Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Local advocates push for more resources Kristina D’Amours — WWLP

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, uniting advocates to end domestic violence and amplify survivors’ voices and needs.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, uniting advocates to end domestic violence and amplify survivors’ voices and needs.

Every minute, about 30 people experience intimate partner violence across the U.S., and around 75% of victims killed as a result are women.

Domestic violence is described as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner, and it can take form in multiple ways, including:

Intimidation

Isolation

Emotional Abuse

Stalking

Sexual Abuse

Financial Abuse

During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, local advocates are sounding the alarm on the challenges that victims are currently facing when trying to escape their abusers.

“Domestic violence is a catastrophic condition that spans race, and economic location, and it reaches everyone,” says Anthia T. Elliott, program director for BHN’s Domestic Violence and P.A.T.C.H. Services. “One of the problems of the western Mass area is that we don’t have access to many shelters. It’s very hard for someone in crisis leaving an abusive situation to be put into a place that is safe.”

Elliott says that it’s vital for loved ones of domestic violence victims to maintain communication with them because that support is ultimately a lifeline for when they attempt to get out of the abusive situation.

There are ways to help with a safe exit, and that’s by:

Maintaining communication with your support systems whenever possible.

Calling a domestic violence hotline regularly.

Having and practicing a safety plan.

And filing for a 209A Protection Order at your local District Court.

Here are some resources that BHN recommends:

877-785-2020 – MA SAFE-LINK, a 24-hour domestic violence hotline that can help with shelter requests.

877-898-3411 – ‘Call For Change Helpline,’ an anonymous, and confidential intimate partner abuse prevention helpline. Both perpetrators and victims can use this hotline, available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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