I have been in contact with Ms. Jones, Director of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, whose administrative office is in Austin Texas as a part of the Texas Council on Family Violence. Lex, Beth, Rob, and i will be going to Austin on Friday, May 17th to discuss in-service training to the National Hotline staff on issues facing DC victims from the Kink/Leather/BDSM community. After getting a better idea of what they are looking for, Lex, Beth, Artemis, Jim, hardy, Rob, and I will be developing the training this summer for the Hotline staff training in the fall.
Plans are progressing with Beth and a local university on the development and implementation of a “National Survey on intimate Partner Violence in the Kink/Leather/BDSM Community.”
Recent feedback that I have received indicates that nLA-I is not in a position to offer any support or financial assistance in the DV work NLA Dallas has taken on in their name. That presents a significant challenge to me both personally and professionally. How does one responsibly carry out the duties of one’s position representing a program that is a part of an organization, NLA-I, whose typical operating mode appears to be chaos?
Our local efforts no matter how important and ground breaking in nature are still under the umbrella of the NLA-I DVP… which when googled, appears dead in the water. I understand credibility… how it is earned, and more importantly how it is lost. NLA-I’s present problems, and lack of any type of plan to correct them, can at some point cause a serious barrier to the effectiveness of our local DV efforts.
NLA Dallas is on the verge of doing something really important for DV victims from our community. Our trip to the National DV Hotline office next week is a wonderful accomplishment. I am so grateful and appreciative to those working on this with me, but this optimism is tempered by a total lack of confidence in support for our efforts by the very organization, NLA-I, who owns this project and therefore, the fruits of our labors. I find this disturbing to say the least.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis C. Hartzog, M.Ed., LPC
NLA-I DVP Representative