The Pocahontas County Family Refuge Center Outreach will host a Candlelight Vigil Tuesday, October 4, at 7 p.m. at the Gazebo on Main Street in Marlinton, as it continues in its work to bring awareness, prevention and safety to victims, survivors and families of domestic violence. The center’s message is: “Together we can end the cycle and break the silence.” The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence offers information and help to those who are being subjected to domestic violence as well as to those who suspect that their relationship is moving in a dangerous direction. Domestic violence is best understood as a pattern of abusive behaviors - including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion – used by one intimate partner against another (adult or adolescent) to gain, maintain, or regain power and control in the relationship. Batterers use of a range of tactics to frighten, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, often injure, and sometimes kill a current or former intimate partner. What does an abusive relationship look like? Does your partner ever: Insult, demean or embarrass you with put-downs? Control what you do, who you talk to or where you go? Look at you or act in ways that scare you? Push you, slap you, choke you or hit you? Stop you from seeing your friends or family members? Control the money in the relationship? Take your money or Social Security check, or make you ask for money or refuse to give you money? Make all of the decisions without your input or consideration of your needs? Tell you that you’re a bad parent or threaten to take away your children? Prevent you from working or attending school? Act like the abuse is no big deal, deny the abuse or tell you it’s your own fault? Destroy your property or threaten to kill your pets? Intimidate you with guns, knives or other weapons? Attempt to force you to drop criminal charges? Threaten to commit suicide, or threaten to kill you? If you answered “yes” to even one of these questions, the National Resource Center warns that you may be in an unhealthy or abusive relationship If anything you have read here raises a red flag about your own relationship or that of someone you know, please call the Family Refuge Center in Marlinton at 304-799-4400 or the National Resource Center at 800-799-7233. Online chat is also available at its website. http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/
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