Upstream and Silos

Is this a preliminary entry about Earth Day? Not quite. It's about lingo. Every field of expertise has lingo and domestic violence is no different. I just recently attended the American Psychological Association's Summit on Violence in Relationships and Abuse in Washington, DC, on February 28 and 29. I heard the terms "upstream" and "silos" repeatedly. Silo was the more interesting of the two since it also turned into a verb, "siloing."

What do the terms mean? Well, let's use them in a sentence.

Upstream:
To end interpersonal violence, our prevention efforts need to move further upstream.

It's great, isn't it? It sounds like you've said something so progressive and you haven't said much of anything. Prevention, by definition, means dealing with something before it starts. The key with violence is knowing what elements are contributing factors that can be dealt with before an act of violence occurs. Frequently people say that prevention means working with "at-risk" children. What makes them "at risk"? It's usually that they have witnessed violence or have been direct victims of abuse. That's hardly a preventative strategy.

Silo and/or Siloing:
In order to address the larger, root causes of violence, we need to stop siloiong the issue.

You've got to love seeing the word "siloing" written out. I was mentioning this lingo to my brother on the way home from the conference (so kind of him to pick me up from the light rail station). The more I said the word "siloing", the more ridiculous it sounded. (you're saying it two or three times fast right now, aren't you!?)

This word refers to how agencies mainly deal with only one form of violence. This is detrimental to the people we serve since they rarely are coming for help having experienced only one form of violence. Further, the "siloing" leads to agencies not working well with each other or dealing with the larger context of violence in communities.

What is the lingo that your particular agency and/or community uses? Does it lead to one more barrier for dialog between agencies and among the community you want to serve?