The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #59685

Amy Lenita Hill, MA, Third World Majority, 4321 Piedmont Ave. Apt. C, Oakland, CA 94611, 510-653-2580, amylenita@compumentor.org

Violence shapes the lives, experiences, and dreams of countless women and girls each year. Although an alarming number of people are at some point in their lives affected by hate-motivated attacks, physical and sexual assault, political persecution, institutional violence, or family abuse, few opportunities exist for them to tell their stories in their own words. In an effort to help survivors and witnesses of violence tap into their creativity, move towards recovery, and bring their voices to the forefront of violence prevention and social justice work, Third World Majority has created Silence Speaks.

TWM is a San Francisco Bay Area-based non-profit media training and production resource center run by women of color and their allies. TWM's Silence Speaks offers survivors a separate, intimate space for personal exploration and collective healing. The program's digital storytelling workshops integrate aspects of creative writing, oral history, filmmaking, and digital media manipulation to assist women in telling stories of courage and healing as short digital videos.

The primary goal of Silence Speaks is to provide adult and adolescent women of color survivors with the support, media skills, and an appropriate environment for the creation of original multimedia pieces. Workshops conclude with a showing of stories and time for participants to share in their accomplishments. An additional important goal of Silence Speaks is to take these works to broad audiences, as a way of promoting anti-violence organizing, public understanding about the complexities of domestic violence, and social justice.

Learning Objectives:

• In this presentation, participants will receive an overview of digital storytelling methodology; learn about how digital storytelling promotes healing, creative expression, and empowerment for women of color; view a collection of Silence Speaks digital stories; and engage in a discussion about how violence prevention programs can incorporate digital storytelling into their community organizing, public education, provider training, and policy development activities.

Keywords: Violence Prevention, Women's Health

Related Web page: www.silencespeaks.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: N/A
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.