CONTENT WARNING: Domestic violence takes many forms, and in my case, it takes the form of emotional and mental abuse. When CPS showed up at my home, I discovered my spouse had been physically abusing my children for an indeterminate amount of time.

This year I watched some public meetings during the legislative session. At the meetings I attended, I wished that more people from Utah and my community would watch the meetings too.

CONTENT WARNING: I was only 15 when I met my first abusive boyfriend. He was controlling, angry, belittled me and punched walls near my face to scare me. The emotional abuse is where it started and it escalated when he sexually assaulted me and physically hit me with a wire hanger one night.

FROM H.N. IN SALT LAKE COUNTY

8 years ago, I was living my dream, working as a DCFS caseworker. On my first day of work, I met a new friend, and we bonded quickly.

After two bad marriages I reached out to a old friend from high school. I thought he would be the perfect man for me as I remembered him being all those years ago. The dating was a whirlwind.

CONTENT WARNING: Growing up, I was in a home surrounded by violence. My dad was an alcoholic and addicted to meth, so when he would start throwing things and hitting us kids at the slightest inconvenience, I just thought that is how dads are. When I was 15, I started dating my abuser.

CONTENT WARNING: I accidentally shared with my teenage daughter that I had decided to get divorced. Then, because I believed it wasn't fair for her to have to keep a secret like that, I told my husband before I had planned to. He threatened to attack me "if I backed him into a corner," and the verbal abuse escalated for a week until I asked him not to kill me while I was sleeping. After I heard myself say those words, I wasn't able to stay there anymore, and I stayed with a friend.

CONTENT WARNING:

I’ve sold a company. Sit on boards you’d recognize. Handle mergers and acquisitions, get paid to help other people do the same.

I also struggle to have access to my own money, despite enlisting attorneys to help. Go days without being acknowledged. Live under a microscope of judgement, isolated from people who care about me.

CONTENT WARNING:

I never thought I would be a victim of domestic violence. My husband had never showed signs of being violent. After our child was born he became more aggressive.

I’m your fun neighbor. I’m on PTA and other boards with you. My kids play at your home and on teams with your kids. I attend church weekly with you. My husband is very prominent in his career and we have a well-known name. We have a large home, vacation all over, and are highly respected. However, for the past 25 years, our marriage has been filled with abusive episodes both physical and emotional.

CONTENT WARNING: All my life I have been a rescuer. I was groomed to be that way as I was a victim of childhood molestation at a very young age, along with severe physical and mental abuse.

My name is Shaun Anderson and I am a victim advocate in the Utah State University Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information Office (SAAVI).

I am a case manager at the YWCA I support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

I am a lifetime survivor of multi-generational domestic violence and interpersonal violence, and this lived experience is what drove me to reach my career goal of becoming a victim services social worker.

My name is Nicki Nielsen and I've worked as YWCA Utah's Housing Coordinator for over two years. I help survivors access safe and stable housing while offering temporary financial housing assistance.

I’m a professor at the University of Utah in the Eccles School of Business. I teach professional and business communication, but my research focus is on how language and gender and violence intersect in organizations.