THE DOVE HLHAS HOME PAGE
THE DOVE
JANUARY 2012
CONNIE'S CORNER By Connie Huffman
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here is hoping the New Year will bring more needed funds to all of the programs, and we will be able to continue to provide the needed services for all of the victims and their families.
HLHAS has for many years set up a Christmas store in our office from the donations that have come in throughout the year. We are so blessed by our communities. We have received so many wonderful hand made quilts from the Triangle Quilt Guild. They have also made warm snuggly pajama bottoms. Numerous churches, business, and individuals gave monetary donation to insure presents for the all of the children of our victims. Pamida in Shelby allowed us to submit requests for their giving tree. We were able to provide gifts for 20 children this year. Moms came in and shopped in our Christmas store also. This practice has given a lot back to our communities, plus is very rewarding to the staff of HLHAS. HLHAS is making some changes this year. This will be the last newsletter that will be mailed out. Future newsletters will only be by e-mail, and can also be found on our web site.
Our volunteer advocate training is also going to be done on-line, through our web site. Our goal is to have this up and running by the end of January. I’m sure we will have to continue to make changes and updates as we go along. We are hoping this will be more convenient for those wanting to volunteer. Because we are so under staffed this will also be more workable for staff.
THE DOVE will no longer be mailed out in paper form. If you receive our newsletter this way, and would like to continue to receive it via email, please send an email request to: honey_pure@yahoo.com. In the subject box please put “THE DOVE Email request”. I will add your name to our email list.
Another option for viewing our quarterly newsletter is to go to our Facebook page and “Like” us.
Please take a few minutes to ensure enjoying future editions of THE DOVE.
We would hate to lose you!
WHAT'S NEWS!! By Monica Huffman
Hope Cards
The Hope Card allows someone who has been granted an order of protection in one jurisdiction to easily prove it in another jurisdiction. The Hope Card lets law enforcement know that there is a valid, permanent order of protection in place. In case of a potential violation of an order, a law enforcement officer can refer to the Hope Card for more information. A Hope Card is not a substitute for an order of protection. The card includes relevant information related to a valid permanent order of protection. It is small and durable, and can be easily carried in a wallet, pocket or purse.
Hope Cards are not issued for temporary orders of protection.
In Montana, Hope Cards are issued by the Crow Tribal Court, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Court and the state of Montana. While the cards differ slightly, they must be recognized by law enforcement officers throughout the state.
Features
The Hope Cards issued by the state of Montana contains information about the protected person and the order:
-the protected person’s name, birth date, sex, race and height
-the case number listed on the permanent order of protection, the issuing court and county,
-the date it was issued and any expiration date
-The card provides information about the person named in the order, and any children or other individuals who are also protected under the order:
-the respondent’s photo, name, birth date, sex, race, eye and hair color, height, weight and any distinguishing features like scars or tattoos.
-the names and birth dates of any children or other individuals who are also protected under the order
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How to Request a Hope Card
Hope Cards are available to anyone with a valid, permanent order of protection. Cards will also be available for any children or other individuals covered by the order. You may request more than one card per individual if, for example, you wish to provide one to a child’s school and another to the child’s after-school care program.
CONTACT:
Joan Eliel, Hope Card Administrator
Office of Victim Services
Department of Justice
2225 11th Avenue
P.O. Box 201410
Helena, MT 59620-1410
Phone: (406) 444-5512 or (866) 722-9311
Fax: (406) 444-9680
E-mail: HopeCard@mt.gov
Stalking is a Crime – Raising Awareness in our Communities
January is National Stalking Awareness Month, a time to focus on a crime that affects 3.4 million victims a year.1 This year’s theme—“Stalking: Know It. Name It. Stop It.”—challenges the nation to fight this dangerous crime by learning more about it. Stalking is a crime in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, yet many victims and criminal justice professionals underestimate its seriousness and impact. In one of five cases, stalkers use weapons to harm or threaten victims, and stalking is one of the significant risk factors for femicide (homicide of women) in abusive relationships. Victims suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe depression at much higher rates than the general population, and many lose time from work or have to move as a result of their victimization. Stalking is difficult to recognize, investigate, and prosecute. Unlike other crimes, stalking is not a single, easily identifiable crime but a series of acts, a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause that person fear. Stalking may take many forms, such as assaults, threats, vandalism, burglary, or animal abuse, as well as unwanted cards, calls, gifts, or visits. One in four victims reports that the stalker uses technology, such as computers, global positioning system devices, or hidden cameras, to track the victim’s daily activities.5 Stalkers fit no standard psychological profile, and many stalkers follow their victims from one jurisdiction to another, making it difficult for authorities to investigate and prosecute their crimes. Communities that understand stalking, however, can support victims and combat the crime. If more people learn to recognize stalking, we have a better chance to protect victims and prevent tragedies.
Hi-Line’s Help will be promoting awareness and public education about stalking during the annual observance. For more information, please contact HLHAS at 406-278-3342. For additional resources to help promote National Stalking Awareness Month, please visit http://stalkingawarenessmonth.org and www.ovw.usdoj.gov.
If you are a victim who has experienced stalking, domestic violence, sexual assault or dating violence, HLHAS will be offering a support group, "Healing from the Trauma of Abuse" towards the end of March 2012. Participants will be limited to six individuals. If you are interested in attending or would like additional details regarding the support group please call HLHAS at 406.278.3342.
JAMIE'S JEWELS By Jamie Rogers
Hi-lines Help is excited to announce the introduction of our online volunteer advocate training program. The online training will operate from the HLHAS website. Participants interested in volunteering will fill out an application. A staff advocate will contact the prospective volunteer advocate and arrange a date for screening and discussion to ensure the potential volunteer advocate understands the expectations as a crisis line advocate. A password to participate in the training will be issued. The prospective volunteer advocate will then have the opportunity to participate in the online trainings for domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. The new online training is expected to be up and running by January 31, 2012.
One of the advantages of an online training is most learners do not retain all the material delivered in a workshop setting. Online training is designed and developed to overcome this challenge and allows the learner to revisit the training when needed. Avoiding “information overload” and ensuring the ability to review the information creates stronger learning potential. It is important to note that online training has been proven to help learners better retain a large amount of information because of a self paced environment.
Online training also offers flexibility with the audience. Most trainings are not suited for potential volunteer advocates who are working. Learners can decide the schedule most convenient for them. The training is designed to remain available and can be picked up from where it’s left off for each volunteer advocate.
Upon completion the volunteer advocate will meet with a staff advocate to ensure that they are comfortable with beginning the crisis line. If additional training is requested it will be provided prior to initiation onto the call schedule. If requested, a staff advocate can be placed on call with the volunteer advocate to ensure backup when the volunteer advocate is on the call schedule.
In addition to the online training, beginning March 2012, monthly scenarios will be featured to assist in skill building for volunteer advocates. Each month a training will be featured to enhance the knowledge available. All training opportunites are designed to ensure our volunteer advocates have the best possible opportunities for up to date information on domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
HLHAS will be reaching into the communities we serve for professionals to assist with quarterly trainings for volunteer advocates. Quarterly trainings can better assist volunteer advocates in understanding the responses from different agencies who also assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. In addition, trainings are specialized to meet the needs of those volunteer advocates serving in our communities.
The staff at Hi-Lines Help looks forward to the year 2012 and it’s positive, new approach to volunteer advocacy. Happy New Year!
Ryan United has teamed up with E & E Photography! Go to E & E Photography's Facebook page at E & E Photography, click on "like" and request that one dollar be donated to Ryan United. The photographers have also agreed to donate $100.00 for each High School Senior Session that is booked in Helena, Conrad, Brady and Gt. Falls.
Book your 2012 wedding with E & E Photography on Friday this year and she will donate $200.00 to Ryan United. E & E Photography's wedding packages range from $799 to $2499.00. The package includes a second shooter, copyrights to photographs, your images on a CD and a parent album.
Misti Gaub
mistigaub@ymail.com
or phone 406-661-9312
Planning a Destination Wedding?
E & E Photography will travel!!
"FLEAS" READ THIS! By Dawn Olivo
Stalking and harassment can happen anywhere, anytime. And in this advanced technological age, it gets easier and easier to stalk and harass. Social networking sites, chatrooms, cell phones, have all made it much more efficient for stalkers. However, this kind of behavior is against the law. Montana Code Annotated is below:
Montana Law
45-8-213. Privacy in communications. (1) "Except as provided in 69-6-104, a person commits the offense of violating privacy in communications if the person knowingly or purpose"
(a) "with the purpose to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy, or offend, communicates with a person by telephone or electronic mail and uses obscene, lewd, or profane language, suggests a lewd or lascivious act, or threatens to inflict injury or physical harm to the person or property of the person. The use of obscene, lewd, or profane language or the making of a threat or lewd or lascivious suggestions is prima facie evidence of an intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy, or offend."
Below are some safety tips for nagivating the world of “techo-communication” It is ESPECIALLY important to teach children how to avoid becoming victims of online stalking, and to make sure they know what to do if they are being bothered by someone.
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Online safety tips
Select a gender-neutral username, email address, etc. Avoid anything cute, sexual, diminutive, or overtly feminine.
Keep your primary email address private. Use your primary email address ONLY for people you know and trust.
Get a free email account and use that for all your other online activity. Make sure you select a gender-neutral username that is nothing like anything you've had before. There are many, many free email providers, such as Hotmail, Juno, Yahoo! and Hushmail. We suggest that you do a search using your favorite search engine and choose the email provider that best suits your own needs.
Don't give out information simply because it is requested. Countless web sites ask you to give them your full name, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, etc. when you might just want to search their catalogs or read messages on a discussion forum. Give as little information as possible, and if they insist on information that doesn't seem justified, leave to go elsewhere. Some people give false information at such sites, especially if they don't plan to return in the future. Be especially cautious of "profiles" and "directory listings" for instant messaging programs or web sites.
Block or ignore unwanted users. Whether you are in a chat room or using IM, you should always check out what options/preferences are available to you and take advantage of the "Block all users except those on my buddy list" or adding unwanted usernames to an Ignore list in chat. If anyone bothers you and won't go away, put them on block or ignore!
Don't allow others to draw you into conflict. That may mean that you don't defend yourself from personal attacks. It's safer to ignore them and keep yourself above the fray. When you respond to a harasser in any way, you're letting him know that he has succeeded. No matter how hard it is to do, do not interact with a harasser. When he realizes that he isn't getting a reaction from you, in most cases he'll move on to find an easier target.
Lurk in a new forum to learn local customs. Read mailing list or discussion board postings for a week or more without responding or posting anything yourself. In chat rooms, just sit quietly for 10-30 minutes to see if the discussions that are going on are truly something in which you wish to engage. Don't respond to private messages in that time, either.
If a place becomes stressful, leave it. There are many stressors we cannot avoid easily in our lives, so why put up with those we can avoid? If someone is being asinine in a chat room or on a discussion board, there are countless others that are likely to be more pleasant. If another visitor to a chat room or forum is harassing you and the forum owner/moderator refuses to take decisive action, why would you want to be there? Don't allow yourself to get tied up in battles over territory.
When you change, really change! If you need to change your username or email address to break off contact with a harasser, using a variation on your real name or anything you've used in the past leaves tracks allowing the harasser to find you again fairly easily. If you've always been "Kitty" and you change your handle to "Cat," you haven't really changed. The harasser knows that you have particular hobbies or interests. For instance, perhaps you like to play Scrabble. If he's really obsessed or simply has too much time on his hands, he's likely to poke around in different Scrabble-related fora looking for feline names to see if he can find you again.
Know what's in your signature file. Don't put your company name, title, email address, address, phone/fax number, etc. there unless your employer requires that you do so. If you must provide that information, restrict use of that email account to business interactions with co-workers and customers. Do not ever use it to participate in any public forum (mailing list, newsgroup, web-based discussion board, etc.).
Never give your password to anyone. Your ISP will never, ever ask you for your password while you are online or via email. In fact, they shouldn't ever contact you to ask you for your password, period. They can get it from their own records, if they really need it for any reason. If you call them for support, there are a few rather rare instances in which the support person might ask you for your password - but you called them, right? So you know it's really a support person from your ISP that you're talking to. There's no legitimate reason for anyone to ever contact you to ask for your password.
Don't provide your credit card number or other identifying information as proof of age to access or subscribe to a web site run by any person or company with whom you are not personally familiar or that doesn't have an extremely good, widespread reputation. Check consumer advocacy resources before giving out your credit card number to anyone, just to be sure that your trust is justified.
Personally monitor children's internet use, even if you have trained them in what information they can and cannot give out. There is no software in the world that can replace the active involvement of a concerned parent.
Instruct children to never, ever give out personal information - their real name, address, or phone number online without your permission.
Be very cautious about putting any pictures of yourself or your children online anywhere, or allowing anyone else (relatives, schools, dance academies, sports associations) to publish any photos. Some stalkers become obsessed because of an image. A random email address or screen name is simply much less attractive to most obsessive personalities than a photograph.
SEE YOU IN THE SPRING!!