NASW Social Work Talks - EP62: Ending Domestic Violence in the Military and Beyond

Episode Date: October 27, 2020

Learn about White Ribbon VA, a campaign of the Veteran's Administration (VA) to eliminate sexual harassment, sexual assault, and domestic violence in VA health care settings and in communities.

Welcome to Social Work Talks. I am Greg Wright. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In this episode, we will learn more about the White Ribbon Campaign and what is being done to end domestic violence in the military and in our communities. Our guests are Lela Jackson, Senior Strategist in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Veterans Administration. Kevin Holsinger, a social worker at the VA in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Deanna Mancera, Director of Membership and Programs at Jane Doe, Inc. in Boston. Welcome to Social Work Talks, Leela, Deanna, and Kevin. How are you today? Fantastic. Thanks, Greg. Yeah, thanks a lot. Doing well. Thanks for having us, Greg. I'm doing good.

So I read some data that indicates that every minute, 20 people are victims of domestic violence at the hands of an intimate partner. And this is for all of the U.S., but I was wondering, in the military, is it the same picture there, Leela and Kevin? it. You know, the military, the VA, we're all part of, you know, the greater community. You know, the numbers might be the same. I don't have the stats, but I can tell you that sexual harassment, sexual assault, and family domestic violence happens in the military, and it happens in, you know, veteran status. Yeah, I would agree with Leela. I mean, really, I mean, typically, I think of, you know, when people hear domestic violence, they think of, like, physical or sexual abuse, you know, between intimate partners. But domestic violence really can be any number of

things separate from physical and sexual violence. It can happen between people that don't even consider themselves intimate partners too. So things like aggressive communication, yelling, name-calling threats, you know, that kind of thing, manipulation, stalking, those other forms of psychological and emotional abuse can also be considered domestic violence. So those are also things that happen in the military. And as you stated, it's likely that your listeners or someone that they know will be or have been victims of domestic violence in one way, shape, or form. So we don't want to necessarily stigmatize the veteran population as having a higher tendency to use violence, but we do want to recognize that some of the things that they experience,

you know, those things that can contribute to compromise relationship, health, and safety, those things can be experienced in higher proportion in the veteran population compared to the general public so things like separation from family for prolonged periods of time on deployments those types of things common problems from the military service like traumatic brain injury post-traumatic stress disorder those types of things those things can really affect a person's ability to connect with others. So, you know, having the loving relationship that we know all people want and strive for can be difficult sometimes for veterans. So, basically, to answer your question, just like Leela said, domestic violence is something that's happening in the

general public as well as the veteran populations. Deanna, you are working at Jane Doe, Inc. Are you working with families in the military or with a general population there? And also, what are you seeing? The Massachusetts State Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Jane Doe, Inc., we ourselves do not provide any direct service to sexual and domestic violence survivors. However, our 50A member programs across the state do. However, a lot of the statistics that you spoke about are actually statistics based on heterosexual, cisgender folks, folks who do not necessarily identify within the LGBTQ and trans community, which that's definitely a statistic that we see tends to be a little bit higher. And as we know, a lot of the cases of domestic violence and sexual assault go unreported. About 4% of lesbian-identified women experience domestic violence,

and almost 30% of gay men experience domestic violence at some point in their life. And the statistic about trans people and trans-identified folks, it's almost 60% actually that experience domestic violence. And again, just want to mention that this statistics are based on cases that are reported. So just imagine what the picture looks like for a lot of the cases that go unreported. When we are talking about domestic violence, it's not always physical. A lot of people think of domestic violence in their mind automatically takes them to physical abuse. But we know that there's a lot of behaviors associated with what we consider domestic violence, you know, aggressive, you know, name calling. I said earlier physical is part of it, but the psychological and the emotional and the sexual abuse that can occur, you know, those are also all extreme forms of, you know, behaviors that can take place within a relationship that can be, you know, considered domestic violence. And so all of those things and anything that can lead to those types of interactions in a relationship are things of concern.

And we want to address all of the things, all of the above. And really what it boils down to is if it's unhealthy in your relationship, you know, if it's something that can cause harm, we want to address it, acknowledge it, and be able to provide the assistance that might be needed related to those things. Another type of abuse that we see probably the least conversation about is economic abuse. Usually you would have within the couples, you may have a person that is financially stable more than the other person. So that tends to be a form of controlling the significant other. Sometimes if one of the people in the relationship is undocumented or is in the process of getting their immigration status, so controlling or using their immigration status as a way to control them and saying, you know, if you don't do what I'm telling you, if you don't basically listen to what I'm saying and do what I want, I can call immigration and get you deported. or if that person is the person who has the insurance, for example, through their employee,

which that happens a lot within the vet community and the military community. So we'll say, well, if you don't do what I'm telling you, you will not be part of my insurance or I will take you out of the insurance. So what we really base on my sick violence is power and control, a person having power over another vulnerable person. And this could be in many different situations, but also using their religion or using their LGBTQ status as to outing them. If the person is not out in the community or in military, for example, if they're not out, the other person uses that as an opportunity to outing them and control them. With White Ribbon VA and in the VA, we do like to acknowledge that domestic violence isn't only between people who consider themselves intimate partners with one another.

Lela, I wanted to find out more about White Ribbon VA. What is that exactly and how does it work? White Ribbon VA was inspired by the international White Ribbon campaign. White Ribbon originated back in 1991, believe it or not, back in Canada. Some folks were just disgusted at the abuse of women, and they took a stance. That inspired folks internationally and nationally in the United States. In fact, I believe there's a white ribbon effort in about 60 different countries now. There are white ribbon campaigns in a number of states and military bases and stations.

But really, white ribbon is an active public stance, acknowledgement that we won't remain silent as it pertains to domestic violence. And originally, it was really focused on women, you know, because, as you know, and you've already talked about, the public hears about men and boys assaulting women and girls. But in truth, we know that while it's like one in four, according to the CDC, about one in four women who experience sexual violence in their lifetime, there's really about one in ten men who also experience some type of violence, sexual violence or violence in their lifetime. So because we know that and because we have such a diverse population in VA, veterans, female, male, transgender, we wanted to be inclusive. So White Ribbon VA is really a national call to action that we launched actually this month, October, during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Our aim is really to eliminate sexual harassment, sexual assault, and domestic violence in VA health care settings in VA, period. and in my community to promote a positive change in the culture that will allow actions from the pledge to become the norm. We have a non-gender specific pledge that we adapted to the VA

that I would love to share with you. But I did want to say, make this point, a lot of times when, you know, even myself for years, I would hear National Domestic Violence Month and I would say, well, that doesn't really pertain to me because I don't harass people. I don't assault anyone. That's not anything that I would ever do. White Ribbon VA is an opportunity for everyone to take part. Because if it's true that if the CDC statistics are true, and if it's true, as you mentioned, Greg, that every minute someone is being assaulted, then that means that if it's not me, or if it's not you, that's a victim or an experiencer of harassment, assault, or domestic violence, that means that we probably know someone who has been.

It gives all of us an opportunity to take a stance, to really make a public commitment by wearing a white ribbon, but more importantly, making a commitment to never excuse, to never commit, or really to never really remain silent about sexual harassment, sexual assault, or domestic violence. Deanna, I was wondering, how is your organization implementing White Ribbon? You know, it takes a village to make a difference and really change the norms that have been put in place, you know, form systems that have oppressed certain communities, certain genders. So those things have been put in place, but as a community, we have the ability to change those things.

So I'm glad that you were lifting that up and changing to gender-based violence versus or adding the gender-based violence and including all genders. So I appreciate that VA has really taken a stand on that. As Jane Doe, we actually have been involved in the White Ribbon Day since 2007, actually. I personally came to Dando about five years ago, and I took over our initiative around engaging men and boys about five years ago. One of the things that we really wanted to do, in addition to what we do every March, every is the first week of March, we do a press conference and we do our White Ribbon Day conference and events where we bring the governor, the lieutenant governor, state representatives, and folks in the community that also have a voice and have a role, right, in changing the dynamic. We do that every year. But in addition to that,

we have our Reimagining My Hood Symposium that we do every December. It's actually coming up on December 16th and the 17th. We're doing a Occultment Institute with Occultment National. that do a lot of work with engaging men and boys and then on this on december 18th we're due our reimagine and men have symposium which is going to be a facebook live event so we have done it in different ways but we really believe that it takes a whole village to make a difference we began doing this work with our member programs again we have about 50 member programs Then we created affiliates and ambassadors across the state. So at this point, we have over 3,000 affiliates and ambassadors doing wide ribbon day work across the state.

Last year, for example, we have gotten also sports involved in really engaging men and boys and changing those dynamics. because we know that a lot of the folks who are, you know, in big leagues are seen as role models. So we believe that role models could also make a difference in changing those social norms. So last year, for example, we got the Celtics involved, and Cancer, and I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing his last name. And it's Cancer. And it's Cancer. Thank you so much. So we got him involved, and he's actually one of our White Ribbon Day ambassadors

And it speaks about what the role of people who are in sports, what the role that they have to play in changing social norms and changing those dynamics. He has taken a big stand on a lot of the racial dynamics as well as discrimination that he has faced and the intersections of that of gender-based violence within what has happened in his country as well. So this is something that is not just in the United States, as Layla mentioned, but this is something that happens, you know, across the globe. Domestic violence is not uniquely to the U.S., it's not uniquely to Massachusetts, it's not uniquely to the VA. So we're trying, you know, hitting all the different, like, what the CDC says and all the different social ecological sort of models and circles at the individual level, at the community level, at the social level. So we're trying to hit all of those to really make a difference. Kevin, as a social worker, how are social workers involved in the White Ribbon VA program? And also, I heard that NASW chapters are also getting involved in it too. I am a social worker. I am a VA employee, VA social worker. I'm also a combat veteran.

I'm also a former Michigan chapter president so shout out to Michigan NASW chapter but I'm just so excited to be a part of all of this because there's so many intersections that I'm so passionate about but yes the answer to your question social workers are involved in White Ribbon VA just like the social workers that are leaders in our communities leader social workers are also leaders in the VA we do have a very strong representation of social work leaders supporting the White Ribbon VA and over a hundred VA health care facilities all across the country we are hoping to that we can count on all social workers outside of the VA to take the White Ribbon VA pledge and to ask others to do

the same as well so thank you for having us specifically when we work on addressing behaviors from a social work perspective related to sexual harassment sexual assault and domestic violence we're helping to develop the skills that can foster healthy relationships, right? So, the White Ribbon VA Pledge is a commitment to taking those action steps for ourselves, and we can also encourage others just to do the same. We know that social workers make up the majority of mental health care providers in this country, and they work in so many more important areas as well. You know, one of our core values is the importance of human relationships. So, social workers must assist with fostering healthy relationships because we

know that those relationships are the strongest protective factor against everything that we worry about as social workers, right? So healthy relationships, those can protect us or protect people really against issues that are far too common, you know, for all people in our society, but are especially prevalent among veterans, such as like depression, PTSD, suicide, those types of things. So we hope that when someone takes the White Ribbon VA pledge, that they're committing to work on the things that help relationships, such as communication skills, consideration for others, empathy, all of which we know social workers are fantastic at. So what a great space to fulfill a leadership role as social workers. What are some positive things that you have

actually seen as a result of the White Ribbon program? We actually learned about White Ribbon through Dr. Angelo McClain. He has carried a White Ribbon and his pledge around for years after taking that initial pledge. And he has really been a champion for this work and so passionate about it. And we're so grateful to him for his leadership and partnerships and all of the social workers that are involved with this effort is huge. You know, your work is so important and we know that you're tremendously busy. All of our social workers are always busy and we need them because they are the conduit to a lot of the resources that we are telling our veterans in our case and our employees about. I mean, we have a whole department that has resources for

intimate partner violence, and we have counselors at our facilities, and we want our veterans and our employees to know that there's help if they experience any type of domestic violence right here in our VA hospitals and right on our staff. Even right here on this call, we have professionals who can help and who are willing to help. White Ribbon VA has been tremendous. Now I understand why Dr. McClain carries that pledge around in his pocket. And it's been healing for people. We just interviewed a female Marine who was actually friends with a Marine who was killed by her veteran husband.

And this Sergeant Hill was killed in front of her children and her mother by her husband. And she had experienced domestic violence for years. And quietly, many people suffer with knowing someone who died at the hands of an assaulter and not being able to know the signs. So I'm excited about this campaign because it gives us an opportunity to talk about how to see the signs. And if you're not sure what to do, who you can go to. And one thing we know is our social workers, they will know what resources to send people to and to give people who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. You know, once you begin having those conversations within your community that domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, stalking is not something that is going to be tolerable in your community, then folks really start coming out with their stories and their experiences. So and then because they begin to feel comfortable, right, having those conversations with people that are saying it's not okay what is happening to you and you didn't deserve to be treated this way.

So, you know, just with campaigns like White Ribbon Day and campaigns that really create awareness, it really gives you that beginning conversation for folks who are experiencing this to find healing. And that's why you also have social workers and to provide that support that is always needed because trauma is, the trauma that folks are experiencing around domestic violence is not just one time. the trauma sometimes could, you know, could be for years, for centuries that people are facing this because it's a significant trauma that you're facing. So I'm just happy to, that we were able to connect. Dr. McLean was the person who is also a White Ribbon Day and has been a White Ribbon Day ambassador for many years with us. And I'm just so happy that we were able to connect with VA folks and that you're doing this campaign. And let's just continue in this work. What is the White Ribbon Pledge, Kevin and Leela?

The White Ribbon VA Pledge was adapted from White Ribbon International, and we have our own tailored pledge to the VA. So Kevin and I will read the pledge. I, state your name, pledge to never commit, excuse, or stay silent about sexual harassment, sexual assault, or domestic violence against others. Therefore, I promise to Honor VA health care settings as safe and welcoming environments. Recognize that touching or comments about appearance or referring to people as baby, honey, sweetie, stud, sexy may make others feel uncomfortable. Talk to others in my life about the repercussions of unwanted hugging, touching, or flirting.

Give everyone extra personal space. Understand that some veterans and others may have invisible wounds and experiences that I may not fully understand. Lead by example through my thoughts, words, and actions. Remember, every single person expects courteous treatment. Respect. That's the pledge. Thank you, Deanna, Leela, and Kevin. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Greg. You have been listening to NASW Social Work Talks, a production of the National Association of Social Workers. We encourage you to visit NASW's website for more information about our efforts to enhance the professional growth and development of our members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies. You can learn more at www.socialworkers.org. And don't forget to subscribe to NASW Social Work Talks wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for joining us. We look forward to seeing you next episode. Thank you.