Survivors of domestic violence and their supporters gathered Monday night in Prince George’s County, Maryland, to hear words of encouragement and inspiration.
Abuse victims could immediately access resources and services at the sixth annual gathering of “Not One: Empowered to Live Bold, Beautiful & Brave,” conducted by the office of Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy to wrap up Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The event’s theme was to spread awareness of domestic violence and make people know “domestic violence is never OK, NOT One Punch, NOT One Slap, and NOT One Hit.”
“We are really focusing on ensuring that our victims and survivors of domestic violence know that there is a community who cares about them, who loves them and who will step up to ensure that they don’t have to be victimized anymore,” Braveboy said. “Our office has really worked hard, not only to improve the law, but also to improve prosecutions around domestic violence so that we have been able to reduce intimate partner homicides by nearly 40%.”
The event drew together the wide resources available to victims in the county and victims of abuse were encouraged to immediately reach out.
“People who are victims can actually say, ‘look, I need help’ and we actually have a calming room here tonight, for those who want to come forward to tell their stories to get and seek services,” Braveboy said.
Agencies and nonprofit groups providing services to the abuse victims attended the gathering.
“We provide sessions, workshops for people in-person and for those people who want to online … We help them find their voice and we give them a platform to exercise their identity, their value and how they can provide value to others,” said Cynthia Sutherland, founder of Hidn TrezHER, Inc., one of the many service providers at the event.
Sutherland described her company as “a nonprofit that provides resources to empower survivors of childhood sexual abuse to help them overcome the mental, emotional and spiritual barriers that they experience.”
Braveboy has targeted the crime of domestic violence for increased prosecution and led a drive in Annapolis to toughen the domestic violence laws, raising the crime of strangulation to a first-degree felony offense.
“These individuals need to know that there’s someone that they can turn [to] … We offer housing assistance so that people can move out of dangerous situations … We also provide job training and job services for our victims,” said Braveboy.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you are in danger, please use a safe computer and consider calling 911, The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 / TTY 1-800-787-3224 or the StrongHearts Native Helpline at 1−844-762-8483 (call or text).
