Central Michigan Life

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence states that between 3.3 and

10 million children in America witness domestic violence annually.

For several years, Traverse City sophomore Christina Wickham was one of those children.

Wickham was never abused, but she said she watched her mother suffer through a succession of physically and mentally abusive relationships. The various kinds of abuse her mother endured up until Wickham was eleven had a profound effect on her mother, Wickham said.

“It affected her mentally and emotionally,” Wickham said. “There are some pretty deep scars there.

“I don’t think she can heal.”

Wickham said she developed a food addiction to cope with her anxiety about what was going on around her and had a weight problem in her early teens. She’s lost much of the weight since then and said she has worked hard to avoid the drug or alcohol addiction that plagues many children who witness domestic violence.

“I didn’t want to go that route,” Wickham said. “I wanted to break the cycle because I didn’t want to have to raise my kids in that kind of environment.”

Wickham is one of many students and faculty members who will be involved with CMU as it hosts a few events during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which lasts throughout October.

The Counseling Center will sponsor the Walk The Labyrinth of Light march 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Moore Outdoor Amphitheater. Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates plans to have a gathering with a movie and a speaker, but no date has been set yet.

Sharon Tilmann, a counselor at the CMU Counseling Center in Foust 102, said domestic violence can happen to anyone in a relationship, not just married couples or people in serious relationships.

“Students, without being aware of the warning signals, could be placing themselves in a dangerous situation and may not even be aware,” Tilmann said.

Warning signals, Tilmann said, can include extreme jealousy, verbal abuse, breaking objects, “playful” use of force during sex and even a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” persona in how the abuser acts around the victim and others.

Elizabeth Meadows, associate professor of psychology, said she has seen people at the clinic who’ve been in mentally bad shape.

“We’ve had a few people that had come in with symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress,” Meadows said. 

Wickham said having attention brought to this issue, having a dialogue started, is definitely a good thing.

“When we start to discuss the problems, we can start to find solutions,” she said.

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