October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

By By

The Emery County Domestic Violence Coalition is busy preparing their annual educational and awareness activities. This year, the community program will focus on the origins of trauma, how it affects the brain, observable symptoms, and ways to cope. Coping strategies can greatly reduce these experiences from becoming Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The guest speaker, Rita Mangum, LCSW, is Chief Program Officer at the Salt Lake City YWCA. Rita treats families and individuals who are exposed to life alternating events that can leadto trauma. Family violence can traumatize victims and their children. For example, in a traumatic event like a traffic accident, at least one or both parents can help a child cope. But in a family violence situation, the child may be unsafe with the offending parent and the victimized parent may be emotionally unavailable. So, instead of being safe and secure, the children are actually traumatized by their environment. They run a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders, developmental difficulties, failing at school, bullying, and suffering low self esteem. These children will often present as ADHD. Rita will talk about how trauma responses are often being misdiagnosed.