Marblehead is making its first steps toward building and fostering a system that supports domestic and sexual violence survivors by bringing together community stakeholders, leaders, and advocates.
In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, PowerUP! 01945, in partnership with HAWC, the YWCA North Shore Rape Crisis Center, Board of Health member Tom McMahon, Founder of BodiScience Wellness Center Dawn Tardif, and Police Chief Dennis King and Detective Theresa Gay, gathered Monday to review the support system for survivors in town.
PowerUP Founder Meagan Sweeney said in an interview that Marblehead currently has “nothing” regarding support systems for survivors and hopes that this initiative can spread awareness and also begin to create change.
“Regardless of how beautiful and wonderful any community is, and Marblehead is a beautiful and wonderful community, we can’t escape the violence, and we can’t pretend it doesn’t exist because there are people that need our help,” Sweeney said.
The goal of the event was to bring together community “touchpoints,” or leaders/organizations that reach large groups of people, to think about and create ways to expand care and support access for victims, affirming the group’s “collective commitment and responsibility to building a violence-free community,” according to a statement from PowerUp!.
“Everyone started coming up with ideas about how they can be a partner in supporting survivors in their healing and harm reduction,” Sweeney said.
According to Sweeney, healing and harm reduction are the two main focuses of the leadership team, as their efforts involve creating different ways to help survivors for scenarios not often thought about.
She gave an example of how many abusers will damage property in a domestic incident, which could have a lasting emotional impact even when the abuser is gone. Sweeney said a potential healing support system could involve volunteer carpentry to fix the damage left behind.
“That’s something you wouldn’t necessarily think of,” Sweeney said.
Other ideas mentioned included helping survivors build finances and credit that they were unable to have or own under their abusers, as well as creating safeguards that can be put over drinks while at bars and restaurants to avoid drinks being spiked.
Initiatives are also underway that involve training restaurant staff to look for warning signs of customers who are potentially in a dangerous situation.
Sweeney said that the group saw the meeting as “just the beginning” and will debrief and process notes taken to determine how to move forward. She said that creating change for these types of issues doesn’t happen overnight, but it starts with discussions, like the one held Monday night, echoing Tardif’s words that each of the leaders is “a part of a tapestry.”
“We are a part of a tapestry that makes up a community,” Sweeney said. “Together, we are that much stronger, that much more powerful. But the reality is we can’t just talk about it, we have to do something.”
To learn more about how to help or join the initiative, interested parties can email powerup.01945@gmail.com or subscribe to the PowerUp and HAWC newsletters, which provide updates and more information on Building a System of Care.