Lynchburg, VA- Every nine seconds, a woman is assaulted or beaten in the U.S. It's a statistic that women across the country are trying to shed light on, especially during National Domestic Violence Awareness month.
Thursday night the Lynchburg YWCA held an awareness event at Lynchburg College. They honored those who've been affected by domestic violence, but they also talked about a growing problem in this country that hasn't gotten much attention--intergenerational domestic violence.
"When a child grows up in a home that there is domestic violence on a routine basis, that child begins to think that it's normal," said Jenna Foster, with the Lynchburg Domestic Violence Prevention Program.
Studies have shown that children who grow up in a home with domestic violence, are twice as likely to be involved in it as adults.
"They grow up to then be either abusers or victims themselves as adults. And then they have children, and the cycle continues," said Foster.
Foster says the best way to break the cycle is to spread awareness. Because sometimes, domestic violence can be difficult to recognize.
"She really didn't realize it was that bad of a relationship…Everyone was telling her, you know you've got to get out of this relationship, you need to get out, it's not healthy," said Kathryn Whitestone, who's had a loved one experience domestic violence.
Whitestone's friend was in an abusive relationship for five years. At one point, her friend became so isolated, she didn't hear from her for nine months.
"It was definitely a really scary time for us and I had no idea what she was doing. You know, and I think with her getting into such a deep depression, it wasn't necessarily that he was going to hurt her, as much as I didn't know if she was going to hurt herself because of what he was telling her," said Whitestone.
She says it took her friend a while to realize what she was going through, wasn't normal.
"It took her realization with everybody in the background supporting her, saying you know you're making the right decision to end things with him, until she finally ended things with him," she said.
With Whitestone's support, her friend escaped an abusive relationship, and was able to break the cycle.
"I couldn't tell you where she'd be today if it wasn't for all of us supporting her and helping her," said Whitestone.
There was also a domestic violence awareness vigil and walk in Bedford Thursday evening.
