Summary: Let's talk about Domestic Abuse: The rate is shocking. Statistics indicate that "1 in 4 women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the use of victim services"<a href="https://ncadv.org/statistics"> (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.)</a><br> <br> June, a victim of domestic violence, shares her story of abuse,<br> "He would come home and yell and throw things around. He would berate me for how the children were dressed and act very scary. He had left me on the side of the road several times when he would get angry at me in the car. He would just pull over and kick me out. I would be left there for hours in different places, in front of my children who were in the car. He withdrew money from our bank account, so I couldn’t buy groceries. He was of course very verbally abusive, and also mentally, psychologically, and socially aggressive to me in ways that I couldn’t even recognize. He would also very frequently embarrass me in public situations that we were together and make jokes at my expense. He would demean me. H was very sexually coercive, trying to get me to do things that I wasn’t comfortable with. The manipulation was really always present. But I would also be so grateful when he would make it right, and when he wouldn’t behave those ways. It was a huge relief, and so it’s almost like you become accustomed to the love bombing and the apology and the honeymoon period that happens after those abusive situations."<br> Anne, founder of Betrayal Trauma Recovery states,<br> "This is very typical of an abusive cycle. We see this with victims over and over again. The behaviors are the same. The patterns are the same."<br> Knowing the Cycle of Abuse Is Important:<br> <br> * The Honeymoon Phase-This is also known as love-bombing, where the abuser hooks the victim with promises of love and safety.<br> * The Tension-Building Phase-The tension starts to rise; the victim feels like the have to walk on eggshells to avoid confrontation.<br> * The Explosive Phase-Abusive behavior occurs, the cycle repeats.<br> <br> June continues,<br> "After I finally initiated separation, he was moving out and he packed up all of his guns and laid them in the hallway. Me and the kids were in the house and it was very obvious that he was doing that to cause me fear, which it did. It made me feel very scared.One particular day he picked up the kids for a visit. He was obviously in a very destructive place. He called me horrific names, my children were there. He was demeaning, demanding, very scary behavior. After seeing this behavior, I did not feel safe sending my kids with him. They were all in the car and I went and I got in the car with them and he grabbed me from the car and threw me on the driveway in front of my children. Then he drove away with my kids in the car. I was left laying on the driveway. I was hysterical, traumatized, I was injured. I had an abrasion on my elbow. My clothes were torn in several places. From landing on gravel/cement, I had bruising on my hip."<br> From this point, June was able to get a restraining order for herself and all of her four children. She made the decision to leave in the middle of the night to stay with family in another state, since she was extremely fearful of her husband's escalating behavior. She shares,<br> <br> We received great services from a women's center. It was a time of healing and a time of safety and security. I did struggle though, financially. I resorted to donating my plasma for money to live."<br> Abuse Can Exist Anywhere<br> At this point, June and her husband had to go to court to settle custody and support matters. June states that as soon as she walked in the courthouse, she saw a friend of hers from church.
