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Listen to an interview with WHW's new Prevention Manager, Autumn Smith.
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Listen to an interview with WHW's new Prevention Manager, Autumn Smith.
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Autumn Smith is a prevention manager at Women Helping Women, a non-profit organization focused on gender-based violence prevention. She has a background in public health and became a certified prevention specialist in 2015-2016. The certification ensures that healthcare professionals working in prevention are knowledgeable about evidence-based practices and the strategic prevention framework. Autumn believes that prevention involves stopping something from happening by providing education and resources. She emphasizes the importance of sustainability, cultural competence, and measuring program effectiveness. She also highlights the need to tailor prevention efforts to the specific needs of different communities and populations. Oh Oh, and then I think you will have to accept until you're okay. All right, let me think. We are starting So I thought we would start if you just want to introduce yourself And tell us tell us a little bit about who you are Sure, so, um, I'm Autumn, Autumn Smith, and I Look to you going into my background a little bit. I have a bachelor's in public health And I didn't start out with public health. I was a chemistry major and I was a big science nerd but I took one public health class and that was where the concept of like prevention was like really brought to light for me and I just kind of kind of fell in love with it, so So, yeah, I've been in the world of prevention since Let's see. I guess technically 2015-2016 ish And I've continued work and prevention anywhere from violence against women and substance use and then as well as suicide prevention And about three years ago I became a certified prevention specialist and for the state of Kentucky, but it is a national certification That is that is really cool and I definitely want to dig more into what being a certified preventionalist means Because I think that's something really interesting that maybe a lot of people don't know about But I would love to hear what what brought you to women helping women and can you tell us a little bit what your role Is in the organization? Yeah, absolutely so back in 2017 I worked for the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati and That is where I first heard of women helping women Because we we partnered with them for for a few things. I worked in the transitional living department there And so that's where I really became familiar with what women helping women did I've been you know switch jobs to work in northern Kentucky at a mental health facility so I took kind of a pause with working with with violence specifically but then When I started to want to move on in my line of work, that's where I kind of rediscovered women helping women and I've always been very very passionate about equity and equality and violence prevention Because it's just something that's near and dear to my heart and you know prevention plays directly in into into health equity and Gender equity and things like that. And so I knew just by reading You know just on the website what women helping women was about that. I Definitely wanted to work there. I've been involved in the non-profit world for so long. I knew that women helping women was was a good and Honestly a small and progressive nonprofit where I felt just right being here So right now sorry to expand on the my role currently, so I'm the prevention manager at women helping women and That entails you know, I'm still growing at this position as we I've only been here for about a month, but it's really a Position of support to the Prevention team at women helping women where we are just promoting best practices For for violence prevention in the school systems and the community and bars and restaurants and in Workplaces, so that's why I'm here That's yeah, that's amazing. It sounds like you're bringing a Lot of experience to to the team, but also a varied amount of experience or Varied in different positions, which I I think really opens up to a lot of different viewpoints Which is great to have new and different perspectives always keeps things interesting and one of the one of the perspectives that I'm most interested to talk to you about and hear more about is You being a certified preventionalist, so can you can you tell me what that means or Specifically what's prevention you're certified in? Yeah, sure. So so the prevention specialist certification Is a international Certification so it is nationally recognized Majority of states to my knowledge has this certification and it goes through the The ICRC the I believe it's international certification and What is it Reciprocity Consortium something along those lines, but it is it is a a national certification that's predominantly Geared towards folks working in the substance misuse services and mental health services and so It's kind of a growing a growing realm but really what the certification is meant to do is to make sure that people that are working in Healthcare facilities specifically with prevention that they are aware of the science behind prevention what it looks like And it really just wants to be sure that people know what they're talking about just like with any other certification, so so really it focuses on the strategic prevention framework Which is this whole? Framework of how prevention is supposed to work that was made by SAMHSA, which is a the substance use federal government and So that's really what's being promoted here. You know with with the being a certified prevention specialist it's just that strategic prevention framework and making sure that everything that we have preventionists are doing is is evidence-based science-based and that we have the most up-to-date you know data to work with Yeah, I think that's so exciting as prevention seems to be catching on more and more and we see prevention fields developing developing in schools and College campuses and you know out in organizations like women helping women. I think that's really exciting and that you're bringing that science-based Learning or or understanding to the organization that's really exciting Yeah, yeah, I Go ahead No, I was just going to say is that That I think you know the main part of prevention is making sure that we're spreading the correct information So I'm such a science nerd myself that that just really like makes me excited Yeah, and it's great. I think sometimes there can be Can be a misunderstanding around prevention that it's kind of one-off programming or or You know just kind of how we're thinking or maybe even agenda pushing, you know, we've kind of heard that before but it's exciting that you're bringing this this evidence-based and the science-based research into Into our work specifically so that we kind of have that backing So, how do you see You know coming from or a substance abuse or mental health abuse understanding. How have you Started to kind of adapt that and change that to be, you know at women helping women. We're gender-based violence specifically How do you see that adapt and change? Um, so they're definitely You know going to be an adaptations when it comes to the educational aspects However, I do believe that when it comes to the the actual core of what prevention is that really Doesn't change much And at least in my my vision of what prevention is So, I mean, I really just think of prevention being You know, you're just stopping You know, you're just stopping Something from happening. You are literally preventing something from happening And so really providing education and providing resources is the key to prevention um and obviously with that comes to having credible and Reliable programming, right? So I I am gauging this Experience of of, you know translating substance use and mental health to to violent faith prevention um With just keeping the strategic Prevention framework in the back of my mind. Um you know what that kind of looks like is is making sure that there is um sustainability You know always At the at the tips of our fingers And that we are always being culturally competent in the work that we are doing and then, you know, of course with with leading programs you're always thinking about The implementation of the program and how you're going to measure how effective it is. None of that's changing here You know, we are using the same exact techniques and and substance misuse services and mental health services and in the prevention world, so So I think as long as you know, we're keeping those processes in mind Um, what's really going to be at the core of the change is really just the actual information We are putting out there in the public Yeah, I I love that and I hear you talking about sustainability and and kind of that science backed um that science backed Research. Um, so what do you see? I think there sometimes can be a tension as as we're looking to expand out or or looking to see what's going to be most sustainable between reaching the most amount of people possible or Reaching a smaller number of people but for for a more I guess for lack of a better word in depth or or long-term um Training. Do you you know through through your certifications and through your experience? Do you lean towards one over the other? No, I don't I don't I wouldn't say that I lean towards one over the other it's It's honestly kind of hard to say Um, but that's only because each population Each community has its own specific needs, right? So, um In in the world of prevention you are definitely meeting communities and whatever population you're trying to reach where they're at it is very human-centered, um And very Specific to the community that you that the outreach is going to so I wouldn't say that I necessarily Think one is better than the other. Um, I think it really just depends on what your long-term And maybe you know intermediate goals are and what you're trying to portray to those populations I think that's great. I love that. Um Ability to take a step back and look at what does the specific population need From me. Um, I know a phrase that gets tossed around a lot is meeting populations or communities where they're at and I I think that that's great and Definitely adds to the sustainability if you're not coming in and trying to add a new program maybe where it's not needed or wanted Absolutely, we always try to gauge um, what's called like the readiness of populations of communities. Um, So before you kind of start any sort of program um, you know depending on how Extensive this program is meant to be You want to be sure to gauge that community and to gather all the data you needed or you need To implement and part of that is really looking at is this population is this community is this group of people? Are they ready to change? Are they are they ready? to see This programming be implemented Um, and you know the pros the cons Um, you know laying that all out is what's going to be really important for any sort of implementation of a program Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Yeah, the the readiness to change Um, I think that's a really smart way to to look at things and make sure energy is going in the right direction Um because I know that can be a challenge Um, so I guess maybe we should should rewind but what what do you see your definition of the Prevention being if you had to do an elevator pitch for prevention, what would how would you how would you pitch that? Gosh prevention is a lot of things Um, you know I I'm I guess I when I think of prevention I think of it in A very literal sense of You know The actual term of prevention is what we are trying to do. We are trying to stop something from happening um, and so with that, you know there's all the Flexibility on how on how we make that happen. Um, I think a lot of people think as you said before that it is kind of like This one-off programming um And or this, you know one-off speech that someone might give and that's just not the case at all prevention is Consistent prevention is always happening prevention is happening Um, it has been a thing for years people are just now talking about it and putting it on paper and and making science based and things like that, so So it really just At the core it really is just stopping something from happening and it could be applied to almost anything, you know, we think about going To get your physical, um, you know people go and get a physical every year and get blood work done That's to prevent things from happening that is what prevention is and so um, you know when science says that That education or providing resources will prevent violence from happening or will decrease the chances of something happening Then that's what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do to make that that you know either stop happening or um, Hopefully just you know educate people to make The decision to to stop it from happening if that makes sense Yeah, absolutely my um, my favorite prevention example is uh when people fought against uh seat belts being implemented right and people fought it for so long and now it's something that we don't even think about but you know the Thinking about how many lives have been saved just because of one little simple thing. It's a really cool I think example of prevention that people don't often think about Yeah, yeah, I mean it's really just everywhere and and I remember actually thinking about that when I was in college and when I was first switching my major from from chemistry to To being public health and you know, people would ask me like oh, what do you want to do? You know with with public health and i'm like wow What a question Public health is everywhere just like prevention um And so like I would always talk to people and one of the first things I would say um when explaining to them what public health is because like That is just a beast in itself Um, I would actually refer back to having a conversation about seatbelts. I was like it can range anywhere from seatbelts to to vaccinations to non-profit work to to providing resources to um to homeless Uh populations like it is just a wide wide range of things. So so yeah, I I completely uh relate to the seatbelt You know example Yeah Yeah, it's um, it's funny how things how things change over time and can seem seem revolutionary But now it's just a part of a part of common life So as you've worked over In so many different fields and so many different experiences. I'm wondering if you have a favorite success story or a favorite project that you've worked on or something that you've seen that's been really impactful in the prevention field Oh, gosh, yeah. Yeah, I absolutely have um I think some of my most favorite Um successes that I have had working in the field of prevention has been um the programs that are that seem ridiculously easy And it seems Just so simple and so fun And seeing those programs make a difference and really take off um So the example that i'll share is actually a program That I worked on in kentucky And it's called the dinner table project and What that is is a it started off with just being a monthly newsletter and it was Meant to just encourage families to eat dinner together Like that is it that was the main goal of this project And the reason why this came about was because there was a study that was done Um, don't ask me when but there was a study that was done that showed that people who Are now adults who grew up in families where they had dinner together a couple times a week Um, you know, whether that's at the dinner table or whether that's you know, just sitting um You know in their living room together without distractions, so we're talking without tvs without phones out that those people were leading a more um A safer and I guess more positive life um, and so with that study, um there was a group in kentucky that was like we really want to do something with this because that's something that That almost Or that a large population Can grasp, you know that that that is something that that people can do That's not taking you know Time out of their days that you know If they have children that that's something that they might want to do without having to put a ton of extra effort into their day and so It was a wonderful little newsletter. It was super friendly. It um It you know came out every month and was dispersed into schools Um, and it's still dispersed into schools to this day um, and it would just have a couple of um Kind of like conversation starters on them. It would Highlight the 40 developmental assets And what that and what that means? um and how parents can you know increase the likelihood of of their children Completing, you know developmental assets that's important to their growth and then it would also include a a recipe a simple recipe with cheap affordable items uh That they could make together as a family if they so chose so yeah, that was you know implementing that and hearing all of the um Feedback from that program was just really exciting because it really just you know It's as simple as just sitting down and eating with with your loved ones Um that could actually make a difference in somebody's life. So that was really um an important thing for me to be a part of Wow, I absolutely love that. That is what a cool project to be a part of that is that is very very neat um as a prevention Nerd somebody's really passionate about prevention. I think that that is one of the coolest projects i've ever heard about it seems seems super exciting But I'm thinking about somebody who might not be As passionate about prevention or maybe doesn't understand prevention Prevention um, it can be hard to collect data or numbers, uh for for a project like that or I mean maybe more so in our case, uh grants, you know donors or or grants funders might want Some hard numbers or some feedback or results from a project like that. How would you? Or what's your thought process when you're explaining a project? Like that to to a grant funder Yeah, I think that um, you know measuring projects like that can be a bit difficult because you're not You're not exactly. Um, you're not you know giving an evaluation You know for this type of program um but in situations like those where we're the information and Gathering data might not be so cut and dry. That's when you bring out your you know, qualitative research um, and so that's when you bring out the conversations Of and feedback from people who have participated in that program And then you pull other quantitative data from other programs that might be doing something similar or Or other research that backs up what your end goal is and so you know that that can be very difficult to do but but I think that you know, oftentimes when we think of data and when we think of of evaluations we are thinking of numbers and we are thinking of of you know getting Demographics and things like that and that's not always um, you know, that's not always the case qualitative data really tells a intriguing story and um can be just as effective as as numbers and as that You know the excel spreadsheets can be so I would really just um You know in a program like that having those conversations having feedback um, you know having focus groups on on on What people are feeling and how we could make the program better and things like that You know, I would I would absolutely Have those conversations be able to take back to grant funders And to really explain why this program is important and how it can make a difference Yeah, I yeah, I I think pulling out those human stories is always a great part of our work um It's so interesting when when we're trying to get prevention programs up and off the ground or getting new projects started Thinking about the balance between those two things and being able to report data but also making sure that we're making a real impact and staying true to the project is always a an interesting balance to strike Absolutely. Yeah Okay, so I think I just I want to know Um, if you had unlimited budget unlimited time, whatever unlimited Uh, whatever you would need. What would your idea ideal goal? Be for prevention gender-based violence prevention in the city of cincinnati What would be or let's say your your dream project that you would take on? Uh, yeah, well That's not a question that you get. Um very often in the line of work we do because it's all You know grant funded there's always always budgets things like that um I really truly believe um I I'm a very firm believer that in regards to prevention The earlier the better um and So when when you think of people being early in life um, you think of schools and I've always thought I you know, it's very well known fact that school systems are Packed full of all of these things that they need to focus of on um But in my ideal Happy autumn world thinking of prevention. I would love to see Consistent prevention education around gender-based violence um And really any type of violence in the school? um And it would be part Of the curriculum that they're supposed to follow um Because as we know most people Go to school and you know, yes There is our you know, we we do get that those people who are like, oh, they're too young They're too young to hear that information But that's just not true. There are different ways to Provide information to different age groups, right? so I think starting those conversations early um starting the more basic and more palatable friendly conversations in elementary school around around violence and but Phrasing it as safe places safe people And then developing into more mature conversations as they hit middle and high school um I think is what I truly would do and as as we both know there are prevention programs that go into the school to Increase this information because we know that The earlier the better But really what I would like to see would be the actual school system focusing on this Incorporating it into their curriculums that the teachers must do um, you know increasing um Making sure that they're able to Increase protective factors and What that looks like for students Um for a variety of students because we know that not every single student has the same experience so I I you know it might seem like a a Answer a typical answer. I suppose, you know school school schools But really I I do think that that it just seems like such a perfect place for for Prevention to to take place and to really blossom Yeah, it's always really interesting to me going into different schools every week and seeing Maybe the the teachers who have really bought into our programming um and who who chat about this with their students throughout the school year and their students are already prepped and ready for us to come In and they have all the answers already and they want to dig deeper into the conversations. That's always really exciting to me um as an educator uh as a prevention educator that There are teachers that are starting, you know, the the the seed is there There are some teachers who are already excited about this and and partnering with us to to spread this message more consistently Yeah, I really think it has to do with Um, and a lot of it just goes back to time what teacher has time to do these things not a lot not a lot right, um, so that's why I just really think like A It's like a systematic change that needs to happen within the school system um, it's you know, it's it's hard to put that on on individual teachers to You know to be the champion um And yeah, I mean it's just it's hard though because prevention really isn't um You know, it might seem like a hot topic and in some fields, but it's really not a A well-known topic in the general community. I don't think so so selling that I think the selling point is really what what we have to kind of Fine-tune In order for for this to happen We have to be able to pitch this idea of why this is important and why this needs to be you know something that is Concrete in every single school system Yes, that's a great point. You you bring up something interesting that maybe we've seen a rise of as Prevention education becomes more mainstream. There's also kind of that pushback that Maybe we're pushing an agenda or because gender-based violence is kind of included You know, it's gender-based violence prevention work that there's you know Ulterior motives or or something else going on there, which I think we would both agree is not true. I always say that our Our curriculum is presented as as neutrally as possible. But but what would your Argument or what what's your thinking about when people react? in that way Yeah, I think that when people react in those ways Unfortunately, they're just Misinformed and which is really easy to do And it's really easy to be misinformed in today's world. I mean you have So many different lines of information coming at you from all directions I mean, there's a million different types of social media million type of news sources um and so it can be A you know difficult thing to navigate what is true and what isn't? um I really just think what what it comes down to is is Hearing the person out Um, you know when people have that type of pushback hearing them out hearing exactly what what they are saying and then And then providing them with that information in a very the correct information I should say in a very palatable manner Because me sitting here and just being like, oh like you can see this data here Uh is showing xyz because that's not going to be palatable for everybody And so having those conversations, I think is really really important. I think that um, because gender-based violence has been so stigmatized over the years it's been ingrained in in many cultures of Of um, you know those the stereotypes and and so I think it's important for us to have those open and honest conversations of You know laying out those facts like, you know these Undisputable facts of what gender-based violence actually looks like um, and you know pulling out those stereotypes and um and decoding Decoding them in those conversations. I really do think that That it just needs we need to address the stereotypes um really more than anything when we're addressing people who Who just don't quite grasp what gender-based violence actually looks like Yeah Yeah, I always um You know that that's a big part of our curriculum is making sure that students understand that that this is for everyone right, we're women helping women, but That this class is for everyone right regardless of gender identity and I always You know when i'm working with students, I want them all to be safe, right? I want them all to be protected and and have healthy relationships and that's always interesting when when we get pushed back I'm, we're just we're trying to keep all the kids safe. Not just not just one or push an agenda um, and I like that idea of Of using the facts with with the personal narratives as well to kind of explain that Okay, I think that's all the questions I have for you is there anything else that you would like to share about your prevention experience I mean I really could talk about it Um, but you know how relevant would it would it truly be I don't know i'm, just excited to I know that I have a lot to learn in this position that i'm in still and I have a lot to learn about the ins and outs of gender-based violence and and the the prevention associated with it, so I don't think I have anything else to share, but i'm just You know, maybe come back in a year I'm totally rooted and you know women helping women and having gender conversations Yeah, and I think that's the exciting thing about this podcast. Hopefully maybe we can circle back in a year because that's where we're laying the foundation of You know the basics of prevention and what is prevention? um is one conversation and then really digging in and getting into the ins and outs and and what the reality of day-to-day looks like It's a completely separate conversation. So I look forward to to talking with you about it again soon in the future Absolutely, you know where to find me All right. Thanks so much Adam. I appreciate it
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