RAY OF HOPE

Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome. It is time now for our community connection right here on KAY one, the one you trust, and it's always great to talk with our friends here from Ray of Hope.

Ladies, how are we doing today? We're good, Well, you're always good.

Yeah, but today it's kind of acceptable because we have a month that's dedicated to awareness and education.

It absolutely is. We're celebrating two awareness months this year, or for this April, and it's Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so those are both tied to April, and we're excited to get the word out about both of those.

And when it comes to outreach and outcomes, your miseducation are ye yeah.

I am. I'm actually excited.

I'm going to have two I'm posting about them later today on Facebook, so you can sign up there. It's two learning events April eighth and the twenty second at Bartiswell Public Library. We're just to talk about learning to recognize and how to report child abuse.

Now everyone would think, oh, well that's easy. Kid's got a like a you know, a fat lip or a black eye, or something's just not right, but there are subtle signs.

Yeah, there really can be. And if you're not, if you're not sure what you're looking for, or if you suspect something and you're not sure what to do next, these types of educational opportunities that you see is offering can really help you strengthen your awareness and strengthen your resolved to do something if you suspect child abuse. And in Oklahoma, everyone is a mandated reporter of child abuse.

You bet.

Now, sometimes the abuse isn't always physical. A lot of times it's internal, it's mental, it's almost spiritual. Somebody gets wounded that way, right, It kind of starts that way.

Doesn't it.

Yeah, so we see a lot of cases of neglect as well. So, like you said, it's not always physical. You're not always going to just see physical signs. But we're also going to teach you how to look out for perhaps those you know, behavior changes signs like are they withdrawn? Have they gone from a cheery, happy child to perhaps somebody who's more recluse and private about their things. But yeah, it's important to know how to look for all signs of every type of abuse.

And because we're trying to bring awareness to this, not only are we having some of the classes here, we've got a little something that you can symbolize that you're paying attention.

What is that?

Actually, we're doing a couple of different a couple of things. So today YOCI is installing a display at the barrels of a public library so that people can can see that and learn a little bit more. So have some information at the library too. And then we're planting a pinwheel garden again this year, and we're planting the same number of pinwheels that are that represent the number of confirmed cases in our service area.

My goodness, here's hoping that it's not a whole lot of pinwheels.

Well, it's three hundred and seventy eight, so it's quite a big number, which is why these education opportunities are so important. And you'll hear me say this in the class, went a doubt? Just let DHS screen it out right. So like I'm just here to give you the tools to be able to recognize and show you how to report.

We have the pinwheel garden.

It'll be at Ry of Hope by our buffalo the library display and then on our Facebook as well, we have a post with yard signs if you want to display a yard sign just to kind of bring awareness as people are driving by, go ahead and comment on that post and I can drive one.

Out to you.

Now, the thing is, you mentioned that number, well in exens of three hundred. I think we all know in this room that that's probably not even half right. Yeah, absolutely mine getting the sakes And we'd like to think that, well, this doesn't happen in my count this doesn't happen in my neighborhood, and this doesn't happen in.

You know, my circle of friends or family. Yeah, it does.

And what we know is that abuse happens often with people that kids know and trust, and so that makes it even more difficult sometimes to come forward and make a report because you don't want to accuse somebody that you know or a friend of the family. And so it really underscores the importance of learning those signs and being ready to act if you suspect abuse.

And that can just internally crush a youngster's knowing that they've been wrong, the feeling that they're going to be in trouble for even bringing it up and trying to save their own lives.

Right.

We can't imagine.

That, right, which is something that we talk about we touch on on the training is how to kind of navigate that conversation when it comes up. So when a child discloses to you, you know, there's d's and don'ts, and that's something that we go over because it's such a delicate time. We want to ensure that we're best equipped possible to deal with it.

My goodness sakes, Ray of Hope. It's been around a while.

We are celebrating our twentieth year of serving kids and families this year.

Congratulation.

Yeah, we're excited and we are really really proud of the work that we've done over the past twenty years.

And you should be, because not only do you educate and facilitate, but you also work to get people to where they can get.

Services kind of a clearinghouse or our central hub, absolutely, and you can get folks where they need to go, right.

We work really hard to be, like you said, that central place that kids and families can go and get all of the services that they need to kind of wrap around that family so the family gets support and then the child gets the support they need so they can move towards healing.

Oh, my goodness sakes, Now, We've got an event. I think we did we mention the PASCO.

Event, not yet, so I'm going to be out at least twice in the community. It's a very We're partnering with os AH Nation Social Services and they're having event an event on the twenty fifth of April, which is a Friday, and we'll be out there. It's just going to be like a cute little carnivalesque type event for kids with games. So we're excited to be out there.

So we're really excited.

My goodness sakes, putting on the dog, I know.

She's gonna have to take the whole next month.

Yeah, everybody, But it's all to raise awareness.

Here is we tried to prevent child abuse by identifying and then you know, you guys take care of the next steps. But boy, that that is a tome. Sometimes people are having a bad day. Sometimes the kids are having a bad day, and sometimes that all gets acted out, maybe in a public place, and you're thinking to yourself, my goodness sake, so this has to stop. This can't escalate anymore. But you don't want to be, you know,

Yeah, And sometimes it's hard to know what to do. And I do think that's why training opportunities like what Yosi's doing this month are so important. And I tell people all the time, especially when I do training, and I think yos does too. If you have questions about it, you're always welcome to call us and talk through a scenario and say, hey, I saw this, I'm not sure

Can ensure that a child is safe.

I think sometimes we get hung up on we don't want to accuse somebody of doing something or hurting a child, and we try to remind people you're not accusing anyone of anything. You're just asking professionals to come in and evaluate the safety of a child. And if that child's safe, then we're excited, we're happy, and.

Everything is fine.

If that child's not safe, then you've alerted the professionals that need to get involved.

It's so key to remember, like you said, it's bad enough that you feel like you have to call you called the age, Yeah, wow, report that. Well, you know these education opportunities that you're going to be providing. This want folks to check out your Facebook and website and make sure you get to one of them if you can, and also tell your friends, neighbors, and family members about this too, because over three hundred, it's just weigh that.

Yeah too many.

Absolutely one is too many.

One is too many. But you know when you said three hundred some, that took me back. I figured, you know, we have a handful, but that's that's a lot of hands for right, Yeah, that's that's way the heck too much? Where can we find out more about that? Ray of Hope Advocacy So you got a website, don't you?

We do? I know you do, Yeah, we do.

It's Ray of Hope ac dot org. We're pretty active on social media and so you can find us at Ray of Hope Advocacy Center on Facebook and Instagram. YOC does a great job of posts ask yes she is and she she's doing a great job of putting information out about Ray of Hope resources for child abuse and domestic violence survivors, because of course we also serve adult survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault as well, and so there's a lot of great resources and information on our social media.

There are a lot of people when it comes to the adults. They sometimes would say, well, they're concerning adults know what they're getting into all a lot?

God, I know they didn't there, right, And what we know is sometimes those patterns of abuse that kids experience in childhood can set us up for failure in adult relationships too, right. And so that's why it's so important for us to get those reports and then provide the resources and supports that kids need so that they can break those cycles. We can help families as they're learning about healthy relationships and making safe choices for everybody in the home.

Wow.

So I'm learning now that some of this patterns of behavior generational.

Absolutely.

Yeah, that's not the kind of family right stuff you want.

Yeah, And if you you know, if you grew up in a home when there wasn't safe parenting, you don't don't know the difference, and so you kind of fall back.

We all do.

We all fall back on the patterns that we were raised with. And so yeah, absolutely, And so getting those opportunities to learn about healthy relationships and healthy and safe parenting, that's some of the stuff that Yosi's posting on social media. And if there's ever an opportunity that we can come out and do a specialized training, give Yos a call home.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love to come out. I love to I'm passure about education. I you know, this isn't the inheritance that we want to pass on to our nets generation. So just being out there and you know, the body keeps the score. That's even the title of the book. So anything that we can do to prevent, you know, unhealthy situations for both adults and children. We really want a stronger, safer Barnsville and you know, surrounding area for everybody.

So I'll go out there and I'll teach what needs to be taught.

All right, Yeah, that's great.

And do you take information I like on your messages on Facebook? Because some some agencies do, some don't. Yeah, yeah, okay, because some folks feel that it's a little safer that way other than using.

A phone it sure.

Yeah, you can message up on Facebook.

On our website rayfobase dot org, we have a live chat option as well. There's there's several ways to get a hold of us. We have our crisis line.

We have a twenty four hour crisis line, and so people can reach out to us there. That number is nine one eight two one four eight eight eight six and it's answered twenty four hours a day. And so if someone is feeling unsafe in their home and they're not sure what to do, they can call that number. And of course, anytime you feel like you're in immediate danger, if you suspect a child is in immediate danger, called nine to one one.

Okay, Now I already know the answer to this. In case folks listing out don't nonprofit organizations.

Right, yes, absolutely, So.

If someone was thinking to themselves, you know, I got a little extra on the paycheck this week, I don't want to go out and do something silly.

I'd like to put it to good use. Can people just make a donation c Railcope.

They absolutely can redo that. They can visit our website. We've got a link and donate now button, so they are welcome to do that. We have lots of giving options we have. You can make an immediate donation, you can send us a check. You can even include us in your long term future plans. And we actually just set up an endowment to the Bartles Skill as fat

Well, ladies, it's great having you in studio again and looking forward to a very busy month for you.

Absolutely we'll be seeing you'll be seen.

It's see see.

Yeah, you'll be seeing me, You'll be seeing Yeah, there you go.

But thanks for coming in.

Don't be strangers, and anytime you have something coming up, make sure that you stop buy for a visit and we'll share the word with everyone.

Thanks so much for having.

Us all right, Thank you ladies and gentlemen. You have been watching and listening to our community connection right here on K one, the one you trust.

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