Preventing Sexual Abuse

Thursday at the retreat one of the psychologists asked if I would like to be involved in a project about prevention of sexual abuse. How could I say no to that? (Although in the retreat when we were talking about each other's strengths and weaknesses, my coworkers said that I need to learn to say no because that is one of my weaknesses.) The psychologist said they are doing group therapy with all of the kids in the project, 10 at a time, so she could use my help. The goal is to teach prevention, but also to evaluate which kids are already victims of sex abuse.

Friday morning I got an earlier ride up to the community where I am now working most of the time. (The only time I am now in the other community is for the reading/writing/math class.) I've been traveling a lot with security which is good because my car has been messed up for seven weeks now. We reviewed the program and talked about how we will start using it. We start immediately after Semana Santa.

It is an extra cool program because it is done through play, art and music. None of it is lectures. I think the kids will love it and should open up in ways they never did before. It is called "Sex Abuse Prevention: Playing Can Strengthen Us For Difficult Situations".

I am really excited to be part of this project and honored that my coworkers thought of me for this. It is a program that originated in Argentina. We are the first to use it in Honduras!

At 10:30 we all gathered and went out into the community. One of the younger mentors is starting his own club. He needed help getting the information from each of the families he will serve. So the psychologist and I divided our coworkers into two groups and went house to house doing interviews with the parents. Part of the survey is supposed to only be done by a psychologist, so they were happy to have me along.

In the end I got back just in time to meet up with security for my ride home. It was a productive and fun day. I love being out in the community and am eager to put to use my experience in psychology. This is all stuff that leaves my heart full at the end of the day.