Project Safe helps victims of domestic violence

Project Safe, Shawnee’s domestic violence and sexual assault resource center, assisted nearly 1,300 women in 2007 and those numbers are expected to be higher for 2008. Project Safe offers confidential services and an emergency shelter for those needing to escape an abusive relationship.
Heather Ariyeh, director of Project Safe, said the summer has been busy for protective order filings and sexual assault exams.
“Domestic violence is much more common in the community than people realize,” she said. As time goes by, someone who lives with domestic violence can often view the situation as normalized, she said.
“Domestic violence is caused by a need for power and control,” she said, adding that stressors such as economics, loss of job and alcohol can contribute to further issues.
But one thing seems to be common in all cases of domestic violence, she said. “It’s almost universal that the violence gets worse,” she said.
In the United States, women are killed more often by intimate partners than any other type of perpetrator, according to information from Project Safe.
Some of the risk factors that assess lethality in domestic batterers, according to Project Safe, are:
• An increase in the frequency of the cycle of violence and police involvement in the prior year
• An increase in the severity of injuries and need for medical treatment
• The abuser has threatened homicide or suicide, or has verbalized or acted out fantasies or plans to commit either
• The abuser used a weapon or caused life-threatening injury in prior incidents
• The abuser has threatened to or has killed and maimed pets
• The abuser has raped the woman or beat her while she was pregnant, or physically abused a child.
• Other risk factors are when an abuser has had a unwanted separation, or if the partner has obtained an abuse order or filed for divorce. A change in custody arrangement that limits the abuser’s access to children and partner also is a risk factor, along with the woman entering a new relationship.
According to Project Safe, characteristics of an abuser include someone who abuses alcohol or drugs; someone who obsesses about a partner or exhibits male dominances; someone who exhibits isolation and has a lack of support system or lack of being supportive of others; someone who has a history of violence; and someone with depression or who shows increased risk-taking. Those who have witnessed severe violence between their parents also have characteristics of being an abuser, along with someone who has a history of employment or participating in settings where violence in normalized, such as being in combat.
All services at Project Safe are confidential, Ariyeh said, and Project Safe operates a shelter in the Shawnee area for those in emergency domestic violence or sexual assault situations. Staff is available 24 hours a day to help clients with housing, budgeting, job hunting, court advocacy and counseling for adults and children.
To learn more about abusive relationships or to seek help, call Project Safe at 273-9953 or toll-free at 1-800-821-9953.
Project Safe offices are at 130 N. Broadway, Suite 206, in Shawnee. Summer hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, but Ariyeh said phones are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
More information about Project Safe is also available online at www.projectsafe.org.
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Kim Morava may be reached at 214-3962 or kimberly.morava @ news-star.com.