SAN ANTONIO — Domestic violence is an epidemic in Bexar County.
According to Family Violence Prevention Service, one in three girls in Bexar County will experience by the time they turn 18. That's compared to one in five nationally. Family violence prevention services in San Antonio wants to try to stop the cycle by educating young people.
Domestic violence hides in plain sight, shielded by the masks worn by both abusers and victims.
"To the outside world, most people don't see that extent to which they go for power and control and how that violence looks and feels in everyday life," said Christina Campos, director of Community Integrated Services with Family Violence Prevention Service.
Ahead of the Annual Purple Run 5K, members of the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter’s Youth Advisory Council made masks to represent the different sections of the teen power and control wheel. Elements of the masks represent tactics like isolation, intimidation and economic abuse. The idea is to help people recognize signs of abusive relationships in their own lives.
Jackelyn Iniguez said that having teens create the displays can help other young people connect with it.
"It shows that kids are remembering things that they’re in the memories and having that showing, ‘hey, I've experienced this’ or ‘hey, when I was, you know, in a situation that had to do with domestic violence, I had to put on a mask,’" Iniguez said.
Iniguez joined the council when she was in high school. Now a college student, she is one of the group’s most senior members. She said that although she hadn’t experienced family violence in her own life, she joined in hopes of helping a friend of hers that she saw struggling with violence in a relationship.
“There was a repeating cycle that my friend was continuously being led into,” she said.
The council is made up of middle school through college-aged young people. Iniguez said the younger they can teach kids to recognize the signs of domestic violence, the more of an impact they can have.
“We're trying to create this prevention early on. That way it doesn't grow into something that's more dangerous,” Iniguez said. “No matter what, it's good to establish what is a good, healthy relationship, what is a good, healthy friendship.”
Through events like the purple run, she hopes to reach adults and teens alike to help people recognize when there is a risk of family violence so that they can help – like she was able to help her friend.
“I was actually able to bring her to one of the meetings,” Iniguez said. “She was able to see that there was hope.”
Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships is a comprehensive teen dating violence prevention model developed by CDC to stop teen dating violence before it starts.
Family Violence Prevention Service is also promoting the Dating Matters program developed by the CDC as a way to help 11 to 14-year-olds recognize the signs of unhealthy relationships and prevent teen dating violence before it starts.