Womenspace and the ASUO Women’s Center are presenting a free workshop for domestic violence survivors and their supporters this weekend. The workshop is part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Friends and Family Training will be this Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Medical Center auditorium.
Womenspace Community Outreach Director Margo Schaefer will conduct the workshop, which is designed to present useful tools for individuals who want to help people dealing with domestic violence.
“It’s really important for people to get the skills to talk to people that have experienced domestic violence,” Schaefer said.
She added that knowing the right way to talk to someone about domestic violence is very important.
Workshop attendees will also learn mistaken beliefs about domestic violence, warning signs of violence and how victims may feel. Schaefer said she also plans to stress the importance of creating a safety plan in case violence occurs in a relationship.
Schaefer said the majority of the attendees at the conference in the past have been men, adding that the FBI reports 50,000 cases of battered men every year.
Erin Dury, sexual violence prevention and education coordinator for the Women’s Center, is also involved in the event.
She said this workshop is good for preliminary stages of learning more about domestic violence, especially learning what to say and what not to say to victims.
“You should never ask ‘why’ when someone is telling you about their domestic violence experience,” Dury said. “Make sure you are supporting their situation.”
Schaefer agreed.
“People who are battered already have someone controlling their life, they don’t need you controlling their life,” she said.
Schaefer said she feels the most important thing survivors should know is that they are not to blame and they just got unlucky.
At least one woman in four will experience some sort of domestic violence in her lifetime, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families domestic violence fact sheet. Of those incidents, women age 15-35 suffer the highest rates of violence from husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends, according to the fact sheet.
Schaefer encourages survivors and supporters to contact Womenspace for help or any information. Womenspace honors complete confidentiality and anonymity. Users do not need to leave a name or they can create a pseudonym.
Registration for this weekend’s workshop is not required but is recommended. To register or for more information or help call Womenspace at 485-8232 or their 24-hour hotline at 485-6513.