38 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | JUNE 2018 THE STORY Bloom365 founder and executive director Donna Bartos began her advocacy for domestic violence victims when she founded the Purple Ribbon Council to Cut Out Domestic Abuse in 2006. “In 2006, we didn’t have the Ray Rice situation. We didn’t have the #MeToo campaign. No one was talking about this,” she said. “It was still in the shadows. It was still very stigmatized.” The organization partnered with the national organization Cut It Out to educate hair stylists and nail technicians about how to recognize signs of abuse in their clients and how to respond in a positive and impactful way. As Bartos became more involved in domestic violence advocacy, she learned there was a need for preventative education. Unfortunately, a lack of funding prevented many organizations from doing the work, especially when there was still a need for shelter services and victim care. She continued to grow the organization and developed the “Are you blooming or wilting?” tool, which helps to educate people on the root causes of abusive and healthy relationships. The organization then began operating as Bloom365 in 2015. The Morrison Institute for Public Policy deemed the Bloom for Healthy Relationships program an evidence-informed and promising practice for the prevention of teen dating abuse — further propelling Bartos to develop the three-step Bloom It Up program, which includes education, advocacy and activism. The program has now reached nearly 15,000 teens and has launched a peer-to- peer advocacy training project and group emotional support for teen victims of issues such as dating abuse and domestic violence. Jamie Killin | Web Editor BLOOM365 Uprooting abuse and helping to build healthy relationships GIVING BACK {charity spotlight}

JUNE 2018 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 39 THE CAUSE The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one third of teens have experienced some form of dating violence, and that one in six boys and one in four girls is sexually assaulted before the age of 18. The Bloom It Up program helps teens identify unhealthy dating behaviors and their cause — a need for power and control that can manifest in jealousy, threats, violence and sexual assault. “The thousands of teens and youth that we’ve reached over the last six years have shared with us that they see more of this wilting stuff in their world than blooming and that it’s easier to be wilting and mean than it is to be kind and healthy,” said Bartos. “This has become normalized in our world, whether it’s in the media that they’re consuming or in the relationships that they’re seeing or building, or in social media.” More than 75 percent of teens who have completed Bloom365’s 7-Dose curriculum program have reported that they’re now able to recognize the red flags of an abusive relationship, understand the root cause of teen dating violence, safely end an abusive relationship, have increased their self-esteem and more. Forty percent of participants have even joined the ’BLOOM CREW,’ which is dedicated to uprooting abuse and cultivating kindness. “We really help them understand the dynamics of power and control, that this abuse and violence is not about anger,” Bartos said. “It’s about someone wanting to have power control over someone else and using these abuse tactics of verbal, emotional or physical abuse to do it.” Bloom365 founder and executive director Donna Bartos is working to prevent teen dating abuse before it starts.