[Kenna]

October is officially Domestic Violence Awareness Month...
As a Survivor and trained Domestic Violence Advocate, every month, every day holds Awareness, Outreach and educational opportunities for me.

I have found that volunteering at my local women's shelter is very rewarding and also helps me cope/learn new healthy skills to deal with my PTSD.

As October moves forward, I will revist and make a personal dedication to post again, as I believe Dixie and others have provided extremely valuable information, especially on same sex relationships...instead of me starting a new thread. Working together to raise awareness, stamping out myths and stigmas about domestic violence within LGBTQ relationships, and to provide a stable support system for fellow Community members are my hopeful intentions...so I believe starting my own thread wouldn't be a good example of Team Work or "banding together" to prevent other individuals from becoming victims.

Years ago, I watched neighbors turn a "blind eye" or not openly acknowledge domestic violence, nor did they do ANYTHING to protect victims or possible victims. It SHOCKED me that they ignored victims or even worse, would do victim-blaming and inflict even more shame on the victim...and in extreme cases, the abuser and their neigbors/families would attempt to isolate, intimidate and indirectly-threaten the victim to inflict more control over them and further pain. Isolation and other types of nonphysical abuse are much more damaging (long term) than a physical "slap in the face"... Treating this subject as a "taboo" discussion or not worthy of addressing it (ie. Ignoring it's an issue) can be more damaging than many individuals know.

I understand this subject can cause overwhelming feelings and make *you* (general) feel like you "have enough to deal with" and "I have my own battles to face today"... I don't intend to offend anyone...but I would like to share my own daily dedication to work towards Awareness and brainstorming on how to improve public services without fear of stigma or being re-victimized by public officials....etc...

Thank you for reading my post and not "turning a blind eye" like my neigbors did 20 years ago.
Kenna


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