Preventing Child Abuse: Mayra Pacheco and Debbie Harpster

Mayra Pacheco and Debbie Harpster are changing the world.

Pacheco, the program coordinator for Prevent Child Abuse Nevada at the Nevada Institute for Children’s Research and Policy, and Harpster, the chair for the Prevent Child Abuse Advisory Board, have worked locally to educate the community about child abuse. April is National Child Abuse Prevention month, and Pacheco and Harpster join Dean Gerstenberger as the first dual guests on the podcast to discuss the different types of child abuse, how adverse childhood experiences can lead to poorer health as an adult, and creating awareness about preventing abuse in our communities.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It is important to understand that when we talk about abuse, it is not often the case that a parent or caregiver or the adult is doing it on purpose or is purposely trying to harm a child, right? When it comes to neglect specifically, a lot of times it's the lack of resources. It is not having stable housing. It is not having a livable wage, right? Where families are put in situations where unfortunately they have to live in a state of neglect, not only for their children, but for themselves as well.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

So you want to change the world, a podcast sponsored by the UNLV School of Public Health. This podcast is designed to highlight some of the outstanding work of our faculty, staff, and students, and how public health changes our world, our community, and improves our quality of life. Well, hello, my name is Sean Gerstenberger, and I am the Dean of the UNLV School of Public Health. And I want to thank you for joining us today, where we talk about some stories about how our public health leaders are making a difference, transforming our community, and changing the world. So I am very excited today to talk about one of the programs that's run out of the School of Public Health, our Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. And I have two extraordinary leaders here with me today. I have Myra Pacheco, our Senior Research Associate for the Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy. And I also have Debbie Harpster with me, who is the chair of the advisory board for the organization. So welcome to both of you.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Thank you. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Good to be here. Well, so you know, prevent child abuse Nevada. When we hear that right out of the gate, it's a little bit of a heavy topic, right? So it's it's a disturbing thing. We know that the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect estimates that over two million children are abused and neglected each year. That is a staggering number. And that is one of the driving forces behind Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. So tell me about the organization. Tell me what does it do? Kind of what is what is the mission and what are your roles as the research person and, of course, the advisory board chair.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Right, absolutely. Um, we're happy to be here. Prevent Child Abuse Nevada focuses on primary prevention. Our goal is for abuse to never happen. And so anytime I hear, you know, oh, it is so disturbing or it's so disheartening of the work that you do, I'm like, no, my work is exciting because we are preventing that, right? And we are our goal is for it to never happen. And we do that, as you mentioned, through advocacy, through awareness, and through education. And as the senior research associate, part of the work in Prevent Child Abuse Nevada is to educate, right? We go out to the community, we provide materials, we have conversations with families about what does it mean to have a safe environment for your child? What are the steps that you should take to protect your child? If you have a suspicion that something may be going on with your child or with a child in your life, what can you do about it? And these are critical conversations that everyone needs because most of us have a child in our life, whether it's ours or it's of someone that we know, or we work with children, right? And so it is so important for us to have those resources and education. And that's why we have those critical actions, like talking with the community. We also train staff and we train parents on child abuse and neglect, um, how to report it, um, talking about toxic stress and what toxic stress does to our bodies and how to prevent stress from being harmful, because we know that stress can increase the risk of a child being abused or neglected. Um, we also have positive parenting classes that we teach. Um, and of course, you know, we do our mandatory reporter training for a lot of the staff here in our state. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Well, thank you. What about you? Debbie, tell me a little bit about your role in the organization.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

So, my role as a volunteer is to help the very little limited staff with some assistance in promoting the programs of Prevent Child Abuse Nevada, as well as talking to individuals as well as local businesses and other people that we know so that they may be aware of what resources are out there and available from Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. So basically, I see myself as more of a cheerleader, a supporter of this program. Luckily, because Prevent Child Abuse Nevada is a program under the School of Public Health and UNLV, that is the governing body that is overseeing Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. And our advisory board is just having local representatives throughout the state because Prevent Child Abuse Nevada is a statewide program that can help with leading the organization to the programs that are needed most.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Maybe we could talk just for a minute about why it's so important to address abuse in children. Why is it early? Why do we want these early interventions rather than waiting? Why is that so important?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

So there is a groundbreaking study that was conducted in the 90s by Kaiser Permanente in the state of California, and that was called the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. And what that study revealed was that adults who experience more things like child abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence in the home, alcoholism, mental health issues in the home, violence in the community surrounding the home, the more of those experiences that a person has had as a child leads to worse outcomes when it comes to their health as an adult. And so since I've been in the field of child abuse prevention, it's now been 22 years ago that I started, this issue of child abuse and the importance of prevention has really turned into a public health issue because of those studies and subsequent studies afterwards. So we know that if we can provide children with the best environments, the best health, the best safety as they're growing up, that will lead to healthier outcomes for them as they grow into adulthood.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, and so a lot of times you'll hear those referred to as their ACEs, right? Or those adverse childhood experiences. And one of the things I love about this organization is first is the name, right? It's prevent child abuse, Nevada. And so we do want to be positive about this, and so we can have and kind of flip the script instead of these adverse childhood experiences. We want to make sure we're having positive childhood experiences. And that is the goal of this organization. And the goal of all public health organizations, of course, is to prevent these things before they happen, because, like you mentioned, they do have long-term poor outcomes in adults. And so we want to get in and prevent those things. So when we talk about child abuse, that kind of comes in different forms, right? It's not all the same. Maybe we could talk a little bit about that. What are the types of abuse that we are looking for and of course trying to prevent?

SPEAKER_02 7:47

So we have um we separate them into four types. We have physical abuse, um, we have emotional and verbal abuse, we have um sexual abuse, and then we have neglect. All of that is part of maltreatment. And the most common one is neglect. Neglect is the most common type of maltreatment, and it is the most preventable one, right? Um, it is important to understand that when we talk about abuse, it is not often the case that a parent or caregiver or the adult is doing it on purpose or is purposely trying to harm a child, right? When it comes to neglect specifically, a lot of times it's the lack of resources. It is not having stable housing, it is not having a livable wage, right? Where families are put in situations where unfortunately they have to live in a state of neglect, not only for their children, but for themselves as well. And so when we look at all the types, right, um, with neglect being the most preventable one, there are so many things that we can do as a community to promote the support of families so that they can all thrive and live in safe environments.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Well, that's super helpful because it shows there's this whole broad array of things that can happen, sometimes unintentionally, because of social determinants and social drivers and other conditions that are out there. That's why it's such a complex topic, right? If it was straightforward, it would be easy to fix. So let's talk a little bit about some of the things you do for awareness, right? So, what do we do to make people aware of this organization, what it does, and particularly awareness about preventing child abuse, right? What do you what do you do to get out in the community, to get out into the parents? Because when we talk about child abuse, we're really most of the time talking about parents, right? Or adults. We're not necessarily talking about the children. We're trying to get to the adults that may have something to do with this.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Absolutely. It is so important, right, to focus on the adults in the community because it is a social responsibility for us to protect children. And so, yes, a lot of the work that we do is focusing on the adult community for us to take action, right, on how we can protect and support our children. And um, some of the things that we do, as I said, we go out to the community, provide materials. We also do uh Children's Week at the legislature during um legislative session where we have parents and families come over to the legislative building and they talk with legislators about bills that are being proposed that are relevant to their families and how they will impact them. So it is a great way for families to have that opportunity to advocate and for legislators to have that awareness of these issues, right? Uh, we also do pinwheels for prevention. April is child abuse prevention month, and we do a lot of support for different agencies that want to um to bring out the message of primary prevention in um in their communities. So uh we have, for example, I'll give a shout out to Tiffany's story. She contacted us about six years ago because they wanted an event to raise awareness and to promote child safety and well-being in Reno. And she created, um, along with many other amazing partners, the little big, the bit, the big little Easter egg hunt. It is a tongue twister. And it became a wonderful event. This egg hunt brings resources. It even has a magic hour for children with autism or that have like auditory um sensibilities that need a little more of that space where it's a little less busy and they can engage and interact. It is a beautiful event. And just like that one, there are many around in the community in Fallon, in so many other areas in Lyon County. We see so many awesome events. And so we love to support that around to bring awareness and the importance of primary prevention. Um, and I'll let Debbie talk a little bit about, you know, what do we do in Child Abuse Prevention Month and some of the work that the advisory board does as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Well, so as you can tell from Myra's description, Prevent Child Abuse Nevada is basically the umbrella organization that helps organize and promote, together with our community partners, all the events and things that are going on throughout the state. So if anyone is ever thinking, wow, what can I do, or what are events that are out there that I can participate in or my family can attend, you can just go to their website, which is preventchildabused nevada.org. They always have a very comprehensive assortment of information specifically related to April Child Abuse Prevention Month. And of course, we serve as the Nevada State Chapter for the National Prevent Child Abuse America Organization. So we are also working together with that organization to help get the word out about April Child Abuse Prevention Month. And together with the other advisory board members, we're promoting that month within the organizations we work for and the other organizations that we are part of in our communities.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Yeah, one of the things I love about what you do is that it is a statewide program. It engages people from urban and rural communities, all walks of life, all different areas, through these job fairs, through these community events, to really promote and make a topic that's a little bit challenging to talk about a little more commonplace. I think you know, all parents struggle at some point in time. If you don't believe that, then you probably haven't had children. It's how you deal with that. And so first part is you know, getting that awareness, getting people to talk, getting them to open up, and then connecting them to those resources, which is another big thing that you do. So you have a lot of educational resources that you use to enhance and promote and prevent all these things that you're talking about. So maybe you could highlight a couple of those uh educational experiences that you have for our parents and partners that you run.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Of course. So one of the one of the trainings that we have is our choose your partner and caregiver carefully. And that one teaches parents on how to be observant and what to look out for that lets you know that someone is a safe or an unsafe person before you leave your children under their care. You know, sometimes we want to trust everyone around us, and it and just because someone is an adult does not mean that they know how to take care of a child. Right. And so we provide the tools on how to critically look, right, at behaviors and skills to ensure that when you you have to leave your child with someone, which you know, in situations it happens where you have to leave your child. It could be a daycare, it could be an emergency, and you have to leave them with a neighbor or with a family member. How do you know that that is a safe person for you? And so that is one of the classes that we have. Um, we also train staff, for example, in northern Nevada, so they can provide it to victims of domestic violence, and we provide training um in in our in other um counties as well. We like to train other people that are in training. Train the trainer model, right? So that way they can provide that support because as Debbie mentioned, it is a small but mighty team of two right now. And we um we cannot do it all. So we relay we rely a lot on our partners so that they can they can actually help us out, and we're all working on this together to support. Um, we also have the Triple P Positive Parenting Program. It is an evidence-based parenting program based on Queensland, Australia. It um it has a longitudinal study showing how um it improves family dynamic and it brings positive outcomes. And I love that. I am the biggest Triple P fan ever. I think everyone should take a Triple P class. And we do provide the seminars. And if a parent needs more support, we connect them to the parenting project who has additional steps and more of like a six-week course and more intensive courses if they need additional help. So, yeah, those are some of the things that we do.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

One other program that we also do is in partnership with your nonprofit Signs of Hope here in southern um Nevada and Clark County, and that's called Enough Abuse, and it's specifically to promote prevention of child sexual abuse. I'm a trainer trained in that program, so I bring it to different organizations, mostly to staff members, but it is also available for parents as well to help them in recognizing the signs of unsafe adults that might be possibly grooming a child, how to keep that, keep their children safe, and helping them to set up body safety and other personal uh boundaries types of rules. So that's another really good program. And all of these that we're talking about are available free of charge because they are grant funded. So it's definitely something that is available for our community.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Yeah, that's perfect. I was just gonna ask that and say, you know, if I'm a parent, I'm a caregiver, if I have to uh leave my child with somebody, or I I think something might be happening, but I want to learn more. Where can I find out some of the information? How can I enroll in one of these programs? Are they in person? Are they online? And what do those look like?

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Yeah, absolutely. So we try to be as accessible as possible. We do offer virtual trainings and then we have in-person trainings as well. For the virtual trainings, we do like rounds of trainings. Right now we have a round of triple P trainings coming up uh starting next week. And we have two sessions. We have a morning session and an evening session. So that way, you know, depending on when parents work, they can hopefully attend one of those sessions. They can access them through our uh website at preventchildabuse nevada.org. And if they go into our events calendar, they will see all the trainings available. All the calendars, and they can register for the in-person trainings. They can also find them on the calendar, and those tend to be booked by other agencies. So, for example, a school can say, I would like an enough abuse training, and they can request it from us, and then we go to the school and we provide it. We have done trainings in churches, in schools, in judo studios, and in the where you can get there, right? I have gone to a home and it was families in the neighborhood that met at a home, and we I did a training there. So honestly, we try to be as accessible as possible so that this information can get out.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Right. Well, obviously, the two of you kind of exude energy and passion, and I'd like to talk a little bit about that if that's okay. And maybe tell me a little bit about you and maybe how you got into this area and why you're both so passionate about this, because it it can be a challenging area to work in, right? There can be tough days, I'm sure, but that's not what you bring to work every day. You're bringing the enthusiasm, you're bringing the positivity, you're talking about prevention. So tell me about you. What what what makes you tick? Why do you get so excited about this?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Well, I have to go back quite a bit because first of all, I've been doing prevention, uh, violence uh work mostly in the nonprofit sector, and I've been doing that for 26 years now, or almost 26 years. It really started when I was in California working for a domestic violence and sexual assault program, and I was trained in all the dynamics of sexual assault and domestic violence, power and control, and saw how much it affected children in the families that were experiencing those types of things. And that really set a fire in me, and actually that fire had been there since I was in college. I I wanted or I thought I wanted to be a social worker, and one of the assignments in college was to go to a location that provides social work to you know programs or services, and I chose to go to a child abuse CAC center. So once children had been victims of child sexual abuse, they went to this center. And after visiting that area, I thought, oh, there's no way I can do this. That's way too difficult. It hurts my poor heart. So child abuse prevention, I think, that's where the the idea was born way back then.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

And so I'm just gonna keep pushing it up with the keyboard. Exactly. I want to help as many as I can, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

So for all these years, many years, I came to Southern Nevada in 2003 and started working with the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada program at that time. And even though I left the organization at the time who was the chapter, I still had that passion in my heart and wanted to keep advocating for children and families.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Yeah. That's an awesome story. How about you, Myra?

SPEAKER_02 21:48

So I started working for my my first full time job was with Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada. And it is a wonderful organization. They are deleting dropout prevention agencies. And I love the work that I did there. I worked there for seven years, working directly with students and families, and many of them who are were experiencing abuse or neglect or were having just a very difficult time. And I gave it my all and I and I would not go home until 9 p.m. because I was looking for resources and I was looking for support. And I was trying to connect all these families and um and help all of my students. And it got to a point where it like it dawned on me, right, um, that I can only do so much on my own. Right. I cannot fix something that is not it, it cannot be fixed at that level. I have to go higher. I I have to help somehow to work on things that are going to impact our community as a broad, right? Not me just trying to put band-aids and band-aids and band-aids on an open wound. And so I had like, I it was one night where I was just like, I need to do something more. And at around that same time, this opportunity came up to be a trainer for Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. And that's when I learned about Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. I thought that we are statewide and that we worked on advocacy, and I said, this is the area. Because I can if I can, if I can help push a policy or for organizations to create a process where children are more are more protected, right? I will not only be impacted that one student that I was helping, but I would be impacting everyone in that school, everyone in that state, everyone in that county. And so once I saw the influence and the potential of impacting in this in the this field of work, I said, this is where I'm at, this is where I want to be. And this is this is why I'm staying, right? I I I absolutely love that. It is hard work, it is difficult being in this space compared to working directly with families, and I missed it so I miss it so much. But at the same time, I know how much more impactful this work can be.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

For sure. This is one of the things I love about public health, right? Is that people can see or have an experience that moves them deeply, that they become passionate about, and then they empower themselves to go change the world. Right. It is exactly why we have you here. It's why we wanted to talk to you today, is because we see that passion in the two of you. We see you out there trying to improve the lives of these kids. We know there's overwhelming evidence that the earlier we intervene and the earlier that we have these changes and interventions, the more likely they are to live happy and healthy and productive lives. And so this is an urgency area, right? The longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes. And so that is part of, I think, the passion that we see here too. So I do want to thank you both for being here. I most importantly want to just thank you for your heart and your passion that you have for protecting the children in our community and in our state. I'm sure there are thousands of families that are in a much better place because of the two of you. So thank you for being here today, and I appreciate your time and all that you do.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Of course.