Photo By Terrance Bell | Guest speaker Linda Hancock, director of the Wellness Resource Center and a clinician...... read more read more
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FORT LEE, Va. (Nov. 17, 2016) -- The Army Logistics University Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention team partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University on a talk titled “Love and Liquor” held in ALU’s Green Auditorium Nov. 9.
The presentation was given by Linda Hancock, director of the VCU Wellness Resource Center. She spoke on different perspectives and trends she obtained from surveys. The program educated ALU students and staff about how her students correlate with Army recruits.
During the program, the audience used a classroom response system known as “clickers” to receive immediate feedback. The response generated a percentage on the screen. The clickers were brought by Hancock to collectively show what is real and not real.
Hancock said, “When you look around the room, you think everybody is doing something, but what are they really doing? I am excited to get new data from you today.”
The program started off with some lighthearted humor to get people engaged.
“What color is this paper towel?” Everyone in the audience said, “White.” “What color is this screen?” Everyone said “White.” “What color is inside this red solo cup?” All said, “White.” “What do cows drink?” The audience yelled out “milk.” Hancock, said, “Actually water.”
“In America, we say to young people, don’t drink, don’t drink, and don’t drink. We put them in a little mental rut. Letting them think that everyone drinks, but do they? Same with our culture Don’t have sex, don’t have sex, but I’m sure everyone is getting it but us, right?”
The clickers were used to prove a point about perception. For instance, on how many people in the room were smoking cigarettes daily? The participants in the room had guessed a target range on what they thought the answer could be. Then she asked if anyone in the room was a daily smoker, to answer yes or no. The results were not what was expected.
“I speak to 10 different campuses across Virginia and the daily incoming smoking rate from freshman is about five percent,” she said. “You guys are at 10 percent. We over estimate on how many people smoke.”
Next she asked, which is worst, hookah or cigarettes? Again, people were shocked to find out it was hookah.
“Hookah smoke is one of the most toxic smokes known to man,” she said. “So, if you care about the physical health of your recruits, they need to run miles, and they are going off post. Hookah, seriously, is one of the worst things they can do.”
Another question was asked about how many drinks do you have a month. After everyone clicked in, most were astonished to find out the percentage was 0-5 a month. “There are a million reasons why people drink less than you think,” she said.
“I think every young person in America should have a clicker session,” she said. “Research shows if they think everybody else is doing it, even if they don’t agree with it, they are more likely to do it to fit in. They would rather be normal and unhealthy than healthy and abnormal.”
On the overhead screen, a slide listed norms with a picture of butterflies. Some butterflies were blue and stood out. “It is always the behavior that sticks out. When you are on the battlefield, you want to notice things that are different, but it screws up our perception on reality.”
“The worst thing you can do is reinforce this perception,” she said. “If you go around saying I know everybody drinks because you get the headaches from the ones causing a problem in the bars. However, if you say you are normalizing something that is not true, people make a variety of choices from not drinking at all, to drinking a lot, and there is a range. You have to choose what is right based on what is important to you. Not everybody drinks.”
Hancock said she talks to younger people on what she calls “Campbell’s Soup, Frosted Flakes and sex. Campbells Soup is mmm mmm good, Frosted Flakes are great, but sex is sacred, it doesn’t all wash in reviews. It brings lives into the planets, and changes the projectory on your lives, dreams and goals. So, do what you want, when you want with whom you want, but make sure you know how to do what you want. If those choices are taken away from you by sexual assault – I appreciate the work your advocates do here on post with helping you.”
“The world is changing and I believe the military is taking some of the lead with preventing sexual assault.”
She talked about research, which changed the mindset on some college campuses about sexual assault.”
The research was conducted by Dr. David Lisak, a clinical psychologist who did a study on 1,800 college men in the Boston area. After his survey, he analyzed the data and found out 120 could be classified as rapists on how they answered the survey. He further analyzed his data and found 44 men raped 44 women, and 76 men raped 439 women.
“What we have found to be true are most rapes occur from a serial rapist,” she said. “That is why I need all of your male recruits learning bi-standard skills. The point is, most rapists are professionals and know what they are doing, and they use alcohol as a weapon.”
She continued to talk about alcohol and underage drinking and making sure they know what the affects of drinking can do. “If an individual understands about alcohol, they would know if someone is overfeeding drinks to somebody to make them into a victim,” she said. “The person would be able to isolate the victim and take them away.”
Hancock explained about the alcohol limits and unit guidelines for men and women consumptions and the misrepresentation of the labeling on U.S. liquor.
“Why do we put unit measuring cups on tops of medicine bottles? So, we don’t hurt ourselves.” She showed one empty container of alcohol and said, “This one container kills at least one college student every weekend. I am sure there are recruits dying as well. There is no unit dose measuring on the bottles, and I wish there was.”
Hancock ended the program by asking the audience what they thought was the most devastating drug out there?
“It is an idea. The one you like the best. It is what clicks in your genetic snowflake, brain and body. It is the one that needs the need in your life. It is the one your friends are doing. It depends on what culture you are in. What is available as well.”
The presentation ended with available resources and how to build recovery support.
Sgt. 1st Class Hope Williams, ALU Sexual Assault Response coordinator, helped coordinate the presentation with VCU and found the training to be a good resource to have.
“Sexual assault is not just an Army problem,” Williams said. “It is a problem in society. The more we realize and acknowledge it, the more partnerships like this can help.”
| Date Taken: | 11.17.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 11.17.2016 09:27 |
| Story ID: | 214861 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 361 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Army Logistics University partners with local institution to conduct SHARP training, by Lesley Atkinson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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