Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time when we raise public awareness about community responsibility towards domestic violence and when we educate individuals on where to seek resources. You can stand with domestic violence survivors by making a gift below; registering for the Oct. 28 Breakfast of Hope virtual event, becoming a Champion, and raising life-saving funds for Mecklenburg County survivors; or attending the breakfast Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. Thank you for your support this October!

​​​​​​Domestic violence is an epidemic affecting individuals in every community regardless of age, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, or nationality. There are a number of forms of domestic violence, including:

• Physical abuse: Includes any intentional act that causes injury or trauma through bodily contact, such as beating, slapping, punching, kicking, and choking/strangling.
• Verbal abuse: Uses speech as an act of violence to decrease the victim's self-confidence and adds to feelings of helplessness. Some examples include name-calling, insulting, making threats, or blaming.
• Emotional abuse: Subtle and difficult to detect, emotional abuse erodes the victim's self-esteem and creates psychological dependency on the abuser. Some tactics include insulting, gaslighting, and blaming.
• Sexual abuse: Unwanted sexual activity, with abusers using force, making threats, or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent. Examples include sexual harassment, sexual assault, or coercions.
• Financial abuse: Occurs when the abuser controls the victim's access to economic resources by restricting access to finances, preventing victims from working, and spending the victim's money without their knowledge.
• Digital abuse: Use of technology to harass, stalk, or intimidate the victim using tactics like monitoring the victim's whereabouts, looking through through the victim's phone/computer, and constantly texting/calling/messaging.
• Reproductive coercion: A form of power and control where the abuser strips the victim of the ability to control their own reproductive system. Tactics include sabotaging birth control, forcing pregnancy or abortions, and lying about methods of birth control.