No Stigma/Only Triumph: Series Introduction

By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder

Our mission at See the Triumph is to end the stigma around intimate partner violence and to provide supportive resources for survivors of past abuse. This month, for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are focusing in on one goal: To raise awareness about the strength, resilience, and resourcefulness of survivors, as well as the need to end the stigma that survivors face. Our theme for the month is simple: No Stigma/Only Triumph.

Why do we think it’s so important to end the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence? Through our research and outreach through See the Triumph, we’ve learned that there are many ways that this stigma poses added challenges for survivors of past abuse. Some of those ways are as follows:

• The stigma makes it harder for people to recognize that a relationship they’re in is abusive, especially if they blame themselves for the way they’re treated and if that blame is reinforced by their abuser and others in their lives.
  
• The stigma makes it more difficult for survivors to seek help. When others who survivors reach out to for help don’t understand the dynamics of abusive relationships, they may have unhelpful, stigmatizing responses. A lack of an initial supportive response can lead a survivor back into an unsafe relationship, believing that help is not available.
  
• Stigma adds challenges to the recovery process after an abusive relationship has ended. Often, survivors internalize the stigmatizing messages they hear from their abusers and others. These internalized messages can impact survivors’ self-esteem and self-confidence as they seek to rebuild their lives after the abusive relationship has ended.
  
• At a societal level, the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence fosters silence around this issue. Organizations that work to support survivors, hold offenders accountable, and prevent future violence may struggle to gain the financial and other resources they need due to a widespread lack of attention to the many ways that intimate partner violence impacts everyone in the community.
  
  

For all of these reasons, it’s important to continue to work toward ending the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence. One of the ways we do this at See the Triumph is by promoting a new view of battering survivors that shows them as triumphant, courageous, and resourceful. We’re taking a special focus on this view throughout the coming month--we want to promote awareness of the stigma that survivors face, while at the same time offer reminders and examples of what it means to triumph over past abuse.

If you know a survivor of abuse, or if you yourself are a survivor of abuse, then you know someone who knows how to triumph. You know all the challenges and barriers that survivors face each day--during and after an abusive relationship. You’ve seen how these challenges can be overcome in big and small ways. Triumph may occur slowly over time, but it also can be seen in leaps and bounds as survivors grow and overcome the barriers placed in their way. This month, we’re celebrating the many ways survivors triumph in their journeys to safe and healthy relationships. We look forward to celebrating these triumphs with you and to hearing your ideas about what it means to triumph over abuse throughout the month!