By: Arezoo Shahbazi Roa, MSW, Sr. Prevention & Strategic Partnerships Director
9월 is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness, reducing stigma, and reminding people that help is available. While conversations about suicide often focus on mental health, there is another critical factor that deserves greater attention: relationship violence. Victims and survivors of abuse face significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts. At Human Options, we know that suicide prevention and relationship violence prevention are deeply connected because safety, hope, and healing cannot exist where fear and abuse persist.
In doing this work, Julianna’s story comes to mind. To those around her, she appeared resilient. She showed up to work, cared for her children, and smiled when people asked how she was doing. What no one saw were the years of emotional abuse, threats, isolation, and control happening behind closed doors. Her partner had convinced her that she was worthless, that no one would believe her, and that leaving would only make things worse. Feeling trapped and alone, Julianna began to believe there was no way forward. It wasn’t until a friend noticed her withdrawal, listened without judgment, and connected her to support services that she began to see a different future. What saved Julianna was not one dramatic moment. It was connection. It was someone reminding her that her life mattered.
Stories like Julianna’s are not uncommon. Relationship violence is often misunderstood as physical harm alone, but abuse can take many forms. Emotional manipulation, coercive control, intimidation, financial abuse, and social isolation can have profound impacts on a person’s mental and emotional well-being. Over time, victims and survivors may lose confidence in themselves, become disconnected from support networks, and begin to feel hopeless about their future. When someone is repeatedly told they are worthless, blamed for the abuse they endure, or made to feel trapped with no safe options, the risk to their mental health increases dramatically.
This is why relationship violence must be recognized as more than a private family matter. It is a public health issue, a mental health issue, and a suicide prevention issue. Its impacts ripple through families, workplaces, schools, healthcare systems, and communities. Survivors do not simply need a way out of abuse; they need pathways toward safety, stability, healing, and renewed hope. Human Options’ work is grounded in the belief that safety and healing require an integrated, survivor-centered response that addresses the many barriers survivors face on their journey.
Which is why every one of us can play a role. We do not need to be counselors or crisis responders to make a difference. Sometimes the most powerful intervention is listening. It is believing a survivor when they share their experience. It is checking in when someone seems different. It is offering support without judgment and helping connect people to resources when they are ready. Small acts of compassion can interrupt the isolation that abuse creates and remind survivors that they are not alone.
Prevention is not only responding in moments of crisis. It is creating communities where survivors are believed, supported, and connected to help before hopelessness takes hold. It is investing in services that provide safety, counseling, advocacy, emergency shelter, and long-term healing. It is recognizing that when we support survivors of relationship violence, we are not only helping them escape abuse, we may be saving lives.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please remember that help is available. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides free, confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Victims and survivors of relationship violence can also contact our 24-hour hotline at 877-854-3594 for support, safety planning, and resources. No one should have to face abuse, despair, or crisis alone. Every survivor deserves safety. Every survivor deserves support. And every survivor deserves the chance to heal and thrive.
