Ohio’s clerk of court officials gain understanding across the counter through ‘In Her Shoes’
The annual Ohio Clerk of Courts meeting saw OneEighty pay a visit to present “In Her Shows,” an intense, interactive program that takes people through the struggles of domestic violence. OneEighty outreach specialists Tina Zickefoose, left, Kate Avruzzino and Stacey Rehm; OneEighty victim’s services manager Andy Ford; and Holmes County Clerk of Courts Ronda Steimel gathered for a photo at the annual meeting in Columbus.
All across Ohio in all 88 counties, county clerk of court officials see victims of domestic violence enter their courtroom doors and talk to them from across the counter. While providing help for battered women isn’t uncommon, being able to better identify with those who have been abused can help bring those types of situations to light.
Recently clerks of court from all over Ohio gathered together in Columbus for their annual meeting, and the clerks got a very up close and personal look at what victims of abuse deal with on a daily basis when Tina Zickefoose, victim advocate and outreach specialist with OneEighty of Holmes County, presented the interactive program “In Her Shoes” to the clerks.
“In Her Shoes” is designed to foster awareness and bring about more understanding and empathy by those who are struggling to understand how domestic abuse can fester. It also is designed to shed light on ways to help those trapped in situations where domestic violence is present.
Zickefoose said until someone understands the many layers of domestic abuse, there is little chance of empathizing completely. That is why she believes walking in someone’s shoes who has experienced domestic abuse in real life is critical to gain insight.
“Love can be a very strong emotion,” Zickefoose said. “It has the power to keep someone in a horrible relationship, despite knowing there will be great suffering and also knowing that they should remove themselves from that scenario. That is how strong the ties are woven in a domestic relationship. It is much like a spider’s web, causing the victim to ultimately feel trapped.”
During the “In Her Shoes” workshop, participants take a journey that begins when they are handed a 5-by-7 laminated card with details of a woman in a domestic violence situation. These true stories are heartbreakingly real, and those in the workshop are asked to take on the role of the abused woman.
The workshop begins with a Band-Aid being placed on each participant’s face or neck. Each card then creates a series of options each participant must go through with possibilities that include choosing to talk to a family member or friend, calling the police, seeking assistance at a shelter, going to a religious leader for guidance or seeking medical help.
Participants then go where their choices take them as they travel from station to station. In that time they fall deeper and deeper into despair as the walls around their lives crumble. The end results of each scenario can be staggering.
“It can become very emotional as people begin to understand the horrors that accompany domestic violence and how despite a fierce desire to escape, there are so many parts of people’s lives that keep drawing them back,” Zickefoose said.
Zickefoose took her workshop to a whole new level when meeting with the Ohio Clerk of Courts Association.
Holmes County Clerk of Courts Ronda Steimel currently serves as the co-chair for the education committee for the Ohio Clerk of Courts Association. She said the group meets once every month to talk about hot topics in the state, and they meet annually for a legal seminar where clerks bring deputy clerks to focus on dealing with important issues in each of the county’s clerk offices.
“One of the things I hear over and over again is that we as clerks on the other side of the counter continue to see these abuse victims coming into our office time and again, and we don’t really understand why this continues,” Steimel said. “We get frustrated and perplexed that they keep going back to these abusive situations. We don’t want to see them here, and it is easy to tell them they need to leave, but we really don’t understand when we aren’t in those types of situations.”
With 52 of Ohio’s counties represented, Zickefoose presented “In Her Shoes,” a program that highlights eight different true-life stories of abuse victims, each with their own story.
“In Her Shoes” creates a very emotional connection as the participants assume the role of one of the eight abused women and must go from station to station as the trek through abuse carries them from one ordeal to the next.
Of the eight true-life abuse stories, three of them ended with the abused woman being killed by her antagonist, and the emotional spectrum people who go through “In Her Shoes” experience is amazingly potent.
“We had people who got frustrated and wanted to quit because they couldn’t understand how a person could allow this to happen, but when you put yourselves in their shoes, it becomes a very different world, and you can start to get a sense of how hard it is to escape a situation that many of these abused people have known all of their lives,” Steimel said.
She added that it was incredibly powerful, so much so that she has received emails from Ohio clerks who said they can’t believe how impactful this program is in getting them to better understand the abuse situations that stand across the counter from them on a weekly basis.
“A lot of them felt guilty because of the way they felt about victims, and they now have a better understanding and are more empathetic,” Steimel said. “They couldn’t believe how limited some people’s options are when it comes to dealing with domestic violence. I think what we all realized to a greater extent was that it is incredibly difficult to break that cycle because that is the life abused people are dealing with on a regular basis, and it becomes a part of their life.”
The presentation of “In Her Shoes” allowed clerks to address specific questions, talk about their thoughts and concerns, and share with each other the ways they can learn and grow from the experience.
Steimel said Zickefoose has the right kind of caring and compassionate personality to deliver such a somber message and make it insightful and impactful.
“It was neat to listen to the clerks interacting and hear them discussing how they can better handle domestic abuse situations in the courtroom,” Steimel said. “I think we all learned that there are options out there that we can share with them, and Tina did a wonderful job of bringing those options into focus.”
Steimel said the presentation made such a dramatic impact that the clerk from Shelby County paid a visit to Holmes County, bringing several people from her office to experience “In Her Shoes.”
She said the goal now is to bring Zickefoose and the program back to the annual state meeting at least every two years as new clerk of courts and their deputy clerks filter in and out.
She noted that 18 new clerks began serving their respective counties just this year, and with new clerks coming in, she felt it would be a valuable teaching tool as well as a good reminder to those who have been through “In Her Shoes” before.