Skip to main content

By Jason Jowers, MS, MFT

Couple under stars

Supporting military families in many different facets of their lives is both challenging and rewarding for many clinicians around the world. Military families face unique challenges but also are affected by many of the same issues that their civilian counterparts face. One of those hard issues that many families all around face is domestic violence. DV often goes under the radar and is hidden where the outside world often doesn’t see it.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Below are some key resources to help clinicians in their work tackling the challenges of domestic violence and intimate partner violence that many of their clients can face.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month Resources

  • The Department of Defense’s United to End Domestic Abuse campaign provides resource guides for military families facing domestic violence as well as provides ways to access domestic abuse victim advocates. This campaign opens access to the Family Advocacy Program within the DoD and provides ways to stay safe in domestic violence situations.
  • There is also The National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides immediate support at 800-799-7233. There are call, text, and chat options for free and confidential support.
  • Love is Respect is also very similar to the National DV hotline but is aimed more toward resources and support for teens and young adult relationships.
  • The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides curated resources and service information for veterans and veteran families impacted by IPV.

OneOp FD Upcoming Webinar

With these resources in mind, please join us for our webinar entitled “Suicide Prevention and Intimate Partner Violence,” highlighting IPV/DV for military families.  Risk factors for suicide and for intimate partner violence (IPV) are similar. Understanding how these factors impact the military community from both a suicide response and IPV perspective is important to supporting families and couples. RSVP for this webinar presentation here for an overview of the intersection of suicide and IPV risk factors and to discover prevention strategies for advocates and clinicians serving the military community.

Cover Image: Pixabay[Couple Love Stars, May 11, 2016, CC0]