After months of dance practice, we had a great time raising public awareness of domestic violence, Oct. 15, conducting flash mobs throughout the Naples area. In some locations we were joined by members of the public who had learned the dance on their own. Even our trolley driver joined in! Enjoy a video of our performance at Mercato.
Karen Smith recently joined the Board of Directors of The Shelter for Abused Women & Children. A full-time Naples resident, Smith moved to the community in 2004 with her husband, F. Samuel Smith, Past Chairman, The Shelter Board of Directors
Smith brings to the board expertise in financial services and nonprofit agencies. She held positions with A. G. Becker, Inc. in Chicago and New York City before joining R. Gilder & Co., New York.
She married and raised three children while living in Brussels, Tokyo and Seoul, where she volunteered for three years at the Holt Adoption Agency before adopting her Korean daughter there. After moving to Connecticut in 1981, Smith served on the YMCA Board of Directors which founded the Children’s Centers day care facilities. In 1997, she accepted a position as Assistant to the President and Board Chairman of TechnoServe, an international not-for-profit organization developing agricultural cooperatives into businesses in Latin American and Africa.
“Karen’s financial experience and her work with nonprofit agencies, both domestic and international, make her an exceptional addition to our board of directors,” says Linda Oberhaus, Executive Director of The Shelter. “We are extremely pleased and grateful for her willingness to serve.”
The Shelter for Abused Women & Children will recognize National Domestic Violence Awareness Month with its Annual Children’s Fair and Peace March on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014 at the Collier County Immokalee Sports Complex, 505 Escambia St. in Immokalee.
“The Peace March is an annual highlight for our Immokalee outreach program,” said Shelter Executive Director Linda Oberhaus, “In addition to bringing the community together for some family-friendly fun, this march embodies our mission to prevent, protect and prevail over domestic violence through advocacy, empowerment and social change.”
The Children’s Fair will run from 3-6 p.m., followed by the police-escorted Peace March at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Activities include children’s games, entertainment, food, and prizes. There will also be a talent show and information booths hosted by partner agencies.
For more information, call The Shelter’s Immokalee Outreach office at 239-657-5700.
In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month, residents of The Shelter for Abused Women & Children are receiving some much-needed stress-relieving care thanks to two local therapists.
Dr. Alexandria Christ (left photo), a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, is providing residents with trauma, PTSD, anxiety and stress, treating pressure points located on both ears. The painless therapy takes about one hour per patient and the needles remain in patient’s ears for up to 45 minutes.
Dr. Christ, of Bodhi Mind Healing, Inc., has been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine since 2000 and has an integrative “East meets West” approach in her treatment protocols, which include acupuncture, Trigger Point Therapy (or also called Dry Needling), Acupuncture Injection Therapy for pain management and Cosmetic Acupuncture injection Therapy.
In addition to acupuncture therapy, residents will also receive chair and table massage therapy from Nationally Certified Therapeutic Massage Therapist Jaime L. Kliewe.
Kliewe specializes in the relief of chronic muscular tension and holistic pain management. She is trained in deep tissue techniques, neuro-muscular therapy, trigger point work, stretching and ROM (Range of Motion), pregnancy massage, sports massage, Swedish massage and postural and gait assessment.
“For most of our residents, these sort of services are cost-prohibitive,” says Linda Oberhaus, Executive Director of The Shelter for Abused Women & Children. “We are grateful to Dr. Christ and Ms. Kliewe, for donating their time to improve our residents’ quality of life through their services.”
Below is a 30 second video from the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence Foundation that highlights the important values young boys can learn playing pee wee/junior football when they are exposed to adults that share beliefs about, and model, healthy relationships. Be sure to watch until the end where information is shared about how a child may reach out for help if a current or former intimate partner is “messing with their mom.”
Please share, repost, talk about it, and if you can, donate $5 to help survivors of domestic violence and their children. All proceeds will go to the FCADV Foundation to support the life saving work of Florida’s 42 certified domestic violence centers.
We can end domestic violence and create communities where healthy relationships thrive and are valued. Please help make that happen.
You can make a difference – learn the facts, take action and transform lives, homes, schools and communities today!
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Our confidential services are offered free of charge to help you transform your life no matter your age, gender, race or socio-economic status. We even have an on-site kennel for your pets!
We provide solutions to end domestic violence today and for future generations through empowerment, advocacy and innovative programs and services.
Yoga, breath work, creative writing, art therapy, meditation, drumming circles and other clinically proven methods of healing are an integral part of this exciting program. These tools allow you to heal from the past, live fully in the present and plan for a life free from violence.
Our Gallery features artwork by victims who use this medium to subconsciously solve their life problems at a pre-symbolic level on a canvas, where it is safe to try. Each picture offers alternatives, solutions, possibilities.
Art creates a safe place between the conscious and subconscious mind, between you and your counselor, between you and your work.
Artwork is a way to engage in a liberating dialogue that provokes the integration of ideas. It leads you to a higher level of empowerment and self-knowledge.
Ivette M. Gomez, Facilitator
For more information, contact Ivette at igomez@naplesshelter.org, or call 239.775.3862.
Click here for brochure
My name is…it’s not important
What is important is the essence
After all our names just identify us
In a superficial way, our essence
Is our real Self
We demonstrate this in everything we pursue
In the way we talk and in everything we give
To talk about the drawings you are seeing,
I don’t want to!
I would enjoy more listening to the point of view
Of each one of you viewing them
Drawings talk by themselves
About my experience in the creative counseling sessions,
My experience doing yoga at the shelter,
And my private sessions with my counselor—Ivette
I learned not to lock myself inside
To look around and know
That there are other people sharing the same
That I am experiencing in this moment of my life
Sometimes one is too much with oneself
But when we come out of that self centeredness
We are able to see the infinite possibilities that exist
And the pain of others
Lacey King, Chair
JoAnn Remington, Past Chair
Erika Aron
Bette Aymar
Michael Benson
Warner Blow
Bob Cahners
Carol Dinardo
Terry Edwards
Dona Erkenbeck
Kathy Feinstein
Christine Flynn
Grace Frey
Dr. Barbara Jordan
Suzie Lount
Annette Pakula
Dylan Sanders
Glen Schwesinger
Niki Thompson
Donna Waltrip
Gail S. T. Webster
Deborah Trinka, Chair
Wilma Boyd
Kellie Burns
Shelly Davis
Linda O. Flores
Donna Gillroy
Jessica Horowitz
Kathy Karpovich
Trudy Labell
Janet Lee
Shelley Lund Hobbs
Michele McKenney
Lisa Mead
Patricia Murphy
Brenda O’Connor
Courtney Ott
JoAnn Remington
Cherry Smith
Kathleen van Bergen
Sandi Wilson
Rabbi Fishel Zaklos
