Saying Something About Abuse: Domestic Violence Awareness Month

By: Jason Jowers, M.S. MFT

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Talking about domestic and dating violence is one of the hardest subjects to broach when talking with clients. Many times it is kept secretive and elicits feelings of shame for those who have experienced it. How can we make it easier to talk about, not just for adults in abusive relationships, but for children in these families and especially, for teens who might be facing issues of dating violence as well?

With this in mind, we wanted to highlight the history of this awareness month, as well as share some resources we found to be helpful in giving teens and parents the tools for support. According to this dating violence blog, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month first began in 1981 by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Since then, the Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994, and this legislation helped to provide programs and services for domestic violence victims and families. Great strides have been made in various realms of society to lessen the overall rate of domestic violence instances. However, it is still an ongoing problem that has only morphed with the times and moved onto the internet and within social media with cyber-stalking situations.

Domestic violence affects millions of people worldwide. Here are a few resources and organizations that we would like to highlight when it comes to the important work of preventing domestic violence:

• The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has this blog series on important topics and therapeutic support in dealing with DV.
• The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has resources on engaging the media and training links for clinicians.
• Learn more about ways to take action against DV and preventing sexual assault from the No More Campaign.
• Futures Without Violence has many great resources on various topics related to domestic violence such as: family violence issues, human trafficking, workplace safety, and sexual assault prevention on college campuses.
• Break the Cycle has lots of great info on how to help and take action against domestic violence.
• Finally, The Institute for Family Violence Studies at Florida State University has a plethora of resources, research publications, and trainings when working with families to build resilience.

Hopefully, with the right amount of support, we can all do our part to help raise awareness in helping those who are dealing with domestic and dating violence.