Assistance For Victims Of Domestic Violence

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Some are afraid to speak out, which is why victims of domestic violence need to know there is help.

More than 30 runners, braved chilly weather to raise awareness of domestic violence. It was the 7th annual silence hides violence 5K run.

“It’s just not spoken of. Domestic violence is everywhere in our community, so we want to bring awareness to that and make people aware there’s shelters and there’s help out there for those victims,”said event organizer Madison Caver.

One of those domestic violence shelters is Safe where Kristen Adams is a counselor.

“Domestic violence a problem because there’s just a lot of controlling spouses out there, jealous spouses, and it’s not spoken up enough. There is a lot of fear and stigma. A lot of people don’t like to speak up about it because look at them ask why didn’t you leave? Why didn’t you get out of there. And it’s just not that easy,”said Adams.

Caver says approximately one in three women are victims of some kind of domestic violence.

“I feel like that percentage would go down if it is spoke of more and people were more aware of it,”said Caver.

While it is an absolute outrage that one in three women suffer from domestic abuse, it is unbelievable that one in seven men are also victims.

The stigma is really big with that. They do not like to speak up because most people look at a man and wonder how he can he be a victim, and just most of the time they’re not going to speak so the stats are probably even higher.

Adams says male victims have another problem.

“Most of the time the man is going to go to jail because a lot of time people just don’t believe the man they think that they’re reversing the role. Even if they’re just trying to defend themselves if the woman might accidentally get a scratch on her or something that’s proof and they will go jail for that,”said Adams.

Whether the victim is male or female Caver says help is available.

“If you need help or you know someone who needs help there’s a hotline that you can call. Also we have a page on Facebook it’s SafeInc in Tuepelo. You can reach out to us at any of those ways,”said Caver.