Lasting (and Global!) Impact: A Special Guest Post from Tracy Leonard 

Although my family left Northern Virginia and I have left SCAN, I haven’t left the work.  While at SCAN, I was fortunate enough to not only receive the training to become a Darkness to Light Authorized Facilitator, but also a Certified Instructor.  It is a gift that I am so thankful for and continue to use.  In fact, I just returned from a trip to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan to train 22 new Authorized Facilitators.

I was able to use my experiences at SCAN and as a part of the Allies in Prevention Coalition (AIPC) to train these professionals not only in using the Stewards of Children curriculum but also in how to make the greatest impact on base.  That is because so many of SCAN’s AIPC members come from Quantico, Fort Belvoir, and Joint Base Myer – Henderson Hall.  I was also able to talk to attendees about establishing a network for themselves where they can meet a few times a year to talk about their experiences as facilitators, discuss roadblocks they may be encountering, and celebrate the successes they are having.  I have that first-hand knowledge because of the 40+-member network of facilitators that SCAN put together in Northern Virginia.

Only 1 of the 22 people I trained at Iwakuni had ever had the Stewards of Children training, so after they took it for the first time it was rewarding to see their wheels turn as they discussed how they could use it in base schools, with their New Parent Support Program, the Family Advocacy Program, and in Behavioral Health–not to mention using it as continuous training to reach out to the greater base community and perhaps even off-base community.

These 22 facilitators have been given a gift.  The gift to teach adults about their responsibility to protect children from child sexual abuse.  And they get to take that gift with them when they move to their next base or return to a civilian community.  We have truly created a way for systematic change to occur and for the prevention wave to take over wherever those trained may go.

This experience comes full circle for myself and SCAN because Diana P. Ortiz–who had worked at Doorways for Women and Children in Arlington for 10 years–is now at MCAS Iwakuni. She had taken a Stewards of Children training put on by SCAN years ago.  Allies in Prevention are everywhere and are continuing to make an impact on reducing child abuse and neglect.  Diana and I are proof!