Safe Passage Inc. Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Safe Passage, which also operates Safe Place, a sexual assault crisis center, provides confidential and comprehensive services for free.

(Batesville, Ind.) – October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Safe Passage, Inc. has stated that help, healing, and hope have not been canceled.

Since 1997, Safe Passage has been the sole provider of domestic and sexual violence support services in the counties of Jefferson, Switzerland, Ripley, Dearborn, Franklin, and Ohio counties. Through extensive services and support to victims of domestic and sexual violence and innovative community-based prevention programming, the organization strived to build safe, stable nurturing relationships and communities.

Safe Passage has planned many activates for the month of October that will help bring awareness to the issue. Banners and purple ribbons, the designated color for domestic violence, have been hung at local parks and downtown areas as a reminder that this is not just a personal problem, but a community problem.

In addition to direct support services, prevention is part of the Safe Passage mission, and a 4-person prevention team works with students throughout the district to create safe, stable environments.

With guidance from the prevention team, Safe Passage interns and youth council area also promoting the DV designated moth with signs throughout schools.

Domestic violence is not just something that happens in urban areas or big cities. Last year, Safe Passage served more than 1300 victims and their children in the six-county area either through the shelter, the non-residential programming, or toll-free helpline. The 30-bed shelter is based in Batesville, but the active satellite offices in Greendale, Brookville, Versailles, and Madison make it more convenient or accessible for those who might not need shelter but do need support.

“While most think of abuse as physical, that’s often the last stage in the power and control wheel. It can take on many forms: verbal, isolation, sexual, emotional, and financial limitations. It’s all about power and control,” says Executive Director and founder Jane Yorn. Nonetheless, many don’t grasp that it’s not so easy to change. As a survivor and client of Safe Passage recently said when asked what people should know about domestic violence, “People shouldn’t look down on a woman for not leaving quickly. There’s a lot more to it than just walking out the door.”

Yorn emphasized that is particularly true with this year’s pandemic. Isolation can be devastating for victims, and many had no reprieve to work or school. Some had a hard time even finding a safe place to make the call for help to police or shelters. “The No. 1 reason a victim doesn’t leave her surroundings is resources. She’s scared about where she will live, how she will provide for herself or her children. With the pandemic, as stress and financial woes escalated, so did fear,” Yorn added.

Safe Passage, which also operates Safe Place, a sexual assault crisis center, provides confidential and comprehensive services for free. Yorn commented that the support from law enforcement, the courts, social service agencies, faith groups, community leaders, and others help stop the cycle of violence.

Consider these facts from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence:

• On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men
• On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide, and Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime. Safe Passage received 721 in 2019.
• On Sept. 12, 2019, Indiana participated in a national census of domestic violence services conducted: 2368 victims received services; 480 hotline calls answered; 135 unmet resources for services (89 % being housing or emergency shelter)

For more information, go to the website at www.safepassageinc.org or call (812) 933-1990.