Fear No More: Easily Accesible Website Now Available To Domestic Abuse Victims

Image Credit: Domesticshelters.org

October is the Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Domestic abuse is a universal phenomenon much like the recent emerging rape crisis in Asia especially in countries like India and Malaysia. Crimes such as domestic abuse, rape, and sexual violence are hush-hush within any community. In my past teaching experiences, as a teaching assistant to the "Introduction to Women's Studies Course" at University of Western Ontario, I was approached by a student who told me that because these issues are such taboos, society silences the voices of the victims due to stigmas and taboos that surround these particular issues. Her emotional words have stayed with me all these years. Honored to be approached by Chris McMurry, director of Theresa's Fund. We engaged in a fascinating discussion about the ways in which technology now plays a key role especially in the social sector.

 Recently launched, Theresa's Funds with partnership with the National Coalition of Domestic Violence (NCADV), domesticshelters.org is the very first searchable online database of domestic violence and includes about 3,000 of the agencies in the US. When someone visits this mobile-friendly website, any one can find the near domestic shelter based on their location, services, and language preference. Easily accessible to anyone who is in desperate need to get out of the relationship, I found that as a young woman of twenty-eight years who is constantly engaged with social media for both social and intellectual purposes, I can truly attest to the value that this particular website offers especially within the South Asian community. McMurry informed me a surprising statistic that, "approximately half of the online searches nowadays take place through mobile phones." Because this particular search engine is mobile-friendly, victims have easy access to the three pillars of the services that it offers: "Find Help," "Be Safe," and "Get Smart." "Find Help" is a tool that allows you to get help in your language (available in international languages including sign language). "Be Safe" is a tool that allows you to escape detection by clearing your browsing history and clicking on "leave the site." Finally, "Get Smart" is an education tool to aid in making good decisions. 

                                             

Sylvia Torralba, membership director of NCADV, says, "The great news is that there are many good people, organizations and providers trying to help, and in fact, helping.” She further added, "With some 36,000,000 million searches a year in just the U.S. on the topic of domestic violence, domesticshelters.org is an overdue and much-needed concept that may help more people than any other service ever offered in this space, and may help save lives because it will be so easy, accessible and fast to use."

The organizers of the site worked endlessly for more than six months identifying 3,001 domestic violence provider organizations in the United States. 

The origin of the website was born out of the need as McMurry noticed that on the first few pages of the Google search engine. There will be perhaps attorney websites, national organizations, state coalition, and maybe a shelter or an organization on the first page. As the director of Theresa's Fund, he realized that there was a prominent gaping hole as there was no single site that made finding services fast and easy. The younger generation, he said, barely calls on the phone but uses the phone for Facebook, Texting, and online searches. This website, in particular, is mobile-safe to avoid the abuser from gaining access as the victim can easily access on the phone's browser without getting caught. 

To sum it up, as times are changing, technology is playing a vital role in the social sector. This mobile-friendly website indeed is a turning point especially when it comes to domestic violence - according to Google more than 3,000, 000 searches are conducted per month (a scary statistic!).  

Images courtesy: Chris McMurry