During the month of October, we used our social media accounts to share the work of some of our community partners. We wanted to highlight them during Domestic Violence Awareness Month (#DVAM). Our work focuses on violence prevention; their work is in intervention or counseling.
Caring Unlimited has a 24-hour helpline which connects callers to free, confidential support and individualized safety planning. They also have services for friends, family members, and others seeking more information. .
SARSSM has advocates available 24 hours a day by phone for support, information, and safety planning. You can call SARSSM if you’ve just been assaulted and aren’t sure what to do, if you need to talk to someone, if you have a friend who needs help, or for any other reason.
Through These Doors has a helpline, residential services, support groups, and advocacy services. We also loved the piece they recently published in the Portland Press Herald pointing out that people who use abusive tactics are also “supportive friends, loving brothers, caring fathers, and helpful neighbors and coworkers.
In addition to these community resources, our podcast, “The Youth Take: A Maine Boys to Men Podcast,” includes an episode where youth leader Maggie talks about her experience in an abusive teen relationship and how she has grown stronger since that time.
On October 21, our whole staff wore purple, standing with survivors of domestic violence. In the more than thirty years since Domestic Violence Awareness Month first started, so much progress has been made to support domestic violence victims and survivors, to hold abusers accountable, and to create and update legislation to further those goals. Thank you to our supporters and community partners for continuing to work to ensure safety for all.