WOODSTOCK VA: (Rocktown Now) – October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office is bringing light to the effects domestic violence has on victims, survivors, and families in the community.
Beth Ogle, Executive Director of the Response Incorporated domestic abuse shelter in Woodstock, recently shared with Sheriff Tim Carter that the national housing crisis has become a major struggle for survivors of domestic violence in the area. Ogle said
“We’re an emergency shelter. It’s not long-term. It’s not transitional housing. It’s emergency shelter. So being able to get them through to a point where they can get into sustainable housing takes a lot of time. And having to find different resources and ways to make that work within our structure of emergency housing”
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in three women and one in four men have been victims of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime.
Anyone suffering an abusive relationship should call Virginia’s 24-hour Family Violence and Sexual Assault hotline.