SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES
YouImpact was developed as a way to not only show how reckless and impaired driving decisions can lead to tragic consequences, which will stay with a defendant for a lifetime, but also to offer an online course which explicitly emphasizes the defendant’s role in the community.
Belonging to a community means we are mindful of how our choices directly impact that community. Driving under the influence, for example, results in almost 30 deaths a day in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. And the annual cost of accidents caused by DUI is more than $44 billion.1
Within the community, there are also the resources defendants need to make connections and get support and mentoring to affect real behavioral changes in their lives.
KNOWING THAT ACTIONS IMPACT,OTHERS WILL NOT ONLY LEAD A DEFENDANT TO ALTER THEIR POOR DECISIONS BUT ALSO TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS WHICH WILL POSITIVELY IMPACT THE COMMUNITY.
YouImpact’s online course encourages participants to share their experiences with others in their community as well as those in the YouImpact Community.
While the online program is non-judgmental, it does present the possible consequences of impaired driving using real-life stories of victims and offenders as told in their own words.
The stories of loss and pain – both physical and mental – encourage defendants to empathize with those presenting their cases. Empathy is not an innate trait. While we all have some sense of empathy, it can be increased by training.
Understanding the feelings of others is a way of becoming a true part of a community. Knowing that actions impact others will not only lead defendants to alter their poor decision making, but also make good decisions, which will positively impact the community. That is the power of participating in an online program like YouImpact.
For more information about our program or if you would like to learn how to offer the program in your jurisdiction, please contact us today.
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
