MSU Safe Place screens movie to raise awareness about domestic violence

By Ashley Brown | Originally Published: 03/29/11 12:10am |Modified: 03/29/11 12:10am | No comments

MSU Safe Place, along with the Verizon Foundation and Penn State Public Broadcasting, is screening the documentary “Telling Amy’s Story” on Wednesday to spread awareness about domestic violence.

The documentary tells the story of Amy Homan McGee, who was shot in the head by her husband while trying to gather her belongings as her two young children waited in the car. The film will be screened from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Union’s Parlor C and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring representatives from the MSU police and MSU Safe Place.

The documentary screening was created by Penn State University as a way to train faculty and staff when dealing with students or peers dealing with domestic violence — the documentary has been screened across the U.S. at 60 colleges and universities, said Melody Brown, the national program manager at the Verizon Foundation.

“We’re hoping that as more and more people get educated, more and more people come off the sidelines,” she said. “(To) not be a bystander and actually take a stand and really reach out to and help someone in need.”

Event organizers hope to alert people to the signs of domestic abuse and help them understand abuse can be more than physical, but emotional and mental as well, said Erica Schmittdiel, an MSU Safe Place and Capital Area Response Effort advocacy coordinator.

“(People) don’t want to get involved in other people’s problems, so they don’t intervene (and) they don’t offer help,” she said. “However … domestic violence can be deadly, so it’s important that as family members, friends (and) community members that we do intervene when we see violence going on.”

Trying to combat the old mentality of minding one’s own business as a coping method for domestic violence, Schmittdiel hopes the event will help prepare bystanders for the proper steps to helping a victim.

“It could be that people want to get involved, but they don’t know how,” she said.

With statistics reporting that one in five college students are victims of domestic violence, universities use the documentary as more than an awareness opportunity, but as a case study to further students’ knowledge, Brown said.

“We are now hearing reports from larger schools that are actually measuring (domestic violence reports),” she said. “It’s more like a third of college students are experiencing this.”

The event will use education as the key for friends and family to share more than silent concern, but resources and actions to end the violence, said Maria Valayil, the domestic violence prevention coordinator at the Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

“(Domestic violence) happens all the time, but it often happens in secret,” she said. “(Participants will) know a little bit more about how it happens, what it feels like and what they can do to help.”