United Way hosted a purposeful event with their expert panel on Oct. 7 titled “No More: An Intentional Conversation to End Relationship Violence.”
The expert panel was chosen for the sake of shedding more light on every aspect of this issue. Everyone chosen to sit front and center all had something to bring to the table.
This diverse panel included Katelyn Busowski, a survivor and advocate, Bibi Brown, a Senior Crisis Specialist with 2-1-1, Christine Mouton, the director of UCF Victim Services, Michael Freeman, Counselor and Coach, Adam Pritchard, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at UCF and the moderator was Dr. Karen Hofmann, current director at UCF’s Counseling a Psychological Services.
Relationship violence can take many shapes and forms, while also happening at any stage of life. The warning signs that someone is in this type of relationship can start off as mild and lead to horrendous damage to a person, creating a need for these victims to get help.
The panel touched upon the importance of educating people at a young age about everything from what a “healthy” relationship looks like, to how you can help yourself and those around you (be it family, friends, etc.) if they are a victim. The panel informed that many times those involved in relationship violence are not able to stand up for themselves and that is where others need to lend a hand in whichever way they can.
Every partner tabling before, during and after the event, was useful resources for attendees.
Those tabling included safe houses that are partnered with United Way, UCF Cares, UCF Victim Services, and Central Florida resident Debra Perleberg, who is an inspirational speaker, survivor and advocate of domestic violence herself.
“It is our problem,” mentioned Freeman during the panel, when speaking in part of the fact that even though a relationship is between two people, it is up to those outside of the circumstance to step in and help do something about the problem.
