During the Texas Southmost College Recreation Center’s annual Domestic Violence Webinar, guest presenters from Friendship of Women Inc. discussed how to recognize the signs of dating violence, red flags in relationships and provided important hotlines for people in need.
“February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, so we’ve really been out in the community bringing awareness to teen dating violence … and really just helping people out as much as we can,” said Denisse Tamayo, primary prevention educator for Friendship of Women Inc.
The mission of Friendship of Women Inc. is “to provide leadership and comprehensive services to empower and promote safety, health, and overall well-being of adults and children impacted by family and sexual violence,” according to the webinar, which took place Feb. 16.
Tamayo said that although the organization is called Friendship of Women Inc., that does not mean that they only help women.
“We help men, women, children, nonbinary,” she said. “… Anyway that you identify, you are welcome here. We are all inclusive. We do not deny helping anybody out. We do help anybody that needs help.”
Cindy Torres, the outreach educator for the organization, defined dating violence as “a pattern of behavior used to gain and maintain power and control over an intimate partner.”
“Abuse can be seen in many different ways,” Torres said. “It can happen to absolutely anyone. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s through a romantic partner. It could be family members. It could be a lot of different people.”
Torres explained the different types of abuse in close relationships—sexual, verbal, digital, physical, emotional and academic—including characteristics and examples of each abuse.
Tamayo included red flags to look for in a significant other, such as lack of trust, being possessive or controlling, limiting time with friends or family, name calling, extreme jealousy and pressure to have sex.
Healthy relationship characteristics include good communication, understanding, trust, boundaries, respect for both parties and the feeling of safety, according to the presentation.
“Communication is key to a healthy relationship,” Tamayo said. “You should be able to communicate with your partner. They should be able to communicate with you, as well, over their wants, their needs … whatever you need from them. Just that communication is a big factor of a healthy relationship.”
Even if it is not something that you might be experiencing, Tamayo said to take the information provided because you never know who is going to need it.
Some ways to help someone in an abusive relationship are actively listening, being empathic, refraining from pressuring them and avoiding victim blaming, according to the webinar.
“At the end of the day, they are the ones in the situation, and they know what they need to do to get out,” Tamayo said. “So, just please, please be very mindful.”For more information on the services and programs Friendship of Women Inc. offers and how to volunteer, visit its website www.fowinc.com.
