By Keren Florez
OU and Norman Public Schools have prioritized helping victims and survivors deal with the consequences of emotional and physical abuse.
“Abuse, whether physical, emotional, verbal or sexual, can have long-term effects on your mental health,” according to a study published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in August 2018.
Too often, victims of abuse are young people.
Katy Powers, who works with OU’s Behavior Intervention Team, or BIT, said OU offers many resources for those who have suffered abuse or trauma. Several campus resources are available 24 hours a day so that those who need help can get it immediately.
Powers said that often, the first step to dealing with abuse and the mental health issues it can cause is to seek help from professionals. An abuse survivor often relives his or her trauma and needs to speak to someone who can provide confidence and security.
“It’s finding their voice, and we also as a community we have to be patient with people, because you find your voice in your own way and in your own time, and with your own people,” Powers said.
Seeking help is important for survivors so that effects do not linger or get worse, according to the U.S. Government’s Office of Women’s Health.
“Women who have gone through abuse or other trauma have a higher risk of developing a mental health condition, such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” according to its website.
Powers said that OU offers survivors lots of resources – from counseling to advocacy to investigations by OU police. The benefit of the university is that all of the organizations and resources can work together, she said.
“All these different areas … are connected,” Powers said. “So that (survivors) are not having to tell their story over and over again.”
A person’s environment and mental state can be a huge factor in determining their vulnerability to abusive situations, said Norman High School teacher Rhonda Pruett, who works with students who have been abused.
“Abuse can happen in so many instances when a person feels pressured or less than what they were or abandoned by their family,” Pruett said. “The support the kids have in place and the environment they come into in the school or community really matters.”
Pruett said she believes the connection between students and teachers or professors is vital to students’ healing process.
“If you’re going to help a student that’s suffering, you have to be true and real, because if you’re not, they know it, so their adaptation of how they are trying to heal is damaged,” Pruett said.
While counseling and mental health treatment are invaluable for abuse survivors, Norman yoga instructor Erin Davis said it is also beneficial for an individual with mental illness to try to communicate with their body and connect with themselves. Davis teaches yoga at Norman High School and in the community.
She said yoga can be beneficial to those experiencing depression or anxiety because it allows a practitioner’s brain to focus on the moment, as well as her mind, breathing and body.
“One really big benefit to yoga is the controlling of the breath, learning how to calm the breath especially when you’re heart rate starts to race, it’s really important for you to start taking deep breaths in and releasing those in a slow exhale,” Davis said. “That can really help a lot with anxiety. There are also poses that really just help you feel safe and secure, that can make you feel confident, and those are aspects to helping deal with depression and anxiety.”
Davis said she believes yoga instruction is important to a community because it teaches self-awareness, and helps people understand how their behavior affects themselves and others.
As survivors seek treatment and learn about how to deal with the effects of abuse, Powers said the rest of the community can help by being understanding and giving survivors space to process what has happened.
“It’s thinking about caring for each other and watching for each other,” she said. “But also being generous and being patient as everybody finds their own voice.”
