Madeline Owens
Lantern Staff
Every month, a national health topic is brought to the public’s attention. October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month. In the past, Professor of Nursing Ruthann Farley has provided health information regarding domestic and sexual violence to College Health.
Showing awareness to health topics is one way the nursing department can promote healthy living and spread awareness. Every month brings a new opportunity to help students realize the importance of any certain health topic.
“It is really important to model what a healthy relationship is for all individuals as domestic violence affects one in four women over their lifetime,” Farley said.
Since October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, Farley wanted to focus on that topic and give the opportunity for students to understand the impact of domestic abuse.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline defines domestic violence, which is also considered relationship or partner abuse, as a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship. According to the hotline, domestic violence can happen to anyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and age.
“Abuse can be characterized as emotional, verbal, physical, and sexual,” Counselor Nancy Hamm said. “Stalking and controlling behavior are common abuses as well.”
Domestic violence can affect several aspects of a person’s life once they have encountered it.
According to newhope.org, “Survivors of domestic violence face high rates of depression, sleep disturbances, anxiety, flashbacks and other emotional distress.”
One of the negative effects of dealing with this type of abuse is feeling stuck in the situation as if reaching out for help is pointless.
“No one deserves to be treated poorly and if you have a gut feeling that the person isn’t behaving appropriately, trust your instincts because you are more than likely correct,” Hamm said. “Don’t tolerate unhealthy behavior from your partner. Healthy relationships are based on mutual respect and abusive behavior works against this goal.”
There are several resources related to abuse online and around the Butler community.
The National Domestic Abuse Hotline is an online website with information on where to get help locally and how to go about doing it safely.
The Public Safety department on campus is available to students that need to report instances of domestic violence or any form of assault. If someone were to come in stating they were assaulted, whether it be domestic or sexual violence, Public Safety staff would conduct a full investigation and document the injuries of the victim.
College Health and Counseling Services are another free resourceful tools that students are encouraged to reach out to when needed.
All faculty on campus encourage students to use their resources and seek out help if they are ever in need of it.