SOS began its public activities linked to Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a special gathering Wednesday.
About 20 people gathered at the C of E Park pond to honor those who have escaped domestic or sexual violence and to remember those who haven’t. SOS Shelter Manager Adele Clark mentioned the bravery of those who try to escape abusers.
On Oct. 19, SOS is offering domestic violence community education and training seminars at no charge to those attending. The seminars, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, will be at the Flint Hills Technical College main campus and will involve discussions about lethality risks, batterer personality traits, identifying and removing barriers to service and recovery and expanding prevention education.
Also, SOS has reserved Oct. 24-25 for outreach information sessions geared towards the area’s Latinx community. A new Spanish-language public service announcement will also be part of those sessions.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation reported over 22,000 incidents of domestic violence across the state last year. More than 20 percent of the state’s homicides last year were connected to domestic violence.
