October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and is recognized annually. First observed in October 1981 as a national “Day of Unity,” Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) is held each October as a way to unite advocates across the nation in their efforts to end domestic violence.
In Paulding County, Sheppard’s Rest deals daily with victims of domestic violence and works to help them transition out of an adverse circumstance.
Shepherd’s Rest Ministries, Inc. was founded by Dr. Kathryn D. Melton in June of 1997. With a handful of volunteers and approximately $1,700 raised at a gospel singing fundraiser, Dr. Melton opened the shelter to its first two families in December 1997. The battered women’s shelter has since housed over 5,000 women and children. SR Ministries will sponsor a memorial Walk on Oct. 4th, the first Friday in October. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the walk will start from the historic courthouse in downtown Dallas at 5:30 p.m., said. Dr. Melton, was contacted by phone.
The walk will be followed by a candlelight vigil in remembrance of those lost to domestic violence. To show support participants are urged to wear purple.
“How we serve the community during the month of October is we continue with all the crisis services at the crisis level and at the transitional level and we do a lot of community awareness things like the annual walk and candlelight vigil at the courthouse square,” she explained in a previous interview with the DNE. Melton also delivers a course she created 25 years ago, which she calls DV101.
“It starts at the very basic level and teaches all the way through what is DV? how to recognize it, what are the red flags and how to recognize your own personal triggers and environmental triggers, how domestic violence impacts the children and the community and how victims can break free and learn coping strategies and habit patterns and live violence-free,” Melton said.
Dr. Melton also said Sheppard’s Rest might partner with a new Daycare in the county who, she said, reached out recently and offered to work with their children involved in domestic violence. For someone coping with a domestic violence issue Melton says they can call the 24-hour hotline at 770-443-5213. And they can visit the Sheppard’s Rest website at www.shepherdsrestministries.net “We have limited space but we make resource referrals and if it’s an emergency we will do whatever we need to do to keep them safe,” Melton said.