A Letter from Steven A. Girelli

President/CEO of Klingberg Family Centers

I am very pleased that Klingberg Family Centers has partnered with Stop It Now!, which became one of its affiliates in March of this year. This affiliation will allow Klingberg and Stop It Now! to work together for the benefit of both organizations and to provide help to a larger community.

Klingberg’s focus for nearly 50 of its over 100 years has been the treatment of a variety of behavioral health and trauma issues. More recently, with the addition of the Traumatic Stress Institute in 2006 we expanded our work to include professional training and consultation on trauma-informed care. We have long sought to further expand our impact by moving into primary prevention, and the invitation to partner with Stop It Now!, nationally recognized for its prevention work, was the perfect opportunity to achieve that strategic goal.

Moreover, as an organization that has specialized in treating and training about severe trauma, including the trauma of sex abuse, we are acutely aware of its prevalence, so Stop It Now!’s prevention focus on this issue specifically was particularly appealing. I see a tremendous opportunity for Klingberg contributing to Stop It Now!’s work our experience, expertise, and professional network developed through the Traumatic Stress Institute. We look forward to integrating the content expertise of Stop It Now! with our own training expertise and expanding our work to include more resources on prevention and support for those whose proximity to children enables them to be champions of prevention.

I greatly admire the work that Stop It Now! does and appreciate their philosophy of recognizing the humanity in all people. Stop It Now!’s focus on preventing the sexual abuse of children by mobilizing adults, families, and communities to take actions that protect children before they are harmed is a natural fit with Klingberg’s mission of promoting empowering relationships.
Administratively, Stop It Now! resides in Klingberg’s Traumatic Stress Institute, overseen by Patricia Wilcox, LCSW, Klingberg’s Vice President of Strategic Development. Jenny Coleman’s long history with Stop It Now! and her extensive knowledge of the subject matter make her a natural Director, and we are delighted to be working with her. I am also glad that Deborah Donovan Rice, Stop It Now!’s former Executive Director, will remain involved as a consultant for the Circles of Safety for Higher Education initiative. Finally, Stop It Now! founder Frances “Fran” Henry’s presence on Klingberg’s Board of Trustees is invaluable, and we look forward to benefiting from her experience and wisdom.

I join Stop It Now! in thanking our major funders, The Oak Foundation, Thorn: Digital Defender of Children, and the Paterno family, for all of their support and look forward to working with them to prevent child sexual abuse.

All of us at Klingberg Family Centers are extremely excited about this partnership and its tremendous potential. In the short time since Stop It Now! has become a member of Klingberg Family Centers’ corporate family the benefits to both organizations have been clear. Economies of scale have increased efficiency. With the combined efforts of the two organizations we have been actively promoting the Circles of Safety for Higher Education curriculum to new colleges and universities while refining the original Circles of Safety curriculum for clinicians, child care providers, and early education specialists. In fact, the curriculum will soon be included in Klingberg’s training for the staff of its other programs. The hours of the HelpLine have been expanded with plans for additional growth. And we continue our international work, helping reduce child sexual abuse in other areas of the world. Our time together has already been rich, busy, and very productive, and I look forward to continuing to integrate our organizations to achieve even more.

Sincerely,

Steven A. Girelli, Ph.D.
President/CEO
Klingberg Family Centers, Inc.