PAVE and ICARE Collaborate one Events for Domestic Violence Awareness
The month of October is nationally recognized as Domestic Violence (DV) Awareness month. In honor of victims of domestic violence, ICARE, alongside PAVE (Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment), have been working hard to further educate students and faculty members at various events on USD’s main campus.
“ICARE collaborates with other groups on campus by providing workshops/training, establishing connections with community partners for additional resources for faculty/students, and we also provide funds for different events that organizations host (i.e. provide PAVE with t-shirts for volleyball games). We created posters to spread awareness for different October DV events that other organizations are hosting. ICARE welcomes collaboration with any student groups looking to be part of the solution for domestic violence any month of the year, as well as any other violence prevention and victim/survivor support efforts,” said Director of ICARE Rebecca Kaiser.
Kaiser went on to emphasize the importance of the events that have been held on campus so far this year.
“PAVE has done a couple of amazing events this semester with other collaborations and I love to support those as an attendee and with whatever funding I can secure through ICARE’s grant,” Kaiser.
So far during October, PAVE has collaborated with the Coyote Volleyball Team, and Spirit Teams for the Purple Out themed game for Domestic Violence Awareness. PAVE and ICARE also hosted a field trip on Tuesday Oct. 22 to the River City Domestic Violence Center for a Candlelight Vigil in honor of DV survivors.
“The Candlelight Vigil is actually not an awareness event. There is education to be received through the stories of survivors and the powerful shared community experience of lighting candles to take back the night from violence,” said Kaiser.
Kaiser emphasized the importance of having an open dialogue when speaking about domestic violence so as to break the cycles of shame and further support survivors.
“A common misconception we hope to address is that domestic violence doesn’t affect everyone. It does affect everyone, including men, entire families, generations even,” said Kaiser “Every community would see tremendous returns for the investment of prevention and supporting survivors. Another misconception is that domestic violence is not just physical abuse, but also can be emotional and financial.
Another unfortunate misconception is a question people often have for victims, ‘why didn’t you just leave,’ but the dynamics of power and control that are in play in domestic violence situations are much more complicated than that,” said Kaiser.
Misconceptions such as the following are why organizations such as ICARE and PAVE work diligently to host events that allow for conversations surrounding domestic violence and other heavy topics to be held.
“Events, online and print materials, tabling, connecting with community partners, and always being comfortable in talking about the sensitive topics surrounding domestic violence.
Being unable to talk about it only brings more shame to victims and survivors, and shame is a barrier to leading a life free from violence, and full of the healthy, fulfilling relationships we all deserve,” said Kaiser.
The next event that ICARE will be hosting is a themed Halloween costume contest that will take place on Oct. 31, in the Muenster University Center (MUC) pit. Here they will be judging costumes for the best “healthy” or “unhealthy” relationships. Any time on Oct. 31, students can tag ICARE’s Instagram with their picture to enter to win.
