domestic violence – The Milford Group

When Domestic Violence Becomes A Workplace Issue After two employees were killed, the hospital where they worked decided to tackle the issue head-on. By Melissa Jeltsen.

January 18, 2020January 19, 2020

The two deaths came in quick succession, shocking the close-knit community of health care workers at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center.

First, in August 2013, an administrative assistant was fatally shot by her estranged husband while she was helping her 3-year-old son get into a car. Five months later, a nurse who worked with oncology patients was stabbed to death by her son after a history of domestic altercations.

“She was very optimistic and positive,” said Michele McKee, director of nursing services. “The staff is still struggling with the loss. There was denial. Tears. Anger. And then, guilt. What did we miss? What could we have done?”

While hospital staff had been trained to identify patients who were experiencing domestic violence, they didn’t pay the same attention to warning signs in their own peers, said Leslie Hott, St. Joseph’s human resources manager.

“Our value statement says, ‘loving service, compassionate care,’” Hott said. “We typically think about that for those we care for, but not each other.”

That is now changing.

St. Joseph is undergoing an ambitious effort to address domestic violence among its workforce, rolling out an intensive training program to help staff members identify — and hopefully prevent — domestic violence, as well as a new workplace policy to support employees who are suffering.

The hospital partnered with Futures Without Violence, a nonprofit that has helped organizations across the country address how domestic violence hurts its workforce. In 2014, Futures began a pilot site project called Low Wage, High Risk to develop best practices for workplaces where employees may be vulnerable to physical and sexual violence. The nonprofit is currently collaborating with tomato crop workers in Florida and restaurant employees in New York, as well as health care workers at St. Joseph in Towson.

The hospital didn’t have a formal workplace domestic violence policy in place when its staffers were killed. Most organizations across the country don’t, even though domestic violence affects 1 in 4 women in the U.S.

There was denial. Tears. Anger. And then, guilt. What did we miss? What could we have done?Michele McKee, director of nursing services

When your abuser is a cop: Domestic violence involving police leaves ‘no margin for error’ – al.com

December 15, 2019December 15, 2019

Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Steven Fanning was found guilty of domestic violence by strangulation in Feb. 2012. That same month he was fired from his position. But it wasn’t until 2016 that he was decertified, or prevented from ever serving as a police officer again.

“He then grabbed me by my hair on both sides slammed me into door and repeated knocking my head into door…He got on me and had one hand on my throat and one hand pulled back like he was going to hit me and said ’I will f****** kill you myself then I wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore,’” the victim wrote in her voluntary statement to police, in wide, sloping child-like handwriting.
— Read on www.al.com/news/2019/12/when-your-abuser-is-a-cop-domestic-violence-involving-police-leaves-no-margin-for-error.html

It’s Here!,Telling You’re Stories With Trina. Podcast

I’m so excited, but a little nervous about starting my first podcast. I believe we don’t talk enough about certain issues and some we give to much attention. My objective is to enlighten those who don’t know the signs and statistics of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and maternal health care issues. Telling the stories of those who have been traumatized and victimized, and just bringing together those professionals who can shed some light on these issues and help heal an bring about awareness and prevention. I hope you will join me weekly as we discuss these and other topics on Telling You’re Stories With Trina. Listen on Spotify.

Black Women Are Staying Silent

October 14, 2019January 18, 2020

When someone decides to threaten, stalk, harass or abuse his or her partner, what might that victim do? The answer seems obvious to many of us: Tell someone. Tell a family member, a good friend, a domestic violence advocate or police—someone who can help you.

Except, not everyone feels that way. Some contend that Black women specifically are more reluctant to disclose domestic violence than other ethnicities for several different reasons, one of which is entrenched in Black culture.

The ‘Strong Black Woman’ Stereotype

Domestic violence has been shown to affect the Black community disproportionally—Black women experience domestic violence at rates 30 to 50 percent higher than White women. Several things could be blamed for this—studies show domestic violence is more prevalent among those living with financial insecurity, and twice as many Black men are unemployed as White men. It could also have something to do with a response to cultural taboos.

“Women of all races and ethnicities who have endured domestic violence have to make the choice at some point to stay or leave their abusers. For Black women, the first response is often to not report, not tell anyone. We want to protect our men. It’s not easy to turn them over to the police, the courts and other institutions that have been historically racist and brutal to them,” says Zoë Flowers, an advocate has spent 17 years in the field of domestic violence. She is the program manager at Women of Color Network and the author of From Ashes to Angel Dust: A Journey Through Womanhood, a book of candid interviews with women who have survived violence.

Black survivors report distinct barriers to disclosing abuse that can leave many in harms way.

Source: Black Women Are Staying Silent

Until It Happens To You.

October 1, 2019

We know that apart of domestic violence is sexual assault as well, it can start as early as middle school and continue on through adulthood. I saw this video by Lady Gaga and thought to myself this is such a great video that shines a light on sexual assault in college. Because statistics show,

Know The Stats…..

Between 20% and 25% of women will experience a completed and/or attempted rape during their college career (1)
More than half of raped college women tell no one of their victimization (1)
80% of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 30 (1)
44% of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 18 (1)
Persons with a disability had an age-adjusted rate of rape or sexual assault that was more than twice the rate for persons without a disability (1)
Juveniles (youth ages 17 and under) account for almost 90% of male victims in every type of sex crime (1)
99% of people who rape are men (1)
In 1 in 3 sexual assaults, the perpetrator was intoxicated (1)
Only about 2% of all sexual assault accusations reported to police turn out to be false. This is the same rate of false reporting as other types of violent crimes. (1)
Victims were on a date with the perpetrator in 12.8% of completed rapes and 35% of attempted rapes (2)

43% of the sexual victimization incidents involve alcohol consumption by victims and 69% involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrators (2)
Approximately 1 in 5 female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner (3)
College freshmen and sophomore women appear to be at greater risk of being victims of sexual assault than are upperclassmen. 84% of the women who reported sexually coercive experiences experienced the incident during their first four semesters on campus. (4)
Students living in sorority houses and on-campus dormitories are 3 times and 1.4 times (respectively) more likely to be raped than students living off-campus (5)
38% of college-aged women who have been sexually victimized while in college had first been victims prior to entering college, making past victimization the best predictor of future victimization (6)
At least 50% of college student sexual assaults are associated with alcohol use (7)
Fraternity men have been identified as being more likely to perpetrate sexual assault or sexual aggression than nonfraternity men (8)
College men who participated in aggressive sports (including football, basketball, wrestling and soccer) in high school used more sexual coercion (along with physical and psychological aggression) in their college dating relationships than men who had not. This group also scored higher on attitudinal measures thought to be associated with sexual coercion, such as sexism, acceptance of violence, hostility toward women and rape myth acceptance. (9)
90% of acquaintance rapes involve alcohol (10)
30% of the college women who said they had been raped contemplated suicide after the incident (11)

(1) U.S. Department of Justice
(2) National College Women Sexual Victimization
(3) Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Abuse, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy and Suicidality
(4) An Examination of Sexual Violence Against College Women
(5) Correlates of Rape While Intoxicated in a National Sample of College Women
(6) Our Vulnerable Teenagers: Their Victimization, Its Consequences, and Direction for Prevention and Intervention
(7) High-Risk Drinking in College: What We Know and What We Need to Learn
(8) Coercive Sexual Strategies
(9) Dating Aggression, Sexual Coercion, and Aggression-Supporting Attitudes Among College Men as a Function of Participation in Aggressive High School Sports
(10) National Collegiate Date and Acquaintance Rape Statistics