October 2018 is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

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HARLINGEN, Texas — October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs remains committed to helping Veterans, their partners and VA staff who are impacted by Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).

“Intimate Partner Violence is a serious, preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans,” said Martha Bustamante, the IPV coordinator for VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System (VCB).

“The term “intimate partner violence” describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. This type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy,” added the VA licensed clinical social worker.

This month’s national awareness campaign focuses on coercive control, a deliberate and systematic pattern of behavior designed to limit a person’s freedom and ability to act on their own needs, values, and desires and to create a threat of harm to compel compliance (source:  www.CoerciveControl.com).

Coercive control is a strategy some people use to forcefully get their way in relationships. This behavior can look like isolating, manipulating, threatening, or punishing their partner. It’s abuse. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs graphic)

This form of IPV can be subtle and thus more difficult to detect.  Examples of coercive control include: isolation, exploitation, deprivation of freedoms, intimidation, degradation in addition to physical and sexual violence.

Acts of IPV range in how often they occur or how violent they are.

“It can happen to women or men who have intimate relationships with

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