Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Our friend, Chai Shenoy, from the organization WEAVE sent us great information on ways you can Get Ur Good On for Domestic Violence Awareness Month during October. WEAVE works closely with teen and adult survivors of relationship violence and abuse to offer legal, counseling, and educational support. Here are ways to can help end the cycle of domestic violence:

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and all of our young people are needed to
truly end the cycle of domestic violence. Too many have grown up witnessing, ignoring, and accepting domestic violence. We all need to know that there are healthy relationships in the world and that we deserve to have them!

What can you do? Have a conversation! Young people have the best discussions when you are talking with each other- face to face, blogging, texting, using social media, wearing t-shirts with provocative messages, creating art, the sky is the limit. Gather a friend or two and start a conversation in a classroom, online, or in a community group. What do you say? You can start here:

• What is a healthy relationship based on?
• How can two people who are in a romantic relationship support each other?
• How do partners share decision making?
• How can partners communicate in a healthy way?
• What are examples of physical, mental, sexual, financial, and technological
• abuse?
• Identify abuse in the media, name it and talk about how relationships should be, can be, and many times are different from abuse.

Young people do things differently and teach our culture new things every day. You can change the culture of accepting abuse and focus our future on healthy relationships. Lead us into an era where abuse is unacceptable!

Visit the Teen Services section of the WEAVE website for resources about dating violence. Visit the official Domestic Violence Awareness Month site for other resources and information on their campaigns.

Thanks for the information Chai!

Portia :)