Today, Care Lodge provides services for nearly 1,000 shelter and non-shelter clients each year. Care Lodge provides services to residents of 9 counties in East Mississippi and is the only certified domestic violence shelter in MS Highway Patrol District VI. The agency works collaboratively to assist individuals and families find meaningful solutions for everyday barriers that keep them bound to relationships that are no longer safe.
What is Domestic Violence?
Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another person through manipulation, fear and intimidation. This often includes the threat or use of violence. In the State of Mississippi, domestic violence is a crime that can include physical abuse, emotional abuse, economic abuse, and/or sexual abuse. Stalking or other harassing behavior is often an integral part of domestic violence. *State Statute § 97-3-7
Examples:
- Physical - hitting, slapping, choking, shoving, pinching
- Emotional - threats, isolation, insults, name calling
- Sexual - unwanted sexual contact, rape, incest (includes acts committed by a stranger or current partner)
- Financial - withholding money, obsessive control over spending, spending your income without permission
- Neglect - poor physical or emotional care
Domestic violence can result in serious injury, isolation, emotional damage, medical issues, poverty and death for victims. Domestic violence remains the leading cause of injury to women, and is the leading cause of women’s visits to hospital emergency rooms. Nationally, one half of all homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence.
For more information on how domestic violence affects different populations of people, click HERE.
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