Domestic Violence Awareness
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Course Time: 60 Minutes
Domestic violence is a complex issue, and our course aims to bring this issue out into the public to help save lives and ensure the safety of families. Not only does domestic violence impact the victims, but it also impacts their children. Child care providers need to know how to spot the signs, protect, and support the children in their care that have been exposed to domestic violence.
Course Curriculum
Your Instructor
Dr. L.J. Samuel is a criminologist with expertise in police-community relations, police misconduct, risk management, community engagement, and interpersonal violence. With over ten years working with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, DC she is a leading expert in Early Identification and Intervention System (EIS). She also served as the Director of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Division. A forward thinker and innovator, Dr. Samuel created and oversaw the MPD Fitness Challenge, a health and wellness initiative designed to better the health of MPD officers. This hard work and dedication earned her the honor of the 2012 MPD Employee of the Year.
In 2015 Dr. Samuel saw an escalation in violence against women in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. In response, she created Cupid’s Sting, an interpersonal violence reduction program. The mission of Cupid’s Sting is to teach women life-saving skills through one day workshops on interpersonal violence, domestic violence, and street harassment, including demonstration and practice of self-defense techniques. A former professor at Howard University, she developed and facilitated workshops on dating abuse, situational awareness, and self-defense for her students. She introduced the Cupid’s Sting program at the 2017 Women’s Empowerment Expo in Washington, DC and was the keynote speaker for the All about the Sisters launch in New York, NY in January 2018. Dr. Samuel has been featured in The Southwester, The Hill Rag, and on news programs Wake Up Washington and WUSA9.
On March 14, 2018, Dr. Samuel launched the Cupid’s Sting Non-Profit Organization partnering with the community to create a safer and healthier environment for families, students, employees, and neighbors in the Washington, DC area and beyond. Cupid’s Sting now operates in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. Dr. Samuel writes a blog called “You Have the Right to Remain Informed” that focuses on crime tips for women, interpersonal violence, relationships, victimization, and policing. She is also the author of the novel Dear Diary, a murder mystery set in the Nation’s Capital.