Seminars increase awareness of domestic violence

by Caroline Basile, sports editor

With domestic violence being a major issue today, South Plains College recently hosted a seminar series on the topic.

Speaker Roy Rios, who is coordinator of community development at Women’s Protective Services of Lubbock, spoke to the audience about recognizing the warning signs of bad, potentially violent and abusive relationships.

“What happened here recently could have been prevented if everyone had been aware of the warning signs of an abusive relationship and known when their relationship could be potentially violent,” Rios said of the recent attempted murder/suicide on the Levelland campus. Claudine Oliver, director of guidance and counseling at SPC said that the seminars were scheduled after many concerns, especially from several nursing students, about the signs of domestic violence.

“We’ve done similar workshops with WPS in the past,” Oliver said. “Every year or two, we do an awareness seminar and show tools about how to be aware of domestic violence, date rape, and sexual harassment.”

Rios passed out a bilingual checklist that showed the common red flags of a violent and abusive relationship.

Rios told the crowd that everyone can tell when a situation is going the wrong way, and that they should distance themselves from that as quickly as they can.

“Part of preventing domestic violence is knowing when to intervene and knowing when a situation is dangerous,” Rios said. “Knowing these red flags and educating our community is the only way to eradicate it.”

Rios told the audience, which was mostly comprised of young women on March 27, that reporting an abusive relationship is hard to do, but it shouldn’t stop someone from telling someone about it.

“Tell someone, tell a friend, a family member, someone from WPS,” Rios said. “Most people think it’s their fault that it happens to them. I’ve heard so many stories of ‘If I could just change my ways, control the kids better, be a better wife, then this wouldn’t happen.’”

Rios told the group that there are many things that friends of victims of domestic violence can do. 

“Be a friend,” Rios said. “Just be supportive of them. Tell them how beautiful, how wonderful they are. Lift them up, because they aren’t getting that confidence in the relationship they are in.”

Rios told those in attendance to focus on their strengths, and that most victims have no support systems and are told things such as “You make me mad,” and “You caused me to be this way.”

“Whether it’s verbal, physical, or sexual abuse,” Oliver said. “the bravest thing you can do is to report it.”

The emphasis of the seminar, which was planned prior to the recent stabbing incident, was on the warning signs of an abusive relationship and how a victim can escape a dangerous situation.

Women’s Protective Services of Lubbock can be reached day or night at (806) 747-6491.