The Beaman Home, a shelter and outreach center for domestic violence victims, announced that February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
Dating violence is a pattern of behavior that includes physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse used by one person in an intimate relationship to exert power and control over another, according to a release from Beaman Home.
Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year. One in three adolescents in the United States is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence, the release states.
Kosciusko County community is not exempt from these statistics, and local teens suffer from this type of abuse as well, the release states.
The Beaman Home, through its SYNC Up! Program, works with teens on this and other issues. Offered by an expert in the field, holding a masters of social work from Indiana University, the Beaman Home’s SYNC Up! Program provides solutions in prevention of many issues youth and teens are dealing with. The SYNC Up! Program promotes healing, safety and resilience in the lives of children, youth and adolescents who have experienced trauma through relationship violence and abuse.
Beaman Home is encouraging everyone to wear orange on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14 or post a photo or selfie while wearing orange on The Beaman Home’s Facebook page.
Beaman Home has provided services to Kosciusko, Fulton and Marshall counties’ victims of domestic violence and their children since 1985.
For more details, visit www.thebeamanhome.com or find it on Facebook by searching TheBeamanHome. On Twitter, search for @Hope4DVvictims.
Victims of abuse are encouraged to contact Beaman Home at any time toll free at 877-725-9363.
(Story By The Times Union)
