Photo By Capt. Kara Siepmann | Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Greenawalt, the Senior Intelligence Analyst for the...... read more read more
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — National Guard civil operations specialists regularly combat social taboos surrounding drug and alcohol use. But some taboos are too great to combat alone, so in California, civil operations specialists combine forces with Counterdrug Task Force intelligence analysts to provide more robust support to community based organizations (CBOs) in their efforts to decrease the demand for drugs by the state’s youth.
“Some communities just don’t think they have a problem with drugs or alcohol use and they refuse to address the root causes,” said Army Maj. Jeffrey Moore, California National Guard Counterdrug program’s Operations Officer. But with illicit drug use among teens on the rise nationwide, drug prevention is one area where ignorance is not bliss.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more young adults aged 18 to 25 are using illicit drugs, up from 19.6% in 2008 to 21.5% in 2010.
While the Counterdrug Task Force intelligence team was looking for a community based organization to lend their services to, one CBO was actively searching for ways to support its at-risk group. The newly formed CBO pledged to take on one of society’s greatest taboos—molestation, and the aftermath that follows in the wake of the incident.
“Counterdrug intelligence analysts shine a light for community based organizations by providing valuable data and information about the communities they serve,” Moore said.
The official mission of the newly formed nonprofit, Mothers of Molestation Survivors (MOMS), is to break the cycle of generational molestation world-wide by educating and empowering mothers, parents, families, friends and the community to work together to establish a safe and healthy environment for children, said Kim D. Johnson, founder and executive director.
“On the surface, MOMS is a group that simply addresses the emotional needs of the molestation survivor and his or her immediate family,” Moore said. “But look a little deeper at the alarming data our intelligence analysts have collected and it’s clear that molestation survivors are at risk of abusing drugs and alcohol as an attempt to solace themselves from the pain they’re suffering.”
Children whose parents abuse alcohol and other drugs are three times more likely to be abused. Also, as many as two-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as children, according to a 1998 study conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Moore, a former civilian teacher, immediately made the connection between the National Guard’s drug prevention efforts and MOMS child molestation prevention efforts. In January, a partnership quickly emerged between the California National Guard Counterdrug program’s civil operations specialists and the two ladies who co-founded the organization in Northern California.
“We started with a heart of passion and a good idea. As we did the research we realized there was a great need,” Johnson said. “We were able to more specifically identify our community’s needs with the California National Guard’s help.”
Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Greenawalt, California Counterdrug program’s Senior Intelligence Analyst pulled reports that outlined demographic data by county and researched publicly available reports on child molestation figures for the MOMS group.
“With MOMs, and dealing with Placer County, we wanted to identify what age groups are vulnerable to drug use, what the age they started and what their drugs of choice are,” Greenawalt said.
“After listening to Dan’s analysis, MOMS was able to determine an age range that is most vulnerable based on county and that allowed us to concentrate our educational efforts in that area,” said Rebecca Lucero, MOMS director of administration.
“In Sacramento County, the highest percentage of child abuse recorded was victims between the ages of 6 and 10 and drinking started between the ages of 10-11, indicating that a child was attempting to numb some trauma that had taken place in their life, Lucero said. “All of this indicated to MOMS that educational materials on molestation prevention needed to be tailored specifically to a target audience of children under the age of 6 using appropriate materials.”
Six counties spanning over 6,500 square miles make up the Sacramento region. By researching 2011 U.S. Census data and Kidsdata.org, a Lucile Packard Foundation, Greenawalt helped the ladies narrow down their focus area—Placer County. Placer County has a child abuse rate of 12 incidents per 1,000 people - higher than the average in California. Additionally, 11th graders in Placer County abuse prescription drugs at two times the national average.
“The information we provided MOMs was found through open sources,” Greenawalt said. “95 percent of intelligence is open source.”
Monthly meetings between the Counterdrug team, comprised of Moore, Greenawalt, a public affairs officer, and the MOMS group continued. Moore guided the ladies through the creation of a strategic plan using the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) coalition-planning templates.
“Once MOMS created their mission statement and goals, we worked to help them create step-by-step plans for their goals using the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)’s Western Center for Applied Prevention Technologies (WEST CAPT) 7 Step Planning Process,” Moore said.
Now that they have a strategic plan in place and clearly articulate goals, a website and social media presence, established community based organizations, the Dr. Oz Foundation, churches, the California Department of Education and anti-drug coalitions are interested in joining forces with MOMS.
“The resources and networking provided by the California National Guard lend us a credibility that opens more doors for us, making it easier to reach the necessary population we’d like to target,” Lucero said. “The California National Guard has been our biggest supporter and has put us in touch with sources who are extremely important to the mission.”
Moore added that, “People Reaching Out has expressed an interest in collaborating with MOMS because of their commitment to community coalition practices and the resources and knowledge they can share.”
MOMS has been featured on two local Sacramento radio shows. Johnson spoke at the National Association of Social Worker’s state conference, and the ladies have been asked to set up a booth at fairs. They aim to increase their public presence.
“We’ve made absolutely phenomenal amount of progress in a short amount of time,” Lucero said.
In 2011, Johnson, penned a book addressing issues around child molestation: identifying false beliefs around sexual child abuse and presenting effective coping strategies to the family members of someone who is molested.
Her work gained national attention from therapists and professionals. “[The] book shines a light on a societal group that simply has not received the support or attention it deserves,” said Julie Phillips Randles, a freelance journalist who reviewed the book.
In the book, Johnson highlights that children who have been molested are not the only at-risk group. “Mothers, or fathers or siblings or grandparents carry a heavy emotional burden that is too heavy to bear alone,” Johnson said.
“A mother feels an innate responsibility to protect her child and when that child is traumatized, she then becomes traumatized,” Johnson said. “She numbs her pain by using drugs and alcohol, anything to escape the pain. I see a lot of this in my practice.”
Molestation survivors are in our faith community and MOMS can help us refine the molestation survivor program we’ve just started, Bob Bohling explained during a monthly meeting. Boholing is a licensed therapist at Capitol Christian Church’s Counseling Center, a mega church in the Sacramento area.
MOMS and the California National Guard didn’t connect through the usual channels. Lucero was searching for health insurance and opened the yellow pages to find agent Laurie Moore. Through the process of purchasing insurance, Lucero shared information about her program. Moore immediately recognized that it was something her husband would be interested in supporting.
“She told me that her husband had such a heart for this sort of thing,” Lucero said. “I was so eager to meet him.”
Greenawalt said, “The progress with MOMs started like any other military mission, because of the intelligence preparation of the battlefield. These same principles can be applied anywhere.”
The rest is history, as they say. Or at least a small part of the history Johnson and Lucero hope to build in the coming years for MOMs.
| Date Taken: | 06.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2014 12:36 |
| Story ID: | 142544 |
| Location: | SACRAMENTO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 115 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CNG Counterdrug intelligence analyst aids civil operations, by CPT Kara Siepmann, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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