The Women’s Center in Marquette will host several events for Domestic Violence Awareness Month

MARQUETTE — October is nationally recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Women’s Center in Marquette will be hosting several events in the coming weeks to bring awareness to the issue of domestic violence and to give support to victims.

More than 10 million men and women are physically abused by a partner every year. An annual average of 8 million paid work days are lost in the United States by victims of domestic violence.

The Women’s Center in Marquette offers services and programs to domestic violence victims, as well as crisis intervention.

Program Director Alisha Young says the Women’s Center takes Domestic Violence Awareness Month as an opportunity to give more attention to this important issue, as well as services available to victims.

“We like to bring attention and awareness to the issue of domestic violence,” said Young. “We also want to let survivors know that we are here to support them. I like to call us a one–stop shop. So for anybody that comes in, we can provide counseling, therapy, housing options, help with resumes, or a legal advocate. Anything they may be going through, we can try to help. And if we can’t provide a service, we can at least point them in the right direction to get to the service they need.”

Some events the Women’s Center is hosting this month include a pet parade next week, a candle light vigil, and other events to benefit the center and support victims.

Young says it’s important to set aside an entire month for domestic violence awareness so that people become more aware of domestic violence. The center also hopes that those in need will see that they have an entire community supporting them.

“1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will be involved in an intimate partner domestic violence relationship,” said Young. “Those statistics are pretty high. And about twenty people per minute suffer from domestic violence. So I think we need a whole month to highlight that there are these issues out there, that this is going on, and that we are here to support victims. And all they have to do is call or come in.

For more information about the events coming up this month, visit the Women’s Center Facebook page here. If you would like to contact the Women’s Center, you can find that information here.