Experts Address Domestic Violence Relationships through Non-Governmental Agencies
Julie Owens is a Violence Against Women Consultant who currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to her LinkedIn account, Owens has been empowering women in their fight against domestic violence since 1989. Owens being a domestic violence survivor herself has founded “a hospital domestic violence crisis response team, a transitional shelter, and advocacy groups and training programs.”
As part of Owens’ background, she has worked closely with trauma and addicted survivors as well as with the National Center for PTSD as a research co-investigator, project director, and trauma therapist. In addition, Owens has testified as an expert witness in domestic violence and domestic violence-related PTSD cases. She specializes in “keynote speeches; cross-training in traumatology, mental health, and substance abuse; identifying, assessing and referring victims of abuse, etc. (See here for Owens’ Curriculum Vitae).
Owens has built a career in training professionals widely; in fact, according to her Twitter account, she has an up and coming training event, which is set to take place in Portland Oregon from December 5-7, at the National Training Institute – also see Owens’ latest Facebook status on the event, which further details the training along with the workshop session topics.
Leigh Duque is the Executive Director of InterAct, which is “a private, non-profit agency that provides safety, support, and awareness to victims and survivors of domestic violence and rape/sexual assault. Duque has been the Executive Director of InterAct for seven years and has over 20 years of experience in not-for-profit leadership roles.
InterAct offers services to domestic violence victims/survivors, such as 24-hour crisis lines, counseling, court advocacy, residential shelter, community education and outreach, and hospital response/solace centers, just to name a few. According to their website, “all services provided by InterAct are confidential and free of charge.” Furthermore, this non-profit organization welcomes volunteers to assist as on-site counselors, hospital responders, children’s group facilitators, adult group facilitators, administrative assistants, and much more. Students working towards an undergraduate or graduate degree are also welcomed to apply for internship opportunities with the organization.
In addition, to the many services provided by this organization, InterAct hosts several events, such as the Love Heals Charity Concert Benefit, which is set to take place on September 22, in downtown Cary, North Carolina. See the organization’s Facebook and/or Twitter page for further details about this event as well as future events and information.
Owens and Duque are both great experts to interview for my capstone project. Both have experience with dealing with domestic violence victims. Owens being a domestic violence victim/survivor herself has transformed her physical, emotional, and psychological pain into a way that has helped and will continue to help other victims cope with the effects of being abused and living in a home where domestic violence is prevalent.
Lastly, Duque prides herself on ensuring that domestic violence victims feel safe. In 2012, Duque realized that she had to do something to help break the cycle of violence when 11 women in Wake County lost their lives as a result of domestic violence (InterAct on a mission, 2017). By partnering with local law enforcement, Duque has been on a mission to help build InterAct up in order to tackle the domestic violence problem in Wake County – breaking the cycle of violence, and focusing on helping domestic violence victims/survivors construct a plan that may enable them to take back control over their life (InterAct on a mission, 2017).