Domestic Violence Therapy

What is Domestic Violence?

Many people recognize physical abuse as domestic violence (DV) or intimate partner abuse (IPA). But it’s actually a lot more than that. DV/IPA is a pattern of behaviors used to gain or maintain power and control. Those behaviors include things like name calling, gaslighting, blame shifting, destroying property, and a lot more. Check out the power and control wheel for more examples.

DV/IPA often causes severe emotional distress and even Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This can happen whether you’re married or just dating, living together or not.

Are you struggling with anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, isolation, dissociation, or overwhelming emotions?

Why Domestic Violence Therapy?

More than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the US have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner. Domestic violence is common as hell! Most victims feel ashamed or like this kind of thing should be kept behind closed doors. But it can only be dealt with if we start talking about it.

During a traumatic experience (such as DV/IPA), our brains shut down all non-essential processes, including the parts of the brain that think logically and rationally. The brain instead focuses on one thing only – restoring safety – which allows us to very quickly choose whether to fight, flee, or freeze. This is a great thing if we run into a bear in the woods. We can quickly get out of that situation and back to safety, allowing the brain to shift out of reactive mode and back into restorative mode.

But what if the bear is your partner and your brain is forced into reactive mode repeatedly every day? That leaves your brain constantly seeking safety, making it unable to consistently focus on more logical tasks like planning, self-control, time management, and organization. No one can live their best life when they can’t even think clearly.

Plus, the research shows that domestic violence almost always escalates or gets worse over time. So maybe the name-calling is tolerable or he only breaks your belongings and not your face. But without treatment, it won’t get better and it’s highly likely to get worse.

How Domestic Violence Therapy Can Help

Listen, we’re not here to tell you to leave your partner. So if you feel like that’s too much to ask right now, it’s cool. We can still work together to help ensure your safety and to minimize the damage to your soul. If you do want to leave but you’re not sure how, that’s cool too. We can create a plan to get you out of there safely. And when you’re ready, we can process what you’ve been through and start repairing your soul so that you can build a life you actually want to live.

Our goal is to help you feel safe, supported, and knowledgeable about what you’re experiencing. To help you find answers and a path forward. Here are some of the things we can help you with:

Ready to get started?