Douglas County Victims' Assistance Programme

We were at the Douglas County Justice Centre this morning. There were a number of presentations that were inter linked and gave us a good view of how the sheriff's department, District Attorney's office and community agencies work together.
The security entering the building was state of the art and we stood in a security screening area on foot prints with our hands in the air, surrender style, while we were scanned.

Parker

Steve Watson and his wife Nancy are hosting Judith. We love the hat Steve!

We spent the morning at the Women's Crisis and Family Outreach Centre in Castle Rock where we had a great exchange of information.

Lunch was at the Old Stone Church, followed by shopping at an outlet mall and then some free time.

Evergreen and Golden Clubs

We spent the morning at Family Tree, a large organisation that provides a range of services, including a safe shelter, supervised exchanges and access, parenting and counselling for families where ther has been abuse. It was a worthwhile morning.

Even more learning

Monday 20th
The team are shown here with Tennyson Centre staff. The Centre has both residential and school facilities for children with behaviour issues caused by abuse. We were impressed by the exemplary practice.
We also visited the Colorado Coalition against Domestic Violence and had great discussion.
Tuesday 21st
After a great breakfast at Snooze we visited the Colorado University Masters Programme on Domestic Violence. It was good to discusssome of the underpinnings of our work. In the afternoon we visited the Denver Centre for Crime Victims. Their programmes are truly impressive and comprehensive.

Fantastic sharing of information

We decided that our line dancing careers weren't looking to promising so we best concentrate on the vocational activities today.

We have had two very intensive informative days in Denver. There has been some fantastic two way sharing of ideas, existing models and progressive initiatives.

A huge thanks to our fabulous drivers who have transported us around the city. If we were relying on Brenda to navigate we could have ended up anywhere...depending on which way up she had the map.

We presented to the Denver Rotary Club at lunchtime today and were again received with an incredible welcoming and freindly reception.

just wait 15 minutes...

There is a saying in Denver...if you don't like the weather just wait round for 15 minutes it will change. Here we are in 3 degrees celsius and yesterday in exactly the same spot it was 19 degrees celsius. Denver has a storm warning out and we are expecting up to a foot of snow tonight. Tomorrow's photo will be of us building snowmen!

Boulder County Justice Centre and Boulder County Ageing

It was a full day with a visit to the Boulder County Justice Centre in the morning and Boulder County Ageing in the afternoon.
Discussion in the morning centred on the apprehension, sentencing and treatment of perpetrators. We were all taken with the systematic approach to treatment, the way they screen for risk factors, and the Victim Empathy programme. The latter programme is highly dependent upon having skilled therapists. Boulder is lucky to have a number of such therapists. We were a bit green!! (envy)

The afternoon centred around the needs of elderly, especially GLBT elderly.

Voices for Children, Blue Sky Bridge

Voices for Children supplies CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for children who have been removed from their families, often because of abuse. Theses advocates will befriend children and are required to look out for the best interests of the children. The photograph shows the team with staff of Voices for Children.
In the Afternoon we visited Blue Sky Bridge, an organisation that does evidential interviewing of children who are alleged to have suffered abuse, often sexual abuse. Their home like facility designed to put children at ease made us a little green.
The day finished with a lovely dinner at Frasier Meadows, a retirement community where Rotarian residents attended.

St. Vrain Family Centre

The afternoon was spent at the St. Vrain Family Centre where they specialise in supervised access and exchanges and parenting programmes. We were pretty interested in the ability of the court to order parenting programmes for divorcing couples. The other interesting programme was "Boot Camp for new dads" There was also a new programme for teen dads.

Safe Shelter of St Vrain and Longmont Police

Our morning was spent at the Safe Shelter of St. Vrain. We were envious of the amazing facility and very impressed with their programmes. What a great start to our trip. We had wonderful discussion and lots of issues in common that we both struggle with, but also differences. We will bring back great ideas. I was impressed with their teen programme in schools that helps young people understand date violence and how to deal with it.

Our afternoon was spent at the Police Department where we learned about their legal system as it relates to Domestic Violence and then from LEVI , Longmont Ending Violence Initiative. Brenda was so excited to be able to hold a police gun and see their vehicles.