Help With Domestic Violence

Free & Confidential Services For Those Impacted By Intimate Partner Domestic Violence

Spokane’s largest state-recognized intimate partner domestic violence program for victims and survivors. Our services are free, confidential, and designed to empower survivors through knowledge and connection to resources. Having a domestic violence charge against you does not mean you can’t access our services.

What is Intimate Partner Domestic Violence

Domestic violence and intimate partner violence mean different things to different people. At YWCA Spokane, we view intimate partner domestic violence as any situation where one partner in an intimate relationship tries to maintain power and control over the other person. We view the survivor as the person who the controlling behavior is aimed at. Our services are for survivors and their children.

Often, it is difficult to identify various forms of abuse, particularly when they are indirect or not as obvious as physical and/or sexual violence. YWCA Power and Control Wheel diagram is a particularly helpful tool in understanding the overall pattern of abusive and violent behaviors which are used to establish and maintain control over a partner.

POWER AND CONTROL WHEEL

How We Can Help

SERVICES BROCHURE

Domestic violence happens in all communities, including LGBTIA2S+ communities. At YWCA Spokane, we are proud to work with all survivors.

RESOURCES FOR LGBTQIA2S+ SURVIVORS BROCHURE

Planning for your safety

Following the suggestions below can’t guarantee your safety, but they may help you stay safer. However, it is important that you create a safety plan that is right for you. Not all of these suggestions will work for everyone, and some could even place you in greater danger. You have to do what you think is best to keep yourself and your children safe. Our advocates can help you safety plan for your individual situation.

The Facts

  • 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the U.S. have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime.
  • 30-50% of transgender people will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.
  • Females ages 16-24 are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence than any other age group at the rate almost triple the national average.
  • 44% of lesbian women and 61% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime, as opposed to 35% of heterosexual women (National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 2016 report)
  • In 2015, 54 people died in Washington State as a result of domestic violence (Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence)
  • Washington State has had 1052 domestic violence related fatalities between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2015 (Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence)
  • Our helpline is answered over 3,800 times per year, and in that year we help over 13,000 survivors and their kids in our Domestic Violence Service Center.

How to Help a Friend

If you are concerned that a friend might be a victim of abuse, but are unsure of what you can do to help, this guide will offer some steps you can take to support them. Remember, the only way to know for sure if someone is suffering from abuse is to ask them.

HOW TO HELP A FRIEND BROCHURE

Community Awareness and Training

YWCA Spokane’s Community Educators are available to facilitate discussions, provide workshops, or teach classes for your group about intimate- partner domestic violence.

We also work with businesses, colleges, churches, and healthcare professionals in order to educate the community how to recognize the signs of intimate partner violence, how to respond in a supportive way when an employee, coworker, or peer reveals violence, and how to properly refer people to services for intimate partner violence.

For more information about all of our community education programs, please call: (509) 789-9304.