He then announced FJC and Alliance for Hope have partnered with the University of Oklahoma, home to the largest hope research center in the country. Recognizing that victims of abuse, both children and adults, require an array of services including medical and legal.
“We’re all in the hope business… that’s the ultimate purpose for coming to Canadian County,” Gwinn said. “In America, we raise our criminals at home and the vast majority of people we deal with in the system got robbed of hope… A lot of our victims get raised at home too… Childhood trauma is the single greatest threat to public health and community safety on the planet.”
Yukon Mayor Michael McEachern was among the community leaders present for the tour as Canadian County considers how to follow other cities’ lead with programs that could help child and adult victims.
“Domestic violence has been a problem forever and I think the steps we’ve made with the juvenile justice system out here between Yukon and El Reno have been a big step forward,” McEachern said. “I think we’ve got to get to where hate in all forms doesn’t continue to control our society like it has in the past. And certainly anything we can do to mitigate that happening is a big step forward because most violent offenders are a product of their environment.”
McEachern said he was “one of the lucky ones” having been raised by wonderful parents so violence has not been something that’s affected his life the way it has others who are survivors of abuse.
Recognizing that, he said Yukon is going to look at the programs and methods laid out by FJCs and he said he will do everything to support similar efforts, especially confronting trauma from a young age, rather than waiting for it to manifest itself in adulthood when the damage is already done.
“We’ve gotta get away from everyone being angry all the time and thinking that the solution is physical,” McEachern said. “It has to be a concerted effort to bring all the resources together to make sure that [violence and abuse] is not acceptable. And if it’s headed off initially, right at the start, you actually have a chance at success. Whereas you have someone whose 40 years old, has already committed 20 or 30 crimes, your ability to impact that is almost zero.”
Palomar Oklahoma City’s Family Justice Center is the first FJC in Oklahoma. Palomar’s grand opening was February 2, 2017, becoming the 138th FJC in the United States. They now have 28 partner agencies on site to assist victims in their journey to recovery and healing.
Kim Garrett, Palomar’s director, CEO and founder, addressed communities leaders, showing how Palomar can act as an example of what Canadian County could achieve as the county works to combat violence with hope.
