2019 Conference
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, or CAC-LMJC, will host a child abuse symposium at The Colonnade in Ringgold on Monday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The annual training teaches community leaders and law enforcement personnel best practices when working with children in abuse investigations. The public is invited to attend the symposium, with tickets available online at caclmjc.com for $25. Breakfast and lunch are included with the purchase of a ticket.
The advocacy center provides services for child abuse victims and their families in a child-friendly environment that serves as a centralized location for interviewing and examining children who are victims of abuse. The child abuse symposium will be split up into two groups: mental health services providers and law enforcement personnel. The mental health participants will learn about child abuse prevention, trauma-informed care, human trafficking and ethics. Those who will be training on the law enforcement side will learn about child abuse investigations, forensic interviews and polygraphs.
CAC-LMJC’s Executive Director Anthony Dye says the training is a vital part of their work in the community. “Part of our mission is to provide training to the community to spread awareness and to spread prevention. This symposium is just one way to spread information in an effective way. Child abuse is happening here and everywhere and it’s important for people to know how they can help,” said Mr. Dye.
The keynote speaker is Kevin McNeil, a former special victim’s detective. He uses his own personal battle with abuse to find a way to make others aware of the destructive effects of abuse on our world. “As a survivor of abuse, I struggled with constant thoughts of suicide, alcohol addiction and depression. It was in therapy that I immersed myself in literature about abuse. I learned about the effects abuse had on the brain and a person’s behavior and found a correlation between abuse and violence in our culture,” said Mr. McNeil. He created The Twelve Project to be the bridge between the lack of knowledge and awareness about abuse and people’s desire to learn.
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit is in Fort Oglethorpe and has a four-county service area comprising Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties. The Child Abuse Symposium will be held at The Colonnade, 264 Catoosa Circle in Ringgold. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased online at www.caclmjc.com. The public is asked to register by Oct. 20 to be eligible for breakfast and lunch.
2019 Conference