Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce: Clear Lake Connections Podcast Episode 56 | Focusing On Prevention And Portraying A Healthy Community.

Press release from the Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce:

February 15, 2022

This week on Clear Lake Connections Podcast presented by UTMB Health: Meet Olivia Rivers, Executive Director of The Bridge Over Troubled Waters. In this weeks episode, Olivia discusses the services The Bridge provides to survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and child abuse, the holistic approach they go for when helping others and how they step in to work on prevention. Olivia also talks about their biggest needs as an organization and how the way to end domestic violence is to bring it out of the dark and shine a light on it.

The Bridge exists to provide services to survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, child abuse and sexual assault. They have been around the community for 40 years and they do a lot of comprehensive services for their clients with many things from helping them obtain protective orders to finding them shelter and housing and even assisting with something as simple as going to support groups and parenting classes. Olivia started in this line of work as a criminal justice student and when she moves to Texas, she was able to continue working in the criminal justice field but on the victim service side inside of the forensic investigative side. It has been a wonderful opportunity to serve the community in this way.

Some of the services The Bridge provides are 24/7 services such as their 24 hour hotline so if someone you know or someone in the community needs their services, they can call their hotline at 713-473-2801 and they are one of the advocates that help you determine what it is that needs to be done. They also have ties with law enforcement and accompaniments in the hospital where their advocates can be obtained by people who need them. The need for services like this has unfortunately risen. With the pandemic it has caused a lot for people to be isolated with their abusers. During the pandemic, The Bridge initiated a new way to reach out them via chat or text.

Houston is the number one hub in the country if not, LA when it comes to human trafficking. Considering I-10n runs through Houston and most of the state, it is an area where we would see a lot of this happen, also because Houston is a veery international city. We have a lot of foreign trafficking and a lot of it is domestic. With the help of law enforcement and other social service agencies, they are trying to diminish that and provide people with a safe place to be.

The Bridge steps in when basic needs are not being met. We shpuld be asking questions such as “what should we be on the lookout for if we suspect a loved one being a victim of domestic violence or being subdued to human trafficking?”

At the root of all of these violence’s are power and control are the red flags of abuse. Be on the lookout of acts of your partner being possessive. There is both physical and emotional abuse. there should always be communication. This goes not only for relationships but healthy friendships too. It is all about setting boundaries and sets the tone. Olivia also discusses the cyclical cycle of abuse. Generational violence. Studies show that a child that grows up in an abusive home are 3x as likely to pick up on these things and become abusers or victims themselves.

They do the prevention work by going to schools and they have teachers who study trauma and early childhood education so they can implement some of these things into the classroom. The services that are available for when something like this are offerings such as support groups, child advocates and therapy. They try to identify the needs of each person and they create the service that person needs so they get the holistic approach. One of their biggest needs as normal day to day items, as an organization is because they are the sixth largest agency of their kind in the state. They have a 100-bed shelter so that’s 100 mouths to feed and everyday essentials.

A lot of their volunteer’s love being a part of serving meals to the families also. They want to make sure children have a safe place to go so they are currently in the process of creating a youth center. They are also always looking for volunteers and positive role models. To get involved you can call them at 713-472-0753 or www.tbotw.org. Domestic violence is a pandemic within a pandemic. This is not an issue that they want to keep silent. The way to end domestic violence is to bring it out of the dark and shine a light on it. Be open, listen to your loved ones and your friends and believe them.

This press release was produced by the Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.