Please join the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable on Tuesday, December 9, 2014, for a discussion about “What An Ideal Violence Prevention Program Should Look Like” in our communities. The forum will take place at 3 PM in the Community Meeting Room of the Wayland Public Safety Building located at 38 Cochituate Road, Wayland.
The murder of Lauren Astley on July 3, 2011, at the hands of her former boyfriend deeply impacted our local communities. Suddenly, we were faced with the realization that our communities are not immune to violence. Since Lauren’s murder, thirty-three other women and girls in Massachusetts have lost their lives in a similar manner. More than 4,000 women nation-wide have died in that same time period. Many more women and girls have also dealt with non-lethal, but traumatic and deeply damaging abuse. Sudbury, Wayland, Lincoln, and other neighboring communities have taken a number of positive steps to address domestic abuse and teen dating violence and the trauma, grief, and uncertainty that are involved for all those affected—victims, their families, and bystanders alike. However, there is more work to be done.
The Roundtable’s December 9th forum will discuss what ideal measures we as a community might take to prevent abuse in all its forms. What new information, skills, communication channels, and services do we need to provide? What norms do we need to establish? What community programs do we need to provide to protect women and girls and to teach our men and boys about safe and healthy relationships? How can we bring about change and halt this violence as communities have done with so many other forms of injustice and harm?
Now we need to address the hard facts. In Sudbury, Wayland, and Lincoln alone, there are a total of 91 restraining orders in effect at the present time. And these restraining orders do not account for all those incidents of abuse that go unreported and for all those victims who suffer in isolation and silence. Domestic abuse knows no boundaries. It can affect anyone.
We can formulate the next steps together and create communities where safe and healthy relationships are the norm – communities where help is available for those who find themselves in an abusive relationship. Please join us on Tuesday, December 9, 2014, for this important community forum.
