Everyone in our community believes the safety and security of our children is important. We meet 3 people keeping our children safe from school shootings. Learn about the programs that keep our school staff informed during an incident. Hear how this system prevented the escalation of an incident here in Roswell. 

Thank you Roswell Independent School District for allowing us to have Kristen Salyards Community Schools District Lead, Ana Romero School Resource Officer, and LJ Harrell the Safe School Liaison with us on this episode.

Episode Highlights 

1:10 -  Meet the Roswell Independent School District Security Team

2:00 - Is there a difference between safety and security?

4:30 - Safe School Act - What changed after the Stoneman Douglass school shooting

6:00 - How this changed our community

7:00 - Security Triad - Staff Training, Building Design, and Law Enforcement Response 

8:30 - What the resource officer program looks like in Roswell

9:45 - Natasha details how Ana used the system to de-escalate a gun situation in Roswell

11:15 - Ana explains her point of view during the incident

14:30 - Today’s police response time and how training has changed since Columbine

15:30 - A L I C E - Alert,  Lockdown, Inform Counter and Evacuate

16:30 - What happens when an alert goes out

18:30 - What the team structure looks like during these events

19:00 - Kristen explains to how the system allows staff to stay in touch

21:00 - Communication provides calm and reduces concerns 

24:30 - Security features being installed in schools

27:00 - Classroom kits to that allow teachers to keep their rooms secure

30:45 - Natasha points how staff are positively impacted by these changes

33:00 - 9 out of 10 parents surveyed have a lot of anxiety about school shootings 

34:00 - The empowerment that comes with participation in your own survival

36:00 - What we now know about why school shootings are taking place and it’s not bullying

39:00 - Relaxing the role the media plays in the motivation and the changes that need to be made. 

41:00 - Changing the way young people see law enforcement

43:30 - LJ shares how a resource officers are also protectors, and mentors

44:30 - The probability of being in a school shooting

47:00 - Why each member of the team does this work. 

 51:00 - How this alert system has comforted the community

We invited Shelley Repp from the New Mexico Dream Center in Albuquerque  to discuss the Human Trafficking epidemic. She speaks to the services they provide to homeless youth, and how the cycle of trafficking begins. This episode also covers how to look out for the children in your life and the situational awareness you need as an adult in real life and online to keep yourself safe. 

Episode Highlights 

1:53 - How the Dream Center supports homeless youth in Albuquerque 

3:00 - Shelley Repp shares the first time she met a teen being trafficked

5:00 - Services you didn’t realize were needed for these young people

6:00 - Targeting where trafficking is happening

8:15 - Challenges for homeless youth & how the Dream Center serves them

10:00 - How people can access the center and expanding availability

12:00 - The most used personal care support services 

15:00 - Homelessness goes beyond couch surfing

17:00 - Early prevention services can help prevent trafficking of children

19:00 - An example of a teen girl to share the cycle of trafficking 

25:00 - How traffickers create dependency & commodify victims

27:30 - Forced criminality keeps victims from getting help

30:00 - What happens when a trafficking victim receives positive support

32:00 - The demand to purchase sex with young people

37:00 - Increased trafficking during the pandemic 

39:30 - Popular media normalizing incest and sex with young people

40:00 - Videogame chats & preparing your children for interacting on the internet

43:00 - Healthy family relationships & vulnerable moments

45:00 - What predators are looking for in victims 

47:30 - Shelley gives an example she observed of adults qualifying with teens

51:00 - Parenting kids through vulnerable phases 

53:00 - Detective Beto shares her experience 

56:00 - Changing the way we move through this world to be safe

58:00 - Where politeness stops and boundaries begin

1:00:00 - How can we as individuals protect ourselves

1:03:30 - Solidifying situational awareness & looking out for each other

Learn more about the work Shelley and her team are doing at the Dream Center by at their website NM Dream Center.

Links To References

New Mexico Dream Center - https://www.nmdreamcenter.org/

Chaves County CASA has a long-standing relationship with Assistance Dogs of The West. This non-profit organization builds successful working partnerships between facilities, handlers, and justice facility dogs at CASA and many other justice facilities. Linda Milanese, the CEO, and President, alongside Jill Felice, Founder, and Executive VP, join the team at CASA to share the process of selecting justice facility dogs and handlers. They also provide several examples of places ADW dogs create positive outcomes for those that interact with them. 

Learn more about Assistance Dogs Of The West on their wesbite here: https://assistancedogsofthewest.org/

Episode Highlights 

1:00 - Meet Linda and Jill from Assistance Dogs Of The West 

4:00 - Focusing on placing facility and peer support dogs

5:30 - The mission and purpose of putting dogs in facilities

7:30 - Determining temperament of justice facility dogs

10:30 - Identifying and placing dogs in the best jobs 

12:15 - Linda shares a bit about the scientists and science behind breeding and training

14:00 - Finding the right temperament 

 15:00 - The role genetics and history play in breeding dogs

18:00 - Jill gives an example of mannerisms in a family line

19:45 - What happens to a justice facility dog when the handler or agency needs to change

22:00 - Pairing the person and the dog together

24:00 - Training handlers to meet the justice facility dogs' needs

27:30 - What happens when a handler and dog are not an ideal team

 30:00 - Owner self-training for training companion and service dogs

32:00 - The difference between a justice facility dog and a therapy dog

34:00 - How a variety of dogs supported the Uvalde school shooting families

35:00 - Using aberrant conditioning vs. punishment 

38:00 - Pulse Night Club shooting victims supported by facility dogs 

42:15 - Assistance Dogs of the West stance on punishment training

44:45 - Why it hurts people experiencing trauma to interact with punishment training

50:00 - Cute dog stories Jill and Linda have seen in the field 

54:00 - Kevin's hope for receiving a justice facility dog in the future

Learn more about our guests: 

LINDA MILANESI - President/CEO, Assistance Dogs of the West

In 2006, Linda Milanesi began her career with Assistance Dogs of the West when she apprenticed to become an instructor/trainer in the school programs. She served as Vice President of the ADW board until 2011, when she was named ADW’s Executive Director. Linda oversees a whole-systems team approach for ADW. She supervises and manages policy and procedure, advocacy, board relations, finance, development and grant-writing. She is responsible for creating and nurturing donor and foundation relations and earned income projects. She is a lead in developing the Facility Dog programs including Courthouse, Crisis Response and Peer Support canines. She regularly presents nationally, and statewide on the benefits of utilizing highly-skilled canines in partnership with professionals in the
investigation and prosecution of crime and the mitigation of the trauma associated with the
process—both for victims and first responders. She produces the annual graduation ceremony
celebrating the dogs that have been successfully trained for client placements and facility placements.  Prior to Santa Fe, she lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and worked in Philadelphia and New York City.

JILL FELICE - Founder/Senior Vice President, Assistance Dogs of the West

Assistance Dogs of the West (ADW) Founder and Senior Vice President Jill Felice
graduated from Bergen University in 1994 and founded ADW in 1995 placing dogs for
people with mobility disabilities and medical conditions. In 2006, Jill began breeding and
training dogs specifically for work with victims of crime. In 2014, she placed the first
Crisis Response Canines in the Office of Special Victims Assistance at FBI headquarters,
where the dogs are part of a rapid deployment team for mass causality incidents. Very
specialized breeding for health and temperament is at the forefront of the ADW canines
in training, ensuring the qualities necessary for Courthouse Facility, Peer Support and
Crisis Response Canines. Jill is a proponent of relationship-based training techniques,
which utilize positive reinforcement, to build positive working partnerships between
handlers and their working dogs. Jill oversees the trainers, puppy whelping, client
interviews and final client-dog matches.

You hear all over social media, and news to guard children against sex trafficking, but what does that mean? Victims Advocate for Human Traffic Victims and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Terri Madrid joins the Chaves County CASA team to define what types of trafficking are taking place and who is falling prey. We also discuss the role online pornography, and social media play in normalizing and fueling this epidemic. Listen to this episode to educate yourself on what to look our for and how to support survivors. 

Episode Highlights 

1:00 - Our guest Terri Madrid shares what her role is in New Mexico’s fight against child abuse

3:00 - Understanding the different types of trafficking that takes place 

6:30 - Where abuses are finding victims - it’s not where you think 

8:30 - Some of the myths around human trafficking

10:30 - The void a trafficker can fill in a person’s life

13:00 - Natasha recalls cases that she wished she had known more about trafficking since they don’t always look familiar

14:45 - Women are not the only victims 

16:45 - Why teen prostitution is still trafficking 

19:30 - Why professionals struggle to answer some of these questions as well

22:00 - Situations where victims will defend the abuse they are experiencing

25:00 - Terri shares how social media plays a part in trafficking

27:30 - We hear about venerable Native populations - Is this on the rise? 

29:00 - The role policy and culture plays a part in supporting Native healing after escaping trafficking

31:00 - Healing survivors in a variety of communities 

34:30 - Being supportive without asking questions

36:00 - The risk factors that we should be looking for as community members

39:00 - Supporting LBGTQ+ teens that are falling into these high risk cycles. 

43:00 - Consumers of pornography are contributing to the trafficking epidemic of Child Sex Abuse Material

45:00 - When viewers escalate their addictions the feed the need for more people to participate in trafficking

47:30 - How social justice movements are negatively impacting the way children value themselves

48:45 - The websites fueling and normalizing trafficking

53:00 - Making sure we have a label for this so we can educate individuals 

Have you wondered what support is offered to heal children of abuse? Amber Dollar a licensed Clinical Social Work Supervisor joins us to breakdown how trauma is defined and what methods are most successful to assist in healing. She also breaks down what role the community, and healthy adults can do to support children as they become adults. 

Amber Dollar is a Licensed Clinical Social Work-Supervisor and a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. She specializes in trauma and grief therapy. She worked at the Chaves County CASA program for 10 years before opening her own private practice in April 2019 called The Nest Services, LLC. Currently she is doing contract work in two schools, one junior high and one high school, providing therapy services for high trauma cases. She is also one of the therapists for the Children’s Advocacy Center. Amber Dollar is married. She is the mother of three children, and focuses on her hobbies include organizing things, shopping and watching her kids play sports outside of her work. What drives her: Hoping that one day a client will say I made it through because she didn’t give up on me and she believed in me.

Episode Highlights 

1:30 - Meet Amber Dollar Licensed Clinical Social Work Supervisor  

3:00 - The journey to supporting youth in our community

6:45 - Defining where trauma comes from, and how it impacts children

8:30 - How trauma impacts children through adulthood 

10:30 - Finding the therapist that can support a child & what role mentorship plays in healing 

13:30 -  Play therapy and other methods that build relationships with children

19:00 - Adjusting someone’s experiences including taste and how they move their body to focus and heal 

21:30 - Kevin asks Ambers thoughts on the impact of spiritual abuse   

26:00 - Examples of how trauma can present in behaviors of children

31:00 - Making sure the child has support to break the grooming pattern

33:30 - Building these relationships to build confidence in these children’s lives

35:30 - 4% of the middle school population had adult support support

37:30 - How you can build a relationship with teens impacted by trauma

39:30 - Steps you can take to help a child heal

41:30 - Steps to help children grow into healed adults

44:00 - The role community plays in supporting this process 

47:00 - Amber shares an example of a woman who’s healing after her step-father abused her and went to prison

The Chaves County Mutli-Disciplinary teams work with law enforcement to investigate child abuse allegations. On this episode Detective Beto Loya discusses the challenges with investigating child pornography on a local level. He also shares the challenges and successes that come along with the extended time period between investigation and prosecution. 

Humberto (Beto) Loya has been with the Roswell Police Department since 2013 (9 years). He started as a police service aide then moved up to a Certified Officer in 2015. Beto attended the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy in Santa Fe NM where he obtained his Law Enforcement certification. Detective Loya has been a detective for 3 years where he works in the division focused on crimes against people (including crimes against children). He has supported the efforts of the Chaves County CASA’s Multi-Multi-Disciplinary team. 

Episode Highlights

1:30 - Meet Beto Loya Detective with the Roswell Police as he shares the scope of support he provides.

3:00 - When the police become involved in a child abuse case and what the first steps are in an investigation.

6:30 - Bridging the investigation and a forensic interview.

8:30 - Challenges that come up throughout an investigation with multiple agencies involved. 

11:00 - Keeping families up to date during the ongoing investigation process. 

14:00 - Building trust with kids that don’t trust the criminal justice system.

16:30 - The way that the CAC can contribute to building trust with law enforcement.

20:00 - Recognizing a child’s lived experience and how it impacts reporting and trust building.

23:00 - How departments work together to help move forward.

26:00 - The limits local detectives have when it comes to addressing internet child pornography. 

29:30 - Detective Loya shares how he’s been impacted by participating in these case.

34:00 - Why the public may not be aware of protecting the privacy of these victims during an investigation. 

37:00 - Natasha & Beto speak to managing the trauma around doing this work.

39:00 - Keeping good spirits to take care of our own mental health.

 44:00 -  How Beto measures the impact once a case has started. 

46:30 - What it looks like in between reporting and conviction. 

48:00 - A success story of heart breaking  abuse with a positive outcome.

51:00 -  Advice for detectives embarking on this work.

Medical professionals play an important part in detecting and prosecuting child abuse. Kim Hansen a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) details the medical side of detecting and documeting abuse. She also helps us understand why ongoing training and ongoing research can help eliminate concerns, protect individuals and support families through a variety of experiences. 

Kimberly Hansen has been a registered nurse for 30 years and a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner for 20 years.  Her main job is working as a nurse practitioner at F.H.L. Pediatrics in Roswell, NM.  She is the clinical coordinator and SANE-A for the Roswell Refuge SANE Program, and currently performs all the pediatric SANE exams for Chaves and Eddy counties, and has been assisting other program in Southeast NM due to COVID related losses of medical providers. Kim is also a core instructor at the district training for SANE nurses in Albuquerque, NM where she teaches on multiple topics, including injury across the lifespan and strangulation. Kim was also a part of the Strangulation Education Team of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence and presented to several hospitals, clinics, and MDT in New Mexico.

She has guest presenter for the 5th district Search & Seizure / Legal Updates in southeast NM in 2015, 2016 and  2017, where she instructed law enforcement officers about strangulation. Kim has presented at the Advanced SANE conference in 2015, 2016 and 2017.   She has also given presentations about sexual assault awareness at “violence in the workplace” training at Roswell Job Corps and at the 2016 Southeast Region Self-Advocacy Conference.  Kim has also authored several articles for her local paper about sexual assault awareness.

Kim has 3 grown children (one of which followed her into the nursing profession), 8 grandchildren and 17 nieces and nephews. She spends her off hours watching her family play football and soccer; and at dance recitals.

Episode Highlights 

1:30 -  Meet Kim Hansen SANE practitioner as she shares what her role on the multi-diciplinary team in New Mexico looks like. 

3:15 - Kim explains the qualifications and role of a SANE investigator

4:30 - How developmental and safety milestones play a part in understanding how children talk about themselves

6:00 - When child and parent statements raise concern - Breastfeeding & Medical Marijuana example

8:00 - Acknowledging when the injury doesn’t match the development level - Children’s falling example

9:00 - Behavior of adults can also provide insight into what a child's life is like

9:45 - Statistics around abuse reported by medical professionals

10:30 - Positive data medical professionals are looking for 

12:30 - What Kim is seeing post pandemic & social media, and current friendships 

15:00 - Laws and logic with teens that have legal rights over their bodies 

18 :00 - Natasha explains how SANE conversations can shape forensic interviews

21:00 - How medical professionals handle disclosures & the parents hearing these events for the first time

22:30 - Physical vs sexual assault when you can’t see the injury

24:00 - Educating the public and professionals on current medical data while eliminating medical myths 

27:00 - Accommodating parents during this process

28:15 - The special training Kim provides to spot strangulation

30:00 - The case in New Mexico that led to providing training on this topic via the Strangulation Prevention Institute

31:45 - The symptoms that Kim trains medical professionals to look for 

33:00 - The lethal impact of strangulation and law in New Mexico

35:00 - The testing that needs to take place after an attack to detect long term injury

36 :00 - The specific training SANE have and when they are called in

38:15 - An example of how SANE practitioners can separate abuse concerns from schoolyard injuries

39:15 - Interacting with other medical professionals and how the science has become more advanced to offer less testing

42:00 - Current certifications SANE professionals take

43:00 - What aftercare looks like & the role of advocates in this process

45:00 - We see better outcomes when a child is believed by the parent.

Our Human Resource and a Pastor Kevin Price leads us through a complicated conversation discussing Spiritual Abuse. In this episode we cover the challenges faced when abuse takes place parallel to faith. The team speaks to the venerability, trauma, and healing that they have observed. While this episode focuses on a Christian perspective, it’s important to note spiritual abuse can impact many spiritual communities.

Episode Highlights 

1:49 - Meet Kevin Price, Human Resource and a Pastor

2:30 - How abuse impacts the entire faith community

4:00 - What was modeled for us by Jesus 

6:00 - Kevin shares the clear messaging the Bible has on how to treat our most vulnerable. 

8:30 - Defining spiritual abuse

10:45 - The deep trauma being caused during spiritual abuse

13:45 - Sean shares an extreme example of abuse

18:30 - Being reasonable about the authority of faith leaders

21:00 - Grounded in scripture and being cautious of manipulation of those in leadership. 

24:00 - What are the early signs of spiritual abuse

26:10 - How we’ve observed adults manage and overcome these past hurts

29:00 - Spare the rod, spoil the child

30:00 Kevin shares a lesson learned in his home regarding discipline

33:00 - Where the phrase originated from

36:00 - How to support everyone in these situations

42:00 - Churches and agencies can work together to provide support for these situations

45:30 - The wall should be broken to provide healing

47:00 - Selena reminds us many people support this process

50:00 - Remembering how Jesus provides discipline and redirection