ROANOKE, Va. – All eyes were on Amber Heard and Johnny Depp as they went to trial in dramatic fashion.
With all of the he-said-she-said at the core of the trial, the claims of abuse on both sides bring skepticism.
“That’s the next biggest, besides family members, that’s the next biggest detriment to women in abusive situations is other women that use the system,” said Trey Gregory, co-founder of Domestic Abuse Disruption (D.A.D).
Domestic Abuse Disruption is a volunteer organization that works to quickly get women out of abusive situations and give them the tools they need.
“We get necessary items, we get children’s items, we get clothing, toothbrushes all the things that you don’t really think about because they want to flee,” Gregory said.
The D.A.D website has a feature for women trying to access their services, but who may not be in a safe situation long enough to access information all at once.
“If a woman is trying to access our services and they are being monitored, and they’re often checked in on, they can hit that escape bar, and it takes them to another page,” Gregory said. “It cannot be backtracked. You can’t go back to see where they were.”
D.A.D works alongside other organizations in Roanoke, such as TAP.
“Our job as advocates is to work with the survivor and believe them,” said Stacy Sheppard, director of Housing and Human Services for TAP. “That’s our job, is to work with them and help them, and we just want people to know that there’s hope.”
Both organizations say that the best thing a victim can do is not to stay in an abusive situation, and if it is safe to get out, leave.
If it is not safe to leave, that is where these organizations come into play.
Domestic Abuse Resources:
- National Domestic Violence Hotline - 800-799-7233
- TAP - 24/7 Crisis Hotline - 540-580-0775
