Lawrence Central inducted a new member in early August. Stephen Mason who is a recreation center programmer for the Lawrence Parks District. You’ll be hearing more about him in the weeks to come when we schedule his vocation talk. He’s pictured here with sponsoring member Glenn Davis and Club President Kate Campbell.
Welcome Stephen!
Shelter, Help, Hope are the offerings of The Willow Domestic Violence Center and Becca Burns, Willow director of Volunteer Services , outlined each for Central Rotarians on July 29. Burns also presented Central Rotary president Kate Campbell with a certificate of appreciation for the club’s support of The Willows through donations of goods and services.
Domestic violence is not just physical violence, although it is often included, Burns said. Violence can be psychological, financial, sexual and spiritual. Abusers can use threats, manipulation, and isolation against a partner.
And, even when children are not the target of the abuser, although 40 to 60 percent are, 100 percent of children who live in an abusive home are damaged.The most resilient children are the ones who have a good relationship with the non-abusive parent and connections to other loved ones, she said.
The Willow offers a 24-hour hot line, a safe shelter home, court advocacy, and intervention. It provides a range of services for children both in the shelter and in the community, ranging from art and music programs to healthy parent classes and information about the effects of domestic violence on children.
“One of our most important jobs,” Burns said “is to make sure people know they are believed and that resources are readily available.It also helps all victims of abuse to know, through The Willow, that others have been through this and are now doing well. It takes away the isolation.”
The Willow hot line phone is 785-843-3333.
As the Rotary year came to a close we bid farewell to 2014-2015 President Carolyn DeSalvo. It was a bittersweet meeting because no only was she stepping down from the role of President, she also was leaving Lawrence Central as she is moving with her husband Frank DeSalvo to Washington state where she plans to open up a new integrated medicine practice.
She was surprised a the meeting by her long-time Rotarian father honored her with a Paul Harris Fellowship in her name.
Her wit, wisdom, and steadfast support of our club will be missed. We’ve heard that she is already being heavily recruited by the local rotary clubs in her new hometown.
Abby Young is a licensed counselor who uses hypnotherapy in her work. “But,” she said smiling at her audience of Central Rotary Rotarians, “it’s not the kind of entertainment hypnosis people have heard about. I don’t make people quack like a duck.”
She is a graduate of KU in journalism and worked for a while as a photojournalist. But episodes of depression and anxiety prompted her to consult a therapist who helped her and spurred her interest in social work and therapy.
“An entrepreneurial shift and an undirected life shift” are what she said led her to take training in hypnotherapy.
“Stage hypnosis is a state that resembles sleep,” she said. “Hypnotherapy is the use of a relaxed state to provide therapeutic benefit. “Ten percent of our thinking is conscious,” she said “ 90 percent deals with the subconscious—long term memories, emotions, habit patterns, addictions, creativity all dwell in the subconscious.”
She trained in the Wellness Institute style and works a lot with age regression, taking some of her clients back to childhood.
“People repress emotions and don’t experience them fully. Going in deeper makes people uncomfortable but we can experience emotions, work on expressing them and come to new conclusions.”
She is a counselor with Tillery Time Counseling with offices in Lawrence and Ottawa and is one of the leaders for a Good Earth Gatherings workshop, August 22 in Baldwin “Letting Go: Living Free of Shame.”
Lawrence Central Rotary’s own Audrey Coleman spoke on her work as Head Archivist at the Dole Institute of Politics and discussed the importance of preserving personal digital records. The Institute honors Senator Bob Dole “by promoting political and civic participation in a by-partisan and balanced manner.” The Institute provides educational displays, archives and programs to achieve this mission. Audrey reported that Dole is active at 91 years of age and frequently consults with staff members of the Institute. The archivists receive about 300 research requests a year. Researchers may work on site or hire a local researcher. Finding aids have been created to assist researchers including a key word search that identifies specific folders of information.
Audrey noted that the explosion of digital information is both a benefit and a challenge. Unfortunately, digital images and documents can be easily misplaced or can deteriorate and become lost forever. The following steps were recommended to preserve valuable digital records. First, identify your most important digital files and their location. Next, save the highest quality versions with multiple copies and tag the files with dates and names. Finally, store the results on computer, CD, DVD, thumb drive and utilize an Internet storage company. Saved files should be reviewed annually and copied to new media every five years. Commercial firms can assist with this process.
In closing, Audrey urged people to attend an event at the Institute to celebrate the opening of a new display commemorating the 25th anniversary of the passage of the American Disability Act. The event is on Sunday, July 26, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
