NAM's FAMILY VIOLENCE CENTER HELPS REAL PEOPLE 24/7
Domestic and family violence is a plague that affects us all. The most insidious aspect of this problem is that it knows no bounds. Survivors of domestic violence include men and women, rich and poor, seniors and our kids. Sometimes the hardest part is that many survivors are tricked into believing they are not being abused.
This issue should be a concern to all of us, and this is some of the most important work we do at NAM. For those trapped in the hostility, our Family Violence Center (FVC) stands ready to help. In 2022 the FVC answered 5,310 calls to its hotline—even more than during the height of the pandemic.
When a survivor calls NAM, they gain access to specialized counselors and a variety of resources to immediately free themselves from abuse and to develop a plan for a safe, fresh and healthy new start.
“In the 22 years that I’ve done this work, I’ve come to recognize this can literally happen to anyone, it can be the woman across the street or the guy you see in the grocery store. The teenager that is National Honor Society president. It can be anybody we know, and far too often the people around them simply don’t see it.”
-Sheryl Johnson, Director, NAM's FVC
As the primary provider of domestic violence services in northwest Houston, our FVC also works to prevent violence by educating teens about healthy and unhealthy dating relationships. In 2022, the FVC reached nearly 3,300 teens in Klein, Aldine, Cy-Fair, Tomball and Spring ISD’s—then took their message to the world.
With the launch of a new channel on TikTok, NAM became one of the first domestic violence programs in Texas to share its message on the popular social media platform. Our goal is to talk to young people in their own language about what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like, and TikTok is the perfect forum.
“Every single day, someone on our team works with a client who literally feels like she’s at the end, she doesn’t know where else to go, she doesn’t know what else to do. We’ve had clients that were contemplating suicide; we’ve had clients who were so defeated they couldn’t get out of their chair to leave. Every time something like that happens, we have the ability to lift them up and help them take the next step.”
What we see in these survivors is resilience. Whether male or female, in a heterosexual relationship or same-sex, their goal when they walk through NAM's doors is to make the abuse stop. Nine times out of ten, with your help and NAM's, they find that resilience in themselves to get to a better place.
This is important work and NAM is often the only place to turn.
NAM needs your help to continue protecting the vulnerable like the 5,310 people we helped in 2022. To honor NAM's 40th anniversary and support our Family Violence Center, our #40for40 campaign is hoping to raise at least $40 from supporters like you.
Many have nowhere to turn but to NAM and we cannot continue without your help. Please bless NAM and our neighbors in need, with your $40 contribution now. If not NAM then who?
