February 19, 2018

The Fix’s Helaina Hovitz wrote a piece on the link found between intimate partner violence and substance use disorders. Sharing information from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), Hovitz cited that both victims and abusers are 11 times more likely to be involved in domestic violence incidents on days of heavy substance use, stating that research shows forty to sixty percent of domestic violence incidents involve substance misuse.

Nicole Taylor, Alumni Coordinator, Domestic Violence Survivor and Recovery Advocate at Sunrise House Treatment Center shared her personal story of survival, as well as some information about why it occurs so often.

The only way to break the cycle of abuse, in both cases, is to step out onto the other side of that fear and dependency, and make sure you’ve got people there to support you and professional help or a program of some sort that will help you begin to deal with those underlying issues. Developing self-worth and being able to ask for help is critical because if we keep turning to something outside of ourselves for a fix, it could eventually kill us.

You can read the full article on The Fix website but clicking here.