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“HONORING 20 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE PROVIDED BY TOBY MYERS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1801 on Oct. 16, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING 20 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE PROVIDED BY TOBY MYERS
______
HON. KEN BENTSEN
of texas
in the house of representatives
Monday, October 16, 2000
Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to honor Toby Myers for her twenty years of dedicated service to battered women and their families in the Houston area. I understand that Ms. Myers has worked tirelessly to ensure the women in domestic violence situations get the services and help they need to leave dangerous situations which may threaten both their personal and their children's lives.
The statistics about domestic abuse are alarming. As we all know, women are more likely than men to be victims of domestic abuse. A 1996 Lieberman Advertising research project found that more than one quarter of all American women or 26 percent of women have been physically abused by a husband or a boyfriend during their lives. An even higher percentage of Americans, some 30 percent, know of someone who has been physically abused during the past year. Regrettably, domestic violence is one of the leading causes of injury among American women. In 1994, 37% of women who sought treatment in emergency rooms were violence-
related injuries according to the U.S. Department of Justice report. In 1998, 106 women in Texas were killed by their intimate partner. Clearly we need to do more to combat this domestic abuse.
Toby Myers is a long-time advocate on behalf of these women. Beginning in 1980, she helped to found the Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA) in conjunction with the National Council of Jewish Women and Greater Houston Section. As a trained educator, Ms. Myers volunteered her time and talent by providing counseling for those abusive men who sought help through her private practice called the PIVOT Group. Through her volunteer work at the AVDA, Ms. Myers helped to establish the innovative intervention program called the PIVOT Project. This Project creates a psycho-educational counseling group for men who are abusive in their intimate relationships. After the initial success with one group of abusive men, Ms. Myers helped to expand the scope of the PIVOT Project to serve more families. Since 1991, the PIVOT Project has served families in Pasadena, Katy, Rosenberg, Texas City, Baytown, Webster, Northwest Houston, Conroe and Bay City. In 1995, the PIVOT Project was selected as one of four sites for participation in a national research project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This longitudinal study continued to track those men who participated in the program in 1995.
During her twenty year career, Ms. Myers has worked on both a local and national level to share her expertise on domestic violence. She has served on the Board of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and has chaired the Family Advisory Committee for the Texas Department of Human Services. She was also selected as one of the 150 appointees by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to help develop a national policy group on Violence and Public Health.
She also shared her knowledge as a teacher and mentor. She is currently serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. She has also held faculty positions at both the University of Houston--Clear Lake and Texas Women's University. Her graduate level courses in family violence are renowned for being well attended and sought after by students interested in combating domestic violence.
I want to congratulate Ms. Myers on her twenty years of services and wish her well in her retirement. I know that many women in Houston and the surrounding area will thank her for her personal involvement in their lives to make this world a more livable place.
