METAMORPHOSIS

I met Jacqueline Rowe at my last speaking engagement in Brooklyn for BetTiFi. Ms. Rowe is helping herself and others heal by breaking the silence. Her organization, Face MY Abuse, produces videos of survivors telling their stories of abuse. For survivors telling the story is a powerful first step in the healing process because a [...]

“The mission of Face Forward is to provide facial surgical reconstructive services for women and children who have been victims of violence through gang aggression or domestic violence.”
Face Forward was established in 2007 to provide pro-bono physical reconstruction for battered women and children victimized by domestic or gang related violence. What a wonderful way to [...]

A domestic violence offender database would be similar to the sex offender registry. New York State Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn), Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx), and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) are collectively advocating a bill the would create such a database. The idea is to save lives by making it more difficult for offenders to become reofenders. [...]

All men are not bad because a few choose to hurt women. All mothers are not bad because some choose to hurt their children. All people are not bad because some cause harm to others. We need men, we need mothers, and we need each other. None of us can survive without other people.
Today maintain [...]

I was honored to be a part of  the “Sex Crimes and Violence Against Women: Stop the Violence in Our Community”  event for the inspiring young women of BelTiFi.  The BelTiFi “Pretty Young Girl” Empowerment Committee is dedicated to enhancing the personal and professional development of young Haitian-American women in New York. I was asked [...]

This year’s theme is Reshaping The Future – Honoring The Past., on the tribute will feature victims giving testimonies and the Annual Display of the Clothesline Project which is a powerful display of T-Shirts created by the victims with art, poems, messages and images of painful experiences people have gone through.  There will also be [...]

The “Clothesline Project” is one of many creative venues designed to help former victims heal. Words and art painted on t-shirts pined on clothslines tell the stories of people no longer pined by abusers while dangling in the wind. Airing the secrets is part of the healing process. See more.

Living with DV often leads us to focusing on the struggles, focusing on the problems, and or focusing on the negative.
These struggles are necessary to make us stronger so we can progress. Problems give us an opportunity to grow. Every struggle makes us stronger.
Every setback gives you and opportunity to step up.

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Living with domestic violence is hard. Recovering from domestic violence is harder. People not in domestic violence relationships often don’t understand why people stay in a domestic violence relationships or why it takes so long to leave. As horrible as most domestic violence relationships are, for the victims they become familiar and [...]

However, especially for those who have a family history of domestic violence engaging in the conversation about what is healthy may help some understand that behaviors such as jealously are not equal to love.