Developed by Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the
game "In Her Shoes" can be purchased at their site.
A revolutionary community education tool, In Her Shoes is designed for learning about domestic violence. Participants move, do, think and experience the lives of battered women. This version is the original simulation which is great for educating a broad range of community and professional groups. Can be facilitated in sessions of one to two hours.
In her Shoes - Economic Justice Edition
In Her Shoes: Economic Justice Edition
A revolutionary community education tool, In Her Shoes is designed for learning about domestic violence. Participants move, do, think and experience the lives of battered women.
The newest version of "In Her Shoes" will increase awareness of the additional struggles battered women face when they are poor. The perspective of the batterer is also represented in the Economic Justice Edition. Most useful for longer training sessions where there are opportunities for group discussion.
From the Daily Toreador (10/31/2007)
Domestic violence month ends with 'In Her Shoes'
By: Elliot Cochran
Posted: 10/31/07
October can be a frighteningly good time of the year for the Lubbock community, but the Texas Tech Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance has worked with students and faculty this month to prevent a fearful issue for the organization: domestic violence.More info:
Tuesday night, the organization closed out the October events with a game, "In Her Shoes" - an interactive experience simulating the role of a victim of domestic violence or her abuser from their perspectives.
Roy Rios, coordinator of community education and development for Women's Protective Services, said the game draws many personalities, lifestyles and behaviors together, offering a broad range of emotions and opportunities for college students living with, or on the brink of, domestic violence.
"The game tries to make the experiences lifelike, it really tries to portray a diverse group; it's everywhere," he said. "This issue is hitting home for a lot of people because (college) is where it begins, it sets you on your path to make tough decisions."
Students picked through six color-coordinated cards, each containing details of the characters' personal and private lives. Once the selections were made, the stories unfolded to reveal the trials and tribulations caused by the students' decisions in various situations.
Students were engulfed in the lives of the characters struggling with drug addiction, alcoholism and poverty throughout the lives of the teenage to early-20s characters.
Rios said the dialogue and thought processes seemed realistic to the students, because the stories are real-life cases taken from women in the Washington D.C. area.
Christina Rhode, a junior anthropology and sociology major from Corpus Christi and president of the Tech Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, participated in the game. She said the problems with domestic violence come from the misconception that the problems are not important in society.
"So many people don't like to think that something like this is so prevalent," she said, "because then they might feel like they should do something about it, or because they just don't want to deal with that reality. The first step to fixing such a large problem like domestic violence is to make people acknowledge that it is a problem, and then they will want to do something about it."
[...]
© Copyright 2008 Daily Toreador
Presbyterian News Service
| TUCSON — Quietly, in pairs — some holding one or more dolls — the 30 or so women begin moving about the small meeting room. They pause at a chair labeled “clergy,” pick up a color-coded card and read it, then move on to another chair and read another card. Before long, as the women move from chair to chair, the quiet conversations become more animated and are frequently punctuated by angry outbursts. And by the end of the one-hour simulation game, “In Her Shoes,” most of the participants are ranting in frustration. | ||||||
| Welcome to the world of battered women — victims of domestic violence — and the bewildering maze they must navigate to access the resources they need in order to survive. And in the game, as in real life, some don’t survive. One of the “stations” in the simulation is labeled “Funeral Home” — a clear signal that the player has died as a result of the choices she has made. Developed in Washington State, “In Her Shoes” has become an extremely effective tool for educating pastors, social workers, police, government officials and those interested in combating domestic violence about the gauntlet faced by women seeking to escape abusive relationships. The simulation was brought to the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA)’s biennial social justice and ministries conference Jan. 13–16 here by the Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence Network (PADVN). It is also endorsed by the Office of Women’s Advocacy in Louisville, which for the first time partnered with PHEWA on the conference. “People aren’t going to believe it unless and until they walk down the road,” says Tyra Lindquist of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which helped develop “In Her Shoes” six years ago. “This simulation is really good because people like experiential things. The stories in this simulation are compelling and people quickly get immersed in them.” | ||||||
| There are 17 “stations” in the simulation — including such topics as “court,” “mental health,” “child protective services,” “housing,” “medical,” “shelter,” “job” and “support group.” Each pair of participants picks a real-life scenario and visits the 17 stations. At each station choices are offered, which, of course, impact the range of choices available at subsequent stations. | ||||||
| “Ideally, this game would be played over the entire hotel, including some impossible-to-find nooks and crannies,” says the Rev. Bonnie Ortho, an upstate New York pastor who is PADVN co-moderator along with Sandy Thompson-Royer. “That way, participants would get totally lost even trying to find some of the stations, which is the way it is for women in the real world.” Also like real life, a few participants conclude the simulation by successfully escaping the violence. Most do not. And some die, their choices leading them inexorably to the station labeled “Funeral Home.” Asked how they felt at the end of the simulation, participants variously said: “tired,” “helpless,” “ashamed,” “voiceless,” “powerless,” “frustrated,” “gullible,” “guilty,” “confused” and “angry.” One participant asked wearily, “Is there no end to it?” Another agreed, saying, “I felt like I was going around and around in circles.” That’s precisely the reason why domestic violence is so prevalent and why “In Her Shoes” is such an effective teaching and training tool, Ortho says. “In the simulation there are some choices you want to make but can’t,” she says. “The simulation gets people in different professional fields to think about how, despite people’s best intentions, systems break down.” Helping domestic violence–related professionals understand the complexity for victims of abuse of trying to deal with multiple systems is critical to helping women (and some men) out of the cycle of domestic violence. “Blaming and judging are the worst,” says the Rev. Kevin Frederick, a pastor in Black Mountain, NC, and PADVN member. “Statistics show that, for a variety of reasons, it takes an average of seven incidents of domestic violence for a woman to figure a way out. That’s simply intolerable. We have to do better.” Workshop participants were introduced to a new PC(USA) resource on domestic violence, “Anguished Hearts,” which addresses domestic violence as a faith issue. The seven-session study — designed for church school classes, study and youth groups, and retreats — builds on the 2001 General Assembly’s policy statement “Turn Mourning Into Dancing!” It is available for $8 from Presbyterian Distribution Service — order by phone , 800-524-2612, or on the Web at www.pcusa.org/family/resources.htm. Ortho says PAVN is offering training that includes use of “In Her Shoes” to synods and presbyteries. For more information, visit the PADVN Web site at www.pcusa.org/phewa/padvn. | ||||||
Verizon Wireless funds programs against domestic violence
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