DALTON, Ga. — Officials behind the Darkness to Light program for Whitfield County recently celebrated reaching in September a “tipping point” of 5 percent of the adult population trained, with 3,779 people receiving the training.

“Darkness to Light provides training tools that encourage adults to protect children from sexual abuse through five steps: learn the facts, minimize opportunity, talk about it, recognize the signs and react responsibly,” said Mary Smith, child abuse prevention program manager for the Family Support Council, which sponsors the program.

“Each county in Georgia has a number that represents 5 percent of the adult population,” said Smith.

She said it’s part of the theory from “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell that if 5 percent of an audience is reached cultural change is created.

During the celebration, Tiffany Sawyer, director of prevention services for the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, said Whitfield County reached its “tipping point” in three years, faster than any other county in the state.

“You all are really a model,” Sawyer said to members of the Family Support Council and other agencies. “In Georgia we have trained over 100,000 adults, which is bigger than any other state. We are doing wonderful in this area and I thank you for that.”

The first training was held in Whitfield County in February 2014 with board members of the Family Support Council and the GreenHouse Child Advocacy and Sexual Assault Center.

At that time Smith was the only trainer; there are now 14. Smith said board members attended a two-hour training on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse.

“The training features a video that highlights several adult survivors of child sexual abuse, demonstrating the impact of abuse, and hope that can prevail with therapy and support,” she said.

Sawyer said 14 Georgia counties have reached the “tipping point.”

“We have reached our number and plan to continue to train adults in the community,” Smith said.

Sandee Hooper, president of the Family Support Council board, said members of the council believe all children have an “inherent right to be valued and to loved in a safe and healthy environment.”

She said Smith has led the charge in Dalton to make sure the community is safe for children.

“Mary has trained 1,435 people in our Darkness to Light program,” Hooper said. “This training is designed to empower people to prevent sexual abuse, and seeks to raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibily to sexual abuse.”

Sawyer presented a certificate for reaching the “tipping point” to Smith and Holly Rice, executive director of the Family Support Council.

“I got in there (the training) and started listening to the stories of survivors and I was profoundly impacted,” Rice said. “I told Mary (Smith) we’ve got to bring this to our community because I think it could change lives.”

Rice wrote grant applications and the council has been able to offer training free to participants.

Smith said it’s important to remember that more than 90 percent of child sexual abuse incidents happen with someone the child and family know and trust.

“This means everyone must be more vigilant in becoming active bystanders and providing fewer opportunities for one-on-one situations with children,” she said. “Perpetrators target children based on vulnerability and lack of knowledge about protection.”

Steve Fallin, regional prevention coordinator for the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, congratulated the training team. He said more than 900 people have been trained in Murray County, bringing the total in both counties to more than 4,700.

“I want to brag on Georgia because we are basically leading the nation in the number of people we’re training,” he said. “Thanks to this community because without your cooperation, support and opening doors it would’ve never happened.”

Fallin said facilitators work hard to help spread the training to other counties.

“We want to get the whole northwest Georgia area covered to let people know how good this training is,” he said.

To learn more about Darkness to Light or to find out about future training sessions, call the Family Support Council at (706) 272-7919.