Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. News 25’s Kendra Turley caught up with experts to discuss the signs leading up to domestic violence and ways to prevent it.
One in five women and one in seven men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Those statistics are part of the reason why October has been named Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Rene Davis with the Gulf Coast Women’s Center for Non-Violence said, “It’s difficult sometimes, I think for people who haven’t been in these types of relationships to empathize with victims who don’t immediately get out, but there are many, many reasons that make it extremely difficult for victims to leave.”
Experts say women between the ages of 16 and 24 are considered the high risk group. That’s why domestic violence survivor Christy Pickering decided to share her story with over 100 people in her daughter’s sorority. “By the time I got finished there were about ten of them that were crying. I realized I had touched a nerve. What I hadn’t realized is that these young women were still going through what I was going through,” said Pickering.
The psychological turmoil can spiral out of control for some victims which is why the Gulf Coast Women’s Center for Non-Violence offers programs for those looking for a way out.
Police and counselors say the first step to breaking an often continuous and potentially deadly cycle must be taken by the victim. Lt. Christopher De Back with Biloxi PD said, “They need to understand that they don’t have to stay in the situation, whether it’s a man, woman or child. The resources are there to aid them and facilitate them into getting out of it.”