Victim To Hero Institute
The Victim To Hero Institute provides trauma-informed education and resources to empower victims and survivors of trauma and psychological abuse. We also promote public awareness and champion system and social changes.
Our work
We pursue our goal through:
- Our educational and support programs for targeted parents so they can protect their children and save their families; and
- Our public awareness campaigns to reach the hearts and minds of the public from an emotional level; and
- Our awareness and educational programs to bring awareness and training to educators, lawyers, mental health professionals, and legislators; and
- Our advocacy work to bring system change through lobbying for law changes and reforming the practice of the law by government agencies; and
- Undertaking scientific research on the experience of children victims and reunification pathways for families.
Our principles and values
A child protection issue
We believe that children are the true victims of dysfunctional family dynamics. It is not a “fathers’ rights vs. mothers’ rights” issue. It is a child protection issue. If we want to make our world a better place, we must fight and protect our children first.
You are the hero!
We believe that each victim embodies within them the hero spirit. This is why instead of working on individual cases, we focus on public programs that can help many. We truly believe that we are empowering many victims to become heroes so they can save themselves and save their children. Whether you realize it or not, you are powerful beyond measure. You are the hero!
Empathy and authenticity
This organization was founded by Dr. Petra Deeter, who is a survivor of child abuse and domestic violence. We also have interviewed over 700 parents and nearly 300 adult children victims, so we truly understand the problem that you are facing. All of our team members have been affected by dysfunctional family dynamics. This is not an intellectual concept for us. We understand this viscerally within our hearts and our souls. We truly empathize with what you are going through. We live your stories.
A public crisis
The impacts on the children affected by dysfunctional family dynamics are serious and long-term. We believe that the roots of many of our society’s problems stem from people suffering from unhealed childhood trauma. The problem is widespread and serious and it impacts our society as a whole. This is not a private and personal matter, it is a public crisis.
Scientific and evidence base
When we are dealing with a complex and sometimes controversial issue like what we are doing, there are always many conflicting opinions. We believe that in order to truly find solutions, we must build our work on a scientific or evidence basis. That means we spend time on research and focus on promoting peer-reviewed published data.
So far, we have conducted in-depth interviews of over 1000 people, including both parents and children who have been impacted by dysfunctional family dynamics. Our research is the largest study in this field to date.
For our educational programs, we specifically bring in speakers with peer-reviewed publications. For speakers who are not researchers, we look for those who have proven track records of success. We want to try our best to ensure that what we present to our audience has a solid footing.
We have a silent Board of Advisors of experts in relevant fields who help vet our speakers and guide us in our work.
A proactive approach
We believe in a proactive approach. That means we do not believe in sitting back, whining about how bad things are, and finger-pointing to place blame on others. That creates a helpless and disempowering mentality that helps no one. It is so easy to get attention by bashing others for the shock value but it does not bring real solutions. We know that the system is broken but we choose to take action to make the change, no matter how small, with what we can, where we are, with what we have.
A collaborative approach
We do not believe in a hostile approach because we believe that most problems, objections, and roadblocks come from misunderstandings, misinformation, lack of awareness, and so on. As such, we will not throw rocks, create smearing campaigns, or send threats to anyone. We take on a collaborative approach and we invite others to the table. Even for organizations that may believe that they do not share the same values as us and do not support our work. We want to invite everyone to the table so we can have an open dialog. We believe that communication will open a pathway to understanding and collaboration. We truly believe that we can reach a common ground that can be beneficial to all. Our intention is pure. We believe others’ are too.
VictimToHero.com is a division of Sprrkle Media.