Program tries to heal men who beat
women through prayer, counseling
BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
?THE CHRONICLE
It took JoAnn Mitchell 10
years to recover from an abu
sive marriage. While the phys
ical scars healed, the emotion
al scars and bitterness lingered
for quite some time. Following
her divorce from an abusive
husband. Mitchell found her
self repulsed by even the sight
of a man. After years of coun
seling, soul searching and
prayer. Mitchell counts herself
as a survivor.
"I have been hearing so
many
people
say, 'I'm
a sur
v ivor,
I'm a sur
v i v o r . *
But at the
same
time
these sur
vivors
were
people who were still hurting,"
said Mitchell. "Unless 1 had
gone through the steps that I
took to become a survivor,
then there's no way that I
could work with men today."
She has spent the last three
years reaching out to families
affected by domestic violence,
particularly male abusers,
through a faith-based nonprof
it called A Balm in Gilead
Enrichment Center. (It is not
affiliated with The Balm in
Gilead organization that con
ducts AIDS/HIV education
training with churches nation
wide.)
Mitchell says her personal
but painful experience is what
led her to create the program,
whose name is based on Jere
miah 8:22.
"What we want to do is get
not only the client but the
community to see that this
problem is much bigger than
just the woman and the child,"
said Mitchell, who is founder
and executive director of the
enrichment center. "Domestic
violence is not a hate crime.
The judicial system has really
turned it into a hate orime.
"It is a sickness and it is a
disease just like cancer or
HIV/AIDS. If it's not treated,
then it spreads and eats away
at our communities. .. It just
eats away at families."
Her program predates the
I
Founding Fathers initiative.
The city of Winston-Salem
unveiled this male-oriented
domestic violence prevention
program earlier this year.
Special attention is given
to men struggling with anger
and violence issues in the
MAN the Moment program.
Mitchell says the MTM pro
gram is more than just an
anger management course -
something she considers to be
just a bandaid over a genera
tional curse that she insists has
to be broken.
"Ten weeks (of anger man
agement) is not enough for
anyone to deal with the situa
tion. What 10 weeks does is
make the man that much more
angrier because he doesn't
want to be there," said
Mitchell. "The only way to
stop the violence is to deal
with the root of the problem.
which is the male."
She hopes to reach men in
every segment of the commu
nity, including the homeless
and ex-offenders, with the pro
gram. She is planning to work
closely with The Bethesda
Center and the Forsyth County
Sheriff's Office on setting up
counseling sessions.
Mitchell believes that reha
bilitation cannot be predeter
mined to take place in a set
period of time. That is why
MTM and the Women of
Worth (WOW) program,
which is a counseling program
for women who have been or
are victims of domestic vio
lence, are both structured as
30-plus-week programs. All
programs are voluntary and
involve one-on-one counseling
or group sessions. Counseling
sessions are held at various
locations around the ? city.
Mitchell hopes the center will
operate out of one office by
sometime next year.
The enrichment center also
offers support and assistance
to children aged 6-17 affected
by domestic violence in the
Step by Step program.
Mitchell says that many peo
ple who work with domestic
violence
victims
have
been vic
tims at
one time
like her
self. All
staff
members
are
required
to partic
ipate in the Step by Step pro
gram before they will conduct
any counseling sessions. Like
Mitchell, Eboni Belfield, who
is the Step By Step coordina
tor, has be#n affected by
domestic abuse.
"The first thing we (com
municate) to the kids is that
it's not your fault," said
Belfield. "1 have no problem
sharing my story anymore. It
does make them feel a little
more comfortable talking to
me because they know I know
firsthand what it is because
I've come out of it."
A Balm in Gilead Enrich
ment Center also offers assis
tance with hospital support, in
state and out-of-state reloca
tion, employment, education,
affordable housing and com
munity referrals.
Willard Tanner, vice presi
dent of the A Balm in Gilead
Enrichment Center board, has
been in the trenches of domes
tic violence prevention and
rehabilitation work. Tanner is
also a program facilitator with
the Forsyth County Depart
ment of Public Health's
Fathers and Friends Program.
"People are just tired of
being tired. The men are tired
of the situation continuing to
perpetuate itself, and certainly
the women are because they
are the ones being affected
along with the children," said
Tanner.
For more information, con
tact JoAnn Mitchell at 682
4446 or e-mail her at
abalmingileadwsnc@hot
mail.com.
Act
from page A2
Voting rights experts around
the country are mobilizing jus) in
case.
Ted Shaw, director-counsel
and president of the NAACP
Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, warns of tricks leading up
to reauthorization.
Any argument that the full act
should be permanent or should
require nationwide coverage
could be fatal to anti-discrimina
tory protections, says Shaw.
Shaw was one of the facilita
alter day to pass the so-called lit
eracy test," he said. "Those tests
are gone, but the immovable lines
re-emerged in the elections of
2000 and 2004. Those challenges
to equal access made it clear to
the average American citizen that
we have not fully escaped the
chains of our dark past ."
It is because of the confusion
during Election 2000 that the
Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under the Law has estab
lished a commission to hold hear
ings around the country, gathering
evidence to use for possible
strengthening of the act.
tors during a two
day "Renewal Kick
off Campaign" and
national conference
on the Voting Rights
Act, last week held
by the Leadership
Conference on Civil
Rights Education
Fund.
Conference
Executive Director
Wade Henderson
Although the pre
clearance clause per
tains to mostly Southern
states, the bipartisan
National Commission
on the Voting Rights Act
is gathering evidence of
ongoing racial and lan
guage discrimination in
voting nationwide, says
Barbara Amwine, exec
utive director of the
Lawyer's Committee.
says he was encouraged by
Sensenbrenner's support, but
that's not enough.
"We're also talking about
restoration of the act's vitality to
inhere it was when it was reautho
rized 23 years ago in 1982," Hen
derson said. "Our objective is to
move the discussion in that direc
tion."
Retired Judge Nathaniel R.
Jones of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said
citizens must also watch Democ
ratic members of Congress who
negotiated the "nuclear option,"
compromising in order to confirm
conservative federal judges.
"Those who wink and nod at
this result may rightly be called
upon to defend against the charge
of being enablers and accom
plices to the repealing of key sec
tions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
and the 1965 Voting Rights Act,"
Jones said.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D
Ga.), former chairman of the Stu
dent Non- Violent Coordinating
Committee, pointed out that Elec
tion 2000, when 4 to 6 million
votes were lost because of viola
tions or faulty machines, showed
how easily a vote can be nullified.
"In 1965, 1 saw people stand
ing in unmovable lines, trying day
The committee is chaired by
longtime LDF attorney Bill Lann
Lee, a former assistant attorney
general for civil rights, and for
mer L.S. Rep. Charles McCurdy
Mathias Jr. (R-Md.), who helped
draft the bill.
"What people really thought
was that most of the evidence was
probably pertaining mostly to the
South. They've mostly been
amazed. They've got testimony
from Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Alabama, Texas. Arizona, Min
nesota, and Wisconsin," she said.
Meanwhile, a pre-march
Town Hall meeting will be begin
at 5 p.m. Friday at Ebenezer Bap
tist Church in Atlanta.
The march - which will also
focus on workers rights to organ
ize and ending the war in Iraq - is
developing into a "real rainbow
coalition," Jackson said.
"The response has been
tremendous. In this rally, the
NAACP is coming big time.
Bruce Gordon will give his first
major speech. The Urban League,
the Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference, the National
Counsel of La Raza, the Congres
sional Black Caucus, the Latino
Caucus, and the AFL-CIO have
all committed to participate."
Jackson said.
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