Nancy Gannon Hornberger
A message from President & CEO Nancy Gannon Hornberger
As human beings we hope for, work for, and count on healthy, safe, and loving relationships. We are social beings and our relationships with others define us. Healthy relationships begin with one’s relationship to oneself – shaped by early family life and how we have been parented and cared for. They extend to relationships with peers, friends, adults outside of the family sphere, and with romantic attachments. How we act and relate to community and the larger society round out the picture.
Sadly, too, throughout society, and even close to home, too many of us have witnessed unhealthy relationships. In San Diego County, one in every five homicides in recent years has been linked to family and domestic violence – the ultimate tragedy of unhealthy, unsafe relationships. It’s also clear from our clients’ experiences at SAY San Diego, as well as community data, that family and domestic violence, locally, needs even more of our collective attention.
Here at SAY San Diego we share the belief that violence is not inevitable and that it is preventable. In partnership with county government, and many other nonprofits and community partners, we share a strong commitment to preventing and reducing family and domestic violence. Prevention, family strengthening, parent support, and community or home-connected interventions are our principal approaches. Our staff works every day with stressed and traumatized parents, teens, and children to ensure safety and well-being. SAY San Diego acts, whenever possible, before damage is done. We help our program participants to recognize and heal from trauma, and to recognize and build on their inherent strengths. We are also strengthening our ability to respond and seeking new resources to expand our programming to prevent, reduce, and resolve family and domestic violence.
All of us at SAY San Diego are immensely grateful to the helping hands and our partners across the county providing crisis care, and leaders joining together to advocate for broader improvements in prevention and early intervention, as well as policies and systems. The leadership of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council and its many partners has increased awareness, reporting, safety for victims, and healing for victims and their families.
Please join with the entire SAY San Diego workforce of more than 380 people in wearing purple on Thursday, October 20 in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And please, if you or someone you know needs someone to talk to, urgent safe housing, or any other local resources, it’s best to use the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 Confidential 24/7 or direct them to our DV resource page. Stay tuned for additional DV resources and information on SAY San Diego’s social media, via Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
