USEFUL WEBLINKS

3 interesting websites that deal with subjects related to Applied Psychology

http://www.depression.com/

http://www.recovery-inc.com/index.html

http://allpsych.com/disorders/eating/anorexia.html

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Social Problem of the Battering of Women is a Topic related to Community Psychology, which lends itself to intervention as a very real local problem in Sri Lanka and around the World. Below is a list of 20 websites that addresses this problem in one way or the other with a paragraph each, on my personal thoughts on the usefulness of each website, following.

http://www.winsl.org/

This website being representative of Women In Need (WIN) in Sri Lanka, it introduces WIN as a non-profit Social Service Organization committed to the elimination of Domestic Violence and other forms of Violence Against Women and Children. I found this website to be useful as it contained information on the activities of WIN and services offered by the WIN Help Centers that were listed. Moreover the simplicity of language made it easily comprehensible to the average online surfer and indeed even the average literate person.

http://www.womeninspiration.net/

I found this website to be a hip, modern kind of website! I particularly liked this website as it seemed to market itself as a site that stood apart from the others as a “hip place for healing” From abuse recovery, to self-esteem & emotional empowerment, to Destiny Management (creating your dreams, visions and purpose), it explained how it offered services to help become one’s personal best after being through an abusive situation. On the downside, I felt this website could also be perceived as too hip (whichever way you looked at it)

http://helpabusedwomen.org/

This website had its usefulness in the fact that it offered hotline help and information about events relating to help for abused women and their children. However this site I found, was directed at those who wised to volunteer, donate money, join awareness campaigns, retreats and walks etc. and didn’t offer much to a battered woman in particular apart from a number on which she could call and ask for help.

http://www.rockwallhelpinghands.com/partners_win.html

With links to information about the various services offered in and around Texas, this website was less descriptive and seemed to merely market the 24-hour shelter in Greenville, TX for battered women and their children. Apart from describing non residential services that included counseling, legal advocacy, and limited financial assistance, I felt that this the site itself didn’t offer much.

http://www.heartsandminds.org/self/links/abuseincestfamilyviolence.htm

I found this website to be useful in offering Resources for children and adults, current and past victims of abuse with a list of addresses and websites of resources. I felt that this was more of a directory of services as a website in itself and was informative in listing out avenues of help one could explore.

http://www.texastherapists.com/BatteredWomen.html

This website was short and sweet and didn’t offer much beyond the names and contacts of five therapists in Texas that could be accessed via the links. However I felt that this was a useful website in that on clicking on each of these links, I found that I was re-directed to the detailed profiles of each therapist concerned along with areas of counseling offered and a description of the qualifications of each therapist which I felt. Made this a pretty good website.

http://www.voices-action.org/

I particularly liked the layout of this website as in comparison with the others, there was colour that gave it a sense of hope which I personally felt would be soothing to someone troubled. More importantly, the usefulness of it I felt, lay in the fact that it was directed at younger (battered/abused) women and youth with informative articles on molestation, rape etc. but on clicking in these links, I found that there was very little to be gained by way of information. In conclusion, this seemed like a good site at first until its usefulness however, seemed questionable.

http://www.webheights.net/GrowingbeyondEmotionalAbuse/articles.htm

I liked this website because of its clarity and information. The articles were complete, the links worked and the issues discussed true – were not to do with battery itself but were I felt helpful as they were relevant to the sense of emotional upheaval one would feel in the aftermath of battering as the emotional abuse areas were explained informally, yet descriptively along with Q and A formats that further helped provide information on emotional support.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/07/the_counselor.html

I felt that this website would be useful to a woman going through battering it was all about empowerment and standing up to battering. It was motivating and encouraging as it described the true story of someone who had done just that along with legal facts that backed this story as this was a journalistic website that was more into investigative journalism related to battery of women. However apart from journalistic writings, there weren’t any other resources listed.

http://jiv.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/18/7/717

This website was again, an online Journal which I didn’t particularly find useful as it didn’t say much apart from listing some names of counselors available for battered women. I didn’t find it helpful as there were no links or further information about these counselors or the issue of battery in itself. I found it to be an avergage site (usefulness and range-wise)

http://incestabuse.about.com/

This website seemed to be therapeutic in itself as it followed the format of a thread with various people freely criticizing, commenting of describing the state of “support” for incest and abuse issues. Domestic violence and other battering if women issues were also discussed. However as the website itself suggests, it was all “about” it. And I found to be a self-expression kind of website for women to share views and experiences.

http://www.phenomenalwomen.com/help/shelters.htm

I found this to be a very practical website as it listed out various shelters from churches, homes, centers and organizations to safe houses and legal aid groups. I found that the information on this website was very useful in directing a victim to a place efficiently as there was a short description about each location along with a working URL to the main page of that particular shelter.

http://www.womenagainstabuse.org/contact.html

This website was purely for those who wanted help and also those who wanted to help “woman against abuse” in some way. I found that this website whilst not being as fancy as the others did provided direct telephone numbers to every WAA division but that was it.

http://www.gatewayshelter.org/

Apart from advertising its crisis line, again I felt that this site was more of an event notifier and a marketing tool to the organization “Gateway Batter’s Women’s Services”. It was good as it provided information about the organization, but offered very little I felt, as a direct online resource in itself.

http://www.abusedwomen.org/resources.html

Providing general information on domestic violence, this I felt was a useful source as it listed a group of websites that offered information on multi-cultural battery issues from Asia through America along with a few other aspects like what communities can do etc. this was a good resource I felt, as it was more inclusive of various cultures, However I wondered it this was a good thing or a bad thing as the average victim may feel excluded if the site didn’t offer information particular to her own society.

http://www.womentogether.org/

Describing “Women Together” as a committee of like-minded community volunteers dedicated to the mission of raising critically needed funds to assist homeless and battered women and their children, this website merely provided a list of its committee members and was more like a marketing site that yet on the other hand, was useful in informing volunteers about the existence of a committee that helped the issue of battered women.

http://www.vaw.umn.edu/

Standing for “violence against women”, this website was useful in offering some online resources. However I felt that these sources weren’t adequate in themselves though the legal services offered being listed and described I felt, would be useful.

http://www.thecenteronline.org/

This website operated as a center for women and families. I find that this website was good as it had a good link through which one could download brochures and literature about domestic violence and sexual assault. I found that this website offered some good reading material on battery and domestic violence along with programs pertaining to them by the organization itself.

http://www.havenwomenscenter.org/

I found this website to be one that emphasized on the fact that battered women are not alone in a very personalized manner which I felt was its strong point. Along with links to a 24 hour crisis line and counseling/support services, this website presented itself as a haven for women quite successfully, I thought.

http://library.smc.edu/new/research/topics/batteredwomen.html

This site was informative though limited to the scope of its nature which was to educate readers about the availability of books pertaining to the subject of battered women. It was an online Library Catalog that contained information on materials in the library catalog (of Santa Monica College) related to battered women along with websites that would help in research on battered women.

© Slow Chills