AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Studies show that the summer months see an increase in domestic violence.
Summertime brings a range of factors that can contribute to a rise in domestic abuse- such as children being out of school, a change in access to resources like food and, even, higher temperatures.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner.
“Statistics show that a victim of domestic violence will leave seven to nine times before they actually decide to leave for good,” said April Jordan, Director of Outreach at The Cumbee Center.
Centers in the area see a rise in occurrences during summer. Some factors being more members of families inside one household at a time…and extreme heat irritability.
“Kids are out of school,” said Aimee Hall, Executive Director of SafeHomes. There’s a lot more opportunity around the holidays with the drinking. So, there are a lot of different characteristics that will contribute to domestic violence.”
SafeHomes of Augusta provides a number of trauma-informed resources to people when they are ready- from programs to service plans.
The Cumbee Center offers domestic violence resources across a six-county area in South Carolina.
“Not only does the heat bring a factor- kids being home, also social variables such as food, access to different services and things like that,” said Jordan. “But also the severity of certain occurrences of violence- whether that be physical, mental, verbal- we see a significant increase in that as well.”
Jordan tells us it’s important to remember that abuse goes beyond the physical.
“But also the things that we might want to look for in our family members or our friends who might be in an abuse situation, are things like controlling patterns,” said Jordan. “Isolation, not being allowed to spend time with family or friends. So, that’s a big red flag that we look for.”
For more information on domestic violence resources in the CSRA, see the information below.
