Local groups offer help
for domestic violence
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Two organizations in
the Winston Mutual
Building are helping local
domestic violence victims
and offenders.
Kenya Thornton found
ed both Community
Intervention & Educational
Services, which provides
intervention services for
domestic violence offend
ers, and the nonprofit
Eliza's Helping Hands
(EHH), which helps vic
tims in abusive relations.
She previously worked
with domestic violence at
Family Services, and in
2012 started Community
Intervention, a for-profit
agency that offers the
Creating Opportunities for
Others to Learn (COOL)
program for abusers.
The court-ordered 26
week program for both
men and women convicted
of domestic , violence
Kenya Thornton is
director of Community
Intervention <&
Educational Services
and Eliza's Helping
Hands, two domestic
violence-focused agen
cies that take up the first
floor of the Winston
Mutual Building.
offenses helps them take
responsibility for their
actions and helps them
change their behavior so
they don't abuse again. She
said it's effective, having
only seven repeat offenders
out of more than 2,000 par- 1
ticipants since 2012.
"If you can at least
intervene and get them into
a program, I'm not saying
it's going to heal every
thing, but if you can at least
intervene, you can keep the
escalation down," said
Thorton. "It keeps them
accountable for that 26
weeks."
Community
Intervention also offers
other services including
play therapy for trauma
tized children, supervised
family visitation, substance
abuse classes and couples
counseling.
Last year, Thornton
started Eliza's Helping
Hands (EHH), which she
named after her grand
mother, who had her own
challenges with emotional
abuse.
"She just always taught
me to help other people if
you can," said Thornton.
Law students in Wake Forest University's Domestic Violence Awareness
Coalition present a check to the staff of Eliza's Helping Hands for $1?35 on
Monday, Oct. 31.
EHH offers many serv
ices to domestic violence
victims including support
groups, courtroom advoca
cy, case management and
need assessment. Clients
are referred from the
courts, police, social serv
ices and some find the
agency on their own.
Thornton says many peo
ple in abusive relationships
will contact EHH to fmd
out what they can do to get
out of their situation.
Thornton is planning to
open an EHH transitional
home for domestic vio
lence victims next year,
though a location for the
facility hasn't been chosen
yet. It'll accommodate
men, women and transgen
der individuals.
Unlike Community
Intervention, which is
funded by clients fees,
EHH depends on dona
tions. She said the commu
nity has been generous in
its support during the
group's many recent
fundraisers. Just this week,
law students in Wake
Forest University's
Domestic Violence
Awareness Coalition pre
sented a check to the
agency for $1,535 they
raised in a raffle.
For more information,
visit Community
Intervention's website,
pssofhc.com, and EHH's
website at elizashelping
hands.org. The EHH Crisis
Line is (336) 865-0389.
SECCA exhibit examines national news coverage
BY TEVIN ST1NSON
THE CHRONICLE
Earlier this week, SECCA
(Southeastern Center for Contemporary
Art) opened an exhibit that responds to
national news coverage on a number of
heavy topics, including the Syrian
Refugee Crisis, the brutal killings of
unarmed black people and everywhere in
between.
"Dispatches," a collection of works by
34 contemporary artists and photojournal
ists, is a artistic response to news reports
lfom 2010 to the present day. The exhibit
is divided into five different sections; Post
9/1 1 Realities; Boarders and Migrations;
Ecological Justice; New Forms of Social
Action; and the 2016 U.S. Presidential
Election.
Through powerful images and thought
provoking messages "Dispatches" takes a
look at the lack of sensitivity to those
directly impacted by national and interna
tional news reports. According to a press
release, "the art works emerge from with
in, and in defiance of today's media from
real-time coverage to slower forms for bet
ter comprehension." SECCA curator Cora
Fisher said, not only has the Internet
changed the way we receive news; it also
has changed the way we consume the
information we receive.
She said, "Within that shift with the
Internet, the way we consume news and
information has changed as well," she
said. "We're getting a barrage of informa
tion and that can cause fatigue."
On one wall of the art museum, photos
of U.S. presidential candidates Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump literally are
spilling onto the floor accompanied by
memorable quotes from both candidates.
Next to that is a black and white flag that
reads, "A Man Was Lynched By Police
Yesterday," hangs beside a photo wall of
people of different ages, races and ethnic
groups who are members of the LGBTQ
community.
Fisher said the way to overcome the
anxiety that comes with critical issues that
we are facing such as, racial equality,
immigration, and others is through art. She
said artists, photographers, and photojour
nalists give us different ways of respond
ing
"Artists show us the way," she said.
"Artists put a certain sense of urgency on
things that we otherwise may already emo
tionally shutdown on."
Dispatches opened on Tuesday, Nov. 1
and will run until Feb. 19, 2017. The
exhibit will also feature artist talks and live
performances.
For more information and a list of
artists, visit www.secca.org.
nxxo by Tevin Sanson
Southeastern Center for
Contemporary Art curator Cora
Fisher discusses a piece that exam
ines the 2016 VS. Presidential
Election during a tour of the
"Dispatches" exhibit on Friday, Oct.
28.
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