Certified Instructor Martha Tumblin reflects on more than two decades of watching Darkness to Light grow and the evolution of our movement.
Martha Tumblin remembers when Darkness to Light was just a twinkle in its founders’ eyes.
“Back then, while most adults thought preventing child sexual abuse was important, so many just wanted the topic to go away… it was too hard to talk about. But then there was a local sexual abuse crisis that busted through the community denial. And the community sort of realized, ‘Who is going to protect our kids? And how? Somebody has got to do something.’”
Authorized in 2004 at Darkness to Light’s first Facilitator Workshop in Charleston, SC, Martha is a Darkness to Light veteran and familiar face. Her fingerprints can be found across our history: from attending the early “From Darkness to Light” survivor conferences, to reviewing our award-winning PSA’s, to being featured in the first Stewards of Children®, to developing and implementing Charleston’s first Prevent-a-thon, to becoming one of the first Certifying Instructors. Her consulting contributions also include developing professional and community-based training initiatives.
Martha was connected to the early developers of Darkness to Light through her work as an educator and licensed social worker at the Medical University of South Carolina. She treasured observing, supporting, and encouraging these passionate child protection advocates in the Charleston community with their respective initiatives as Darkness to Light began to unfold. “Darkness to Light came along and initiated conversations about training adults with the skills necessary to prevent sexual abuse–a totally new concept for this topic.
“I remember when the PSA’s came out–the public was just shocked that something like that would be on TV. In fact, when my daughter was in first grade, the mother of one of her friends pulled me aside one day to protest a PSA which had popped up while they were watching primetime TV. So, I said, ‘Let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about why it’s there.’ Of course, there were many people who sincerely valued the PSA’s, and there were others who didn’t know what to do with them. That’s how we knew they were needed. I would have clients come for counseling sessions after seeing one and say, ‘I need to tell you something that might have happened to me.’ And so, I know firsthand that even if the PSA’s were uncomfortable, they facilitated enlightenment for all and healing experiences for people.”
Darkness to Light always knew that adult education was the key. One of the early education initiatives was a booklet called the 7 Steps to Protecting our Children. “We were handing them out willy nilly! I kept boxes of them in my office for my patients, stacks of them in our lobby, as well as 3 family medicine clinic waiting rooms. As time passed, Darkness to Light linked with research experts to study the effect of these booklets. They found that while the information certainly changed people’s attitudes about abuse, it didn’t change their behavior. It didn’t push people to action.”
Darkness to Light began researching methods for changing adult behavior, landing on a community based, docu-training format. It was clear that Darkness to Light couldn’t do it alone – we needed boots on the ground, trained locals in their own communities creating a network of prevention.
“It just unfolded from there… it was obvious that a train-the-trainer model was necessary to reach everyone with prevention. It takes one person with passion going out into their community and getting another person on board. And then they get another person, and another, and then organizations get involved, and it snowballs. All it takes is one person with a with a light in their belly.”
One of the things Martha appreciates most about Stewards of Children® is that “it’s always been state-of-the-art for its time.” Having seen, and meaningfully contributed to, three editions of the training, Martha reflects that the 2023 edition has naturally shifted to meet the evolving needs of our communities. For instance, this version of the training has more extensive resources for digital safety. “For many parents, the dark abyss of protecting children is the internet…we [Facilitators] used to give the best responses we could [when questioned about online safety] but this version offers a greater depth and breadth around the many at-risk situations kids can be exposed to on the internet.”
When facilitating Stewards of Children®, Martha almost always receives post-training inquiries for further training, intervention resources, or a better understanding of one of the learning objectives. She’s witnessed its ripple effects: people gain more bandwidth for tackling the issue, are willing to take concrete action, and even become ambassadors for other members of their community to get trained, too.
“The Stewards of Children® training, the Five Steps to Protecting Children™–the basics of them haven't changed since day one. They're classic… this is vetted material that we know is true and has efficacy with preventing child sexual abuse and reacting responsibly. And so, it easily evolves into state-of-the-art material each time we update the curriculum. Rhonda [Newton] brought in a new structure for the training that's far more user friendly and digestible. It’s a more highly evolved message. Folks are going to get what they need and hopefully we leave them wanting more.”
Today, Martha has trained over 6,000 adults in Stewards of Children®, authorized thousands of new Facilitators, and certified numerous Instructors in the US and abroad. Reflecting on the twenty-five-year evolution of the movement to end child sexual abuse, Martha’s insights are simple and profound.
“The biggest thing that has changed is that it’s not a ‘no-talk topic’ anymore. Now people not only talk about child sexual abuse, they take action. And that’s huge! If you can’t talk about it, you can’t do anything about it.
Before, we only heard the drama and the trauma of high-profile cases. Stewards of Children® provides a safe structure for communities to receive tough, yet understandable child sexual abuse basics. It empowers adults to discuss the ugliest topic on the planet. Cultural and social norms are changing to better protect children. Witnessing the impact of Darkness to Light’s trainings in communities throughout the US and other countries has been a profound blessing in my life!”
*Editor's note: this feature was originally published in 2020. It has been updated to include more up-to-date information.
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