Transitioning Times

I know there is a saying about how love doesn’t hurt, but I disagree…let me explain. I am a witness and a survivor of domestic violence, so I am speaking from my heart, my experiences. When you love someone, it hurts to know that the person you love so much has hurt you. In a domestic capacity, it could be your spouse, sibling, parent or even your child. These are people you love deeply and are supposed to feel the same about you. I got married at age 18 because I had two children with the guy I had been dating for 3 years. The relationship was abuse in its rarest form; I was 15 and pregnant and he was 18 right out of high school. It hurt my family to see me in such a manipulative and emotionally abusive situation with the father of my unborn child because they loved me. After our child was born the abuse didn’t stop. I got pregnant again; sadly, we brought a second child into what was already a bad situation. As the children got older they started to see and unde...

Remember that movie, Groundhog Day ? Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell portrayed reporters Phil and Rita, covering the annual events in Gobblers Knob with their camera man Larry, who was played by Chris Elliott. *Spoiler Alert… After covering the story of Punxatawney Phil, the team is unable to leave town and forced to stay overnight. The next morning Phil awakes to find it is AGAIN Groundhog Day. He soon realizes that he has – for some unknown reason – been condemned to repeat this same day and all of the events and human interactions over, and over, and over, and… Despite all of his efforts and attempts to act differently, engage others in new ways or even do nothing, the day proceeds in the same manner again, and again, and again, and… Can you imagine waking up every day to realize you are destined to repeat the same events? And to find that - just like in the movie - nothing you do makes any difference in the outcome? Now imagine instead of re-experiencing a series of quirky but...

In today’s technology-driven world, many people turn to their smartphones when they have questions. Even more specifically, people may be turning to their phone’s smart assistant, such as Siri or Cortana to aid in this search.  Earlier this month, the Journal of American Medical Association published a study about these conversational agents and their responses to mental health, interpersonal violence, and physical health.   Apple has changed Siri’s responses to rape and abuse to provide the hotline number and website of RAINN.   RAINN’s national hotline number links locally to Transitions. There is still some work to be done, though.  Siri recognizes the word rape, but does not recognize phrases about not wanting to have sex, and someone having sex with you anyway.  As the survivor states in this article , many survivors struggle to name what happened to them as rape, or even abuse. Siri also does not offer to call RAINN, like it does for other com...