Get Healthy Carson City: Domestic violence awareness important for teens

This column appears in the Nevada Appeal Tuesday health pages. It addresses topics related to the health of our community.

Many people think of domestic violence like a scene out of a movie. Wife does not cook her husband’s dinner to his satisfaction and he smacks her across the face leaving a bruise that she needs to cover with sunglasses the next day. Hollywood makes domestic violence seem like it would be obvious if it was happening to someone you knew. The sad reality is that most of the time domestic violence is not obvious. The victims we do not usually hear about are the teen boy or girl who seem to have everything, but no one realizes their partner is secretly hitting or mentally abusing them.

According to an article published in the journal, “Pediatrics,” nearly 20.9 percent of female high school students and 13.4 percent of male high school students report being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. Additional research reports that 57 percent of teens know someone who has been physically, sexually, or verbally abused by a dating partner (www.ncadv.org).

In the Carson City Adolescent Health Education Program offered through Carson City Health and Human Services, we not only address sexual health but healthy relationship skills. While you might think healthy relationship skills are a natural thing for all of us to learn, this is not true. Good communication is learned through our adult and peer role models. If there is a lack of positive examples of good relationship and communication skills, a future heathy relationship for that individual may be hard to achieve. If the only examples a person sees when they are frustrated or distressed is to act out abusively, or be victimized, that may become their relationship norm.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting an amazing woman, Briana Neben, who is a strong advocate against teen dating violence. She can be seen talking about her own situation at www.tedxcarsoncity.com/briana-neben. Briana’s story is a good example of someone who witnessed domestic violence in her home and then experienced teen dating abuse. Her story also shows that domestic violence does not always take the form of physical violence, but can be verbal and mental abuse as well.

As a community, we all need to do our part through education and awareness to prevent domestic violence for everyone. If you need more information or help for yourself or someone else experiencing domestic violence, make a free call to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

For information about services and programs available to you through Carson City Health and Human Services, please visit our website at gethealthycarsoncity.org, follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/cchhs, or call us at 775-887-2190. You can also find us at 900 E. Long St. in Carson City.