Girls Against Abuse: Courage Empowerment Forum With Lyn Twyman

A secret so painful forced one woman to write a book and reveal a secret to her children that she had kept from them for so long. Elin was just 17 when she fell in love with an abusive man, a man who “whittled her down –with words, hands, and weapons –from a confident teen to the shadow of a woman.”

In this week’s broadcast of Lyn Twyman’s Courage Empowerment Forum, first time author Elin Stebbins Waldal will share with us the inspiration behind her newly released work Tornado Warning. Tornado Warning is Elin’s memoir of teen dating violence and the effects it had on her life. We’ll look at what made Elin reveal this secret and why she continues to spread the message of confidence to other young girls through her organization Girls kNOw More.

We’ll also be featuring the music of The Girls Against Abuse, the vision of Music Producer Jason Brawner who spent several years working with artists from the hit show, American Idol.

Go to the link and listen live Tuesday night at 9pm ET! www.party934.com

To listen to previous broadcasts, visit www.vimeo.com/courageempowermentforum or www.lyntwyman.com/Radio.html

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Visit host Lyn Twyman’s site at http://www.lyntwyman.com

About broadcast guest Elin Stebbins Waldal

Elin Stebbins Waldal is a writer, a speaker, and the founder of Girls kNOw More, an organization whose mission is to help build confidence in middle-school-age girls.

Elin is the Love Is Not Abuse Coalition State Action Leader for California, which advocates for legislation that will require teen dating abuse curriculum in all middle schools, high schools and colleges. She is also a regular presenter for Laura’s House, an Orange County resource for victims of domestic violence. She was recognized with an Honorable Mention Award in the World of Difference Category by The San Diego County Office of Education for speaking and educating high school students. Additionally, she is a California state certified domestic violence advocate.

She has contributed to The Courage Network, Safe World for Women, and She Writes on-line periodicals and also serves as a San Diego Examiner reporter on the subject of teen dating violence.

Elin lives in Southern California with her husband, three children, and their family dog.

Featured Independent Music Artist

The Girls Against Abuse

The “Girls Against Abuse” project is the vision of Music Producer Jason Brawner who spent several years working with artists from the hit show, American Idol. Through his many years of teaching the craft of songwriting and producing music, Jason discovered a disturbing trend of abuse and mistreatment in the lives of young women. Jason says,“Writing albums with singer/songwriters on a daily basis, I get to know them quite quickly. Far too often, I’m horrified encountering reoccurring themes of mistreatment and abuse in the lives of young women. Whether it comes from someone in their home or family, school, work, or a boyfriend, emotional and physical violence have critical effects on the victims.” What Jason has discovered working with the 70 percent of his artists that have been abused or mistreated unfortunately confirms these disturbing statistics:

1 in 5 high school girls report experiencing teen dating violence.
Domestic violence kills and injures more girls/women than car accidents and cancer combined.
There were 10,088 Domestic violence crimes in Los Angeles County with 8,352 of those crimes involving a weapon in 2009, based on L.A. County Sheriff’s statistics.

On The Girls Against Abuse CD’s, options for action are encouraged in the words of the edgy heartfelt pop/rock songs sung by female artists who have made a commitment in their own lives to stand against all forms of mistreatment and abuse. The artists and producer all donate their own time for performances as well as their music for the CD’s that are available for a donation at events and on iTunes, as well as other online sites such as CDBaby.com.

The Girls Against Abuse has helped to raise awareness in the community through concerts, radio and television appearances, high school shows, fundraising and community events. Through their awareness campaign they have helped to raise over $7,000 over the past year and a half for violence prevention programs for youth, as well as community organizations and shelters that help families by providing parenting education and domestic violence services.

Their goal is to bring awareness through public performances and school events, to raise money for organizations that educate and support those in abusive situations and to provide CD’s with a positive message. Music is the universal “language” that has the ability to touch hearts…this positive music project’s aim is to help women and youth “Recognize, Resist and Recover” from abuse and mistreatment.

http://www.thegirlsagainstabuse.com/