Desert Blue Connect host Walk Against Violence to raise awareness of family and domestic violence

Survivors of family and domestic violence shared their darkest moments in the hope of helping others at a Geraldton event marking the start of a campaign to tackle the community crisis. Community service provider Desert Blue Connect, which provides support to FDV victims in the Mid West, helped to organise the Friday morning Walk Against Violence event. Marking the start of the Statewide 16 Days in WA campaign, the walk was a well-timed reminder of the role community plays in helping survivors and victims. Desert Blue Connect business service manager Meegan Taylor said the event was entering its 30th year, and was extremely important in showing victims and survivors the scale of support they have in the community. “At these events we’re here to say you’re not alone, we’re here to support you and together we can stand up and wrap our arms around our victims and survivors and help them overcome and get out of these situations,” she said. Two anonymous survivors shared their stories to the crowd of 160 people, telling how they escaped violence in their homes and relationships. “As a young girl I couldn’t help but be drawn to the attention, kindness and care he showered upon me,” one survivor said. She explained she had been isolated from her family and friends, and by the age of 16 she was pregnant, with her abuser using the child as a means to control her. “I was hit with severe emotional and mental abuse, sexual coercion, economic abuse, isolation, jealousy, gaslighting and manipulation,” she said. “During my darkest hour, I believed the only way out and the only way to protect those that I loved was to take my own life.” The survivor told of her fear of speaking up and not being believed as the abuse would happen behind closed doors. She went on to praise the crucial role a community played. “It provides a support system which can help alleviate feelings of isolation, even more so when we educate others . . . we are able to identify the signs of domestic violence and how to intervene effectively”. A fellow survivor shared confronting details of an 18-year relationship with a physically violent man, capable of meting out crippling psychological abuse to her and their seven children. For her 21st birthday, he gifted her a Jack Russell puppy. A few weeks later, the dog urinated on the carpet and he lost his temper. That night when he got into bed he told his wife he had killed the dog. “Having to hide all the knives in the house when he began to drink, the collection of serial killer books he intently studied, internet research of how to make guns at home . . . .constant discussion of him wanting to know what it was like to kill someone,” she said. Detectives told the woman her abuser had all the traits of a serial killer. “This is why empowering together is crucial to stopping the violence behind closed doors. Far too often the voices of victims are treated lightly. We express our concerns on their release from prison as we know too well, their mindset. Too often they are ignored and not deemed serious enough — only then to become the next statistic in domestic violence.” Sergeant Chad Butler-Henderson, Mid West-Gascoyne Police family violence coordinator, said events like the Walk Against Violence had a tangible impact for victims and survivors. “When people come out and share their lived experience they show that there is support for anyone who may be going through the same experience, to show that those situations are not OK and that there will be support when you leave” he said. After speeches and stories were shared, participants walked in solidarity through Stow Gardens along the foreshore then down Marine Terrace. Lifeline 13 11 14 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)