Even After A Year

FULL TRANSCRIPT. (The following is the full transcript of this episode of Catch The Message. Please note that this episode, like all CTM episodes, features Victor and Deanna speaking extemporaneously–They are unscripted and unedited.)

VICTOR

Hey everybody, welcome to Catch the Message. My name is Victor Pacini. 

DEANNA

And I'm Deanna. 

VICTOR

Hi Deanna. 

DEANNA

How are you? 

VICTOR

I'm doing well, thank you. Listen, um, I'm excited today cuz you're gonna share something that I think is, is really, really important. But quickly tell everyone that you were at a school today working with middle school. Right? Tell us a little bit about that. 

DEANNA

I was at middle school today and it, uh, middle, I mean I love presenting to all the grades, but presenting at middle school, it just hits a little differently for me. Middle school was really tough, um, just that time of my life. And I feel like sometimes when you lose empathy in that, that space as adults for kids, we forget what it was like, but I don't feel like I've lost it and I just feel like I, I have a really unique way of connecting with them and I, I love middle school. 

VICTOR

That's great. So, you know, if you're joining us, if you happen to put this one on for the first time, we, we actually go and, and go to schools and we talk to kids. Uh, you know, overall about body safety and specifically the majority of our presentations are all about fulfilling a law called Erin's Law, which is a state mandate in 38 states now, which is really about sexual abuse awareness and prevention. And again, we always like to say this, that it's, you know, it, it, it's, it's really helping kids that maybe potentially are connecting, uh, but also we're there to help prevent it from happening. But we're also there too, which is like a side note and it's an extra benefit, is to really help kids understand that any unsafe secret that they're keeping, um, can be hurtful not only to yourself or to others, but it's really about speaking up. And I know you had said that, you know, we're all about with this podcast to talk about some of our experiences with, with disclosures or experiences with students and staff. And you said you had something you wanted to talk about today. 

DEANNA

Yeah, and it actually just happened yesterday. So, uh, I've actually been at middle school, this is my second day with middle school this week. And yesterday I went to a school and I actually was the presenter there last year as well. And so I go onto the school, single school district, you know, not, not a ton of kids, which is actually kind of cool cuz then it's kind of almost like more of an intimate conversation. But these kids and the staff members saw me last year and when I came back in this year, they, they remembered me in my name cuz sometimes over a year they don't always remember us or, or they had you and not me. And, you know, so I'm, I go in and I, I do my thing, you know, be seen in her curriculum, safe, unsafe touch review, you know, a all the stuff that we do. 

And, and the students were amazing. It, it really went well. But after the last presentation I was with, uh, eighth grade and, uh, staff member came up to me and she pulled something out of her pocket, but she goes, I don't know if you remember me from last year. And I go, of course I remember you cuz I did. And she goes, well, I just want you to know that I've kept this with me all year long. And she started crying and it was, uh, it was before I had gotten business cards with you, Victor and I had taken a page out of my notebook and wrote down, uh, my email and, you know, just, just some information for her and to tell her, you know, please reach out to me if you ever wanna chat. Um, and, and, and I handed it to her. 

Well, she was holding it in her hand and she said, I want you to know I've kept this in my notebook all year long. And I I look at it and she goes, and I was hoping you were gonna be the presenter today. Uh, and, and I was, and she came up to me and she goes, I want you to know I just turned 70 this year. And she goes, last year was the first time I had ever told anyone about my abuse. And she goes, and that was you. And when you tell kids, um, it's never too late to tell, um, please don't be like me and carry an unsafe secret all on your own. She goes, I did that for years. But you're right, it's never too late to tell and open up. And it, I, I know I've said this on this podcast before, that the priority is educating the kids, empowering them to be seen and heard. 

But the coolest side effect is, uh, adults who are still healing their inner child, who maybe have not had, uh, the, the opportunity to share or connect and we're doing that. And it was so powerful to, to see her not only come up to me once, but twice and share with me. And I, I, it's an honor, it is an honor to be a safe person to other people, but I always remind myself, right, it's not about me. It's about them having that courage to share, to allow themselves to connect. And I am so thankful we get to be a part of that. 

VICTOR

That's really great. It, it's true. I mean, what a great example of someone who a never gave up on themselves. I mean, she's, she's been a teacher for how long and she's retiring this year. Yep. But the fact is she finally came forward to share that, and that was with you last year. So again, like you said, our curriculum is designed to really empower the students. However, we're empowering adults too, and, and teachers and staff, they're connecting. And it's, it's really extremely powerful. And like we say, every day, we're very grateful for this opportunity. So, uh, with, with that being said, if you're a teacher listening to this or an educator of any kind, uh, you can always take a test drive of our curriculum. Just go to childhood victories.com and at the top you can click a button and fill out a form and we can get you set up, um, test drive it. If you're a parent listening to this l let's get this curriculum into your schools. Feel free to, to share that link with your educators. And, um, I, I feel that this is not just a checklist and a check mark for, for schools. We are definitely, we are a survivor led curriculum and that's what I think makes this so powerful. And it's our mission and we do it with passion. So thank you everyone. Catch the message. We will see you next time. Bye.