Brooke Woods is the Executive Director of Stepping Stone Children’s Advocacy Center in Dublin.
CACGA: What is the Stepping Stone?
Brooke Woods: Stepping Stone Child Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization located in Dublin, Georgia which serves victims of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse, as well as those children who witness domestic violence. The mission of Stepping Stone is to lessen the trauma suffered by children who have been abused by providing evaluation in a safe, caring place and to encourage collaboration of services for the benefit of the child, family, and community. Stepping Stone currently serves the children and families of the Dublin Judicial Circuit by providing them with free prevention, intervention, and education related to child abuse.
CACGA: What would you like the community to know about the professionals who work there?
Brooke Woods: Employees of Stepping Stone have a passion for the health and well-being of all children. You will often hear our staff and volunteers say, “All children matter.” Our vison is to one day live in a community where children flourish free from child abuse and neglect.
As the Executive Director and Forensic Interviewer at Stepping Stone, I have direct contact with all of the families that come to our center. It is my hope that each child and family member that leaves Stepping Stone will feel like they have an advocate who will walk with them through the traumatic experience of abuse. I earned my bachelor degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Science Education. Although I worked in the teaching field for many years, I felt a calling to get involved with child advocacy work after serving on a jury that convicted a serial child molester. At the center my responsibilities include: conducting forensic interviews, providing victim advocacy, testifying in court, writing grant proposals, providing community prevention and awareness, assisting during sexual assault exams, coordinating and facilitating the multi-disciplinary team, fund raising, and other random duties. [Read more…]
