BALTIMORE–There is a connection between being bullied early in life and becoming victims of domestic violence later on, social workers said at a conference Wednesday.
“More and more, we find that people who experience trauma earlier in life are set up for a lifetime of repeated victimization so we’re very concerned about working with those people, responding to those traumas that they have had and then preventing future trauma,” Colleen Moore, Family Violence Program Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center, said at the second annual Patricia and Arthur Modell Symposium on Domestic Violence in Baltimore.
Panelists offered new strategies for those who work in the field of domestic violence treatment and prevention.
“The more we have these discussions, these symposiums, the more we talk about the issues, the better we’re going to be at combating [domestic violence],” said Maryland First Lady Katie O’Malley.
O’Malley built her career in the 90s prosecuting domestic violence, handling many cases dealing with “child sexual and physical abuse.”
“Listening to the event and hearing some of the questions and the personal stories, I think that moving forward we can begin to tackle specific subjects,” said Michel Modell, the daughter-in-law of Arthur and the late Patricia Modell, who co-chaired the symposium.
“Education means less domestic violence, less bullying, and, hopefully, it will give us a turn against the tide,” she said.