Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk about sociopaths to the Association of Student Assistance Professionals for the Southern Region of New Jersey. These are the student assistance coordinators who work in the public schools in New Jersey’s seven southern counties.
I had enough time to essentially give them two presentations, which was terrific: Love Fraud and How to Avoid It is my program for high school and college students. Sociopathy Awareness for Staff and Counselors provided more in-depth information that professionals should know.
The presentation for students explains what a sociopath is, the Red Flags of Love Fraud, how people become addicted to relationships, the dangers of online dating and how to break up with an abuser
The professional portion explained how sociopathy develops, how to help students who are involved with abusers, how sociopathic parents affect their children, and what teachers need to know about dealing with sociopathic parents.
I talked for almost 90 minutes giving the information and answering questions. Several people came up to me afterwards, telling me about their own encounters with sociopaths.
I enjoyed offering the group what I’ve learned about sociopaths. I hope the information will make a difference for them and their students.
If you know of a high school, school district or college that would like these programs, more information is available on Lovefraud’s Education page.
Hopefully teachers and other school staff can intervene to help parents and children as sociopathy affects so many areas of life.
Hi Donna. I read this a couple days ago but didn’t want it to slip away without acknowledging how important it is to find a way to begin or at least try to educate the general public about the covertly manipulative and aggressive
who exist alongside us. I’m growing increasingly aware of how rare it is to speak to someone who actually gets it. Maybe by your starting off with people who are younger without as many years of building up their walls of dogma, their minds will be more receptive to your ideas. I’m glad you’re doing this and hope some of your seeds will grow.
4Light2shine – thank you so much. I hope to educate people so they can recognize the warning signs early – so they can get out before too much damage is done!
What happens when the teacher/ professor IS the sociopath? My ex is a professor and manipulating everything and everyone he comes across.
Donna, Thanks for all your wonderful help for victims (former and future) and educating the public. The so-called experts deal with convicted psychopaths and thus often don’t realise the extent to which the problem exists in every day life. I hope that submitting your name as a suggestion for a future TED talk, may educate the public at large, not only the youth. Thanks for all you do to educate us all.