Together Against Domestic Violence Blog

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Posted on October 19, 2022October 19, 2022 by Sukai Gaye

October is Domestic Violence Action Month (DVAM). It’s an opportunity to take time to connect and unite individuals and organizations working to end domestic violence. Over the last four decades, we have made significant progress by bringing the issue of domestic violence out of the shadows and working towards a society where everyone is free from abuse. There is much left to do. We hope you’ll join us in building safer communities.

Domestic violence is the use of emotional, psychological, physical, technological, sexual, reproductive, and/or economic abuse by one person in a current or former intimate relationship to maintain power and control over the other person. Domestic violence knows no boundaries. People of all ages, genders, cultures, religions, professions and income levels experience domestic violence. However, racism, poverty, immigration status, and other inequities can make the risks even more severe.

There are many reasons a survivor will stay with their abuser. Leaving can end the violence. When it doesn’t, the violence may become worse. Nearly half of women murdered by men in the U.S. had left or were trying to leave an abusive relationship. This is a powerful deterrent to leaving. Abuse may also leave survivors financially dependent upon their abuser and isolated from friends and family who could offer help and support.

LifeWire invites you to join us in proclaiming October as DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACTION MONTH. Every year LifeWire is joined by our respective mayors from all the cities we serve on the east side in honoring DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACTION MONTH by promoting peace in our own families, homes, and communities. These cities renew their commitment to end domestic violence and its brutal and destructive effects – in every city, every town, and every corner of America. These commitments are made through the mayors proclaiming the month of October 2022 as DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACTION MONTH.

Redmond Mayoral Proclamations

Kenmore Mayoral Proclamation

Los inmigrantes sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica

Posted on April 19, 2022April 19, 2022 by Wendi Lindquist

English

Los inmigrantes sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica presentan más barreras para poder escapar de sus agresores y obtener estabilidad que otras comunidades culturalmente específicas. El movimiento político y las estrictas políticas de inmigración implementadas en los últimos años aumentaron el sentimiento anti inmigratorio en todo el país que, combinado con las secuelas de la pandemia de Covid-19, ha impactado negativamente a esta población.

Aunque muchos casos no se denuncian y las cifras posiblemente sean mucho más altas, se estima que una de cada tres latinas ha sufrido violencia doméstica. Según un estudio realizado por la Encuesta Nacional de Violencia Sexual y de Pareja Íntima, el 26.9% de las mujeres hispanas/latinas experimentarán violencia doméstica o sexual al menos una vez en su vida.

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Prevention Intern Interview

Posted on February 25, 2022February 25, 2022 by Wendi Lindquist

An Interview with LifeWire’s Prevention Intern Evelyn

Evelyn has recently become an intern with LifeWire’s Social Change Team. They describe this internship as “a lot of work on education for youth—going into schools, working on curriculum for young people about teen dating violence, sexual violence, and allyship. It’s really important because these are common, but most teens don’t recognize them or aren’t able to identify and respond to them.”

LifeWire Healthy Relationship Training hosted by Evelyn (Prevention Intern), Isabella (Youth Prevention Specialist), and Sam (Youth Advocate)

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DV Housing First

Posted on July 1, 2021January 18, 2022 by Wendi Lindquist

Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women and children. Survivors of domestic violence are four times more likely to experience housing instability than people who haven’t experienced abuse.

Beginning in 2009, LifeWire participated in a three-year pilot project called Domestic Violence Housing First. The goal was to get survivors into stable housing as quickly as possible and then provide them with the support they needed to rebuild their lives. The pilot was wildly successful. Eighteen months after entering the program, 96 percent of participants had stable housing. Today, countless other organizations across the country have adopted the DV Housing First model.

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Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking

Posted on May 28, 2021January 18, 2022 by Wendi Lindquist

Human trafficking, like domestic violence, is about power and control. It occurs when one person compels or coerces another to engage in forced labor or paid sex work. For some survivors, human trafficking and domestic violence can be overlapping experiences.

Trafficking and domestic violence can overlap

Traffickers can be married to or in an intimate relationship with the people they traffic. In some cases, the trafficker begins the relationship under false pretenses explicitly to exploit their partner, most often sexually. Other relationships may devolve into human trafficking and domestic violence over time. Traffickers use tactics like other abusive partners to control their partner, including isolation, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and exploration, financial abuse, threatening family, physical abuse, and withholding food, transportation, or immigration paperwork. Sex traffickers may intentionally impregnate their partners so they can use the threat of separation or violence as another form of control. Immigrant survivors may face additional threats because of the language barrier, immigration status, and fear of deportation.

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Domestic Violence and the Workplace

Posted on April 29, 2021January 18, 2022 by Wendi Lindquist

Long curly-haired black woman wearing a black mask, white shirt, and striped apron leans over a wooden table to look at a toy airplane while white man wearing a black mask, turquoise shirt, and tan apron holds a toy airplane.

Abuse makes it hard to work

The ‘domestic’ part of domestic violence is misleading. While abuse regularly occurs at home, it impacts all other aspects of a survivor’s life—including work. Survivors of domestic violence lose nearly 8 million days of paid work each year in the U.S. That’s the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs.

Survivors miss work for many reasons. DV-related injuries can make it difficult to work. Their partners may prevent them from getting to work by hiding their keys, damaging their car, or refusing to give them a ride or bus fare. Leaving an abusive relationship is also time-consuming. Survivors need to take time out of their day to find new housing, meet with an advocate, or navigate the legal system.

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Domestic Violence and Disabilities

Posted on April 5, 2021April 5, 2022 by Wendi Lindquist

Side view of woman with long dark hair and brown eyes wearing green sweater looking into the distance

Violence against people with disabilities is a significant and overlooked issue. People with disabilities tend to experience more severe intimate partner abuse for longer periods of time. They are more vulnerable to prolonged abuse because they are often isolated from community, reliant on abusers for care, and face high barriers to getting help.

Women with disabilities are 40% more likely to experience domestic violence, while LGBTQ survivors with disabilities are two times more likely to be isolated by their abusive partner, three times more likely to be stalked, and four times more likely to experience financial abuse. These numbers are especially troubling, given that nearly one in four Americans has a disability.

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