Dozens come together to ‘Stop The Hurt’

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Helping prevent child abuse and making professionals aware of the signs of abuse was the topic of an annual conference.

Hundreds of social workers, law enforcement officers, educators, foster parents and students attended the “Stop the Hurt” conference in Tupelo.

The conference was for professionals who work with children.

Speakers covered a variety of topics and there were also vendors from different agencies and organizations.

There were also many opportunities to network and share ideas.

“I think the main take away for this experience and conference for Stop the Hurt is to collectively share information, to communicate, to cross train, cross pollinate and understand it takes all of us to be one community, one student, one family at a time,” said one of the speakers at the conference Dr. Kristy Luse.

“So far what I’ve learned is diversity is very important in social work, and it’s also very important to have networks, social work is all about networking, you may not have all the answers but everyone , others around you may have it,” said social work student Brianna Collier.

Social work students from the Tupelo Ole Miss campus helped with the conference and were also able to sit in on sessions.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.