By ALESHA CADET
Tribune Features Reporter
acadet@tribunemedia.net
THE BAHAMAS Crisis Centre has thrown its “healthy relationships” campaign into high gear, bringing down a roster of international specialists to join local experts at a regional Peace Conference.
Under the theme “Peace at home, Peace in our community,” many of the most committed peace activists will be in attendance at the three-day conference, which begins with an opening ceremony tonight at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort and Casino.
The conference will be a major highlight in celebrating the Crisis Centre’s 30 years of advocacy and service for survivors of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
The conference represents one of the many activities that volunteers of the non-profit organisation have engaged in over the years, to become the “most prominent and single voice that speaks about the cries facing women and victims of violence in the Bahamas”.
Some of the international speakers set to speak at the conference include: Anita Botti, Chief of Staff and Principal Deputy in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, United States Department of State; Michelle Koonin, Counsellor/Curriculum Developer USA; Lt Mark Wynn, Consultant Trainer in Gender Based Violence Prevention USA; and Ms Johnetta McSwain-Clay, Survivor, Author and Motivational Speaker, also from the USA.
Regional and local speakers include: Dr Jahlani Niaah, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies, speaking about the rastafari community; Traditional healer Theodore Tsavoussis, speaking about gender based violence and spiritual healing and guest speaker Helen MacMillan, a wholisitc practitioner and mind, body expert, speaking about personal peace.
Donna Nicolls, activist and volunteer counsellor at the Crisis Centre said she would like everyone to attend the conference in a mode of peace. She said at the end of the day it all comes down to peaceful relationships, stating that “if we have peaceful relationships, then we wouldn’t have all the violence.”
“Over the years in advocacy, we have been talking about ending domestic violence and so on, which has not stopped. However, because it has not stopped, we have been beating our heads almost against the wall. Although there has been a lot of success in terms of laws and so on, we feel that we have to cross this now in a shift of perspective to a peace perspective,” said Ms Nicolls.
She said people can look at the conference as an act of “waging peace” rather than waging war.
“We have a dynamic set of speakers who are going to talk about their particular issues. They are going to offer us some solutions for something different; as a community, for us to start thinking another way,” said Ms Nicolls.
“Dr Michael Neville, Consultant Psychiatrist at Sandilands Rehabilitation and Doctor’s Hospital, agreed to present a speech on ‘Teaching Violence, Expecting Peace’. We said wow, what a great way to start the conference, because that is exactly the mode we were looking for,” said Ms Nicolls.
She said the idea of bringing in presenter Michelle Koonin, came about due to the Crisis Centre’s healthy relationships school program.
“In part of the programme, I use notes from a book by Ms Koonin that the Crisis Centre’s president, Dr Sandra Dean Patterson had obtained at a conference years ago. Ms Koonin also has a healthy relationships programme. I emailed her and asked if she wanted to come and present the program for us, so we can strengthen the one that we have now and she said fine,” said Ms Nicolls.
Ms Nicolls said Ms Johnetta McSwain-Clay was another great choice for the peace conference because she’s a women who’s experienced the struggles of healthy relationships. Growing up around abuse, Ms Nicolls said Ms McSwain-Clay still managed to turn her life around for the better.
“She is what we want people to see; to show that you yourself can make a difference in your life. She is a good example of what we would like to see women achieve,” she said. At the end of this week’s peace conference, Ms Nicolls said she would like women and men to walk away with a deeper understanding about gender based violence. She said she would like them to be encouragement to know that they can make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.
“They can find that personal peace that can help them to move out of or not get into relationships that could be violent. As a community, we all have to work collectively and collaborative to create this peace paradise. This is what our advocacy is about, we want to speak the peace,” said Ms Nicolls.
For registration details contact the Bahamas Crisis Centre at 328-0922 or bahamascrisiscentre@yahoo.com.
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