Stories

Dionysica Stewart ’16, MS in Mental Health Counseling, was shaken when she lost a friend—a successful career woman and mother who said her marriage was great—to domestic violence. That loss inspired her to focus her education on finding ways to prevent abuse and support survivors. She takes every opportunity to educate people about the issue. That includes talking to pastors about the dangers of encouraging victims to remain in a relationship at all costs and talking to teens about dating violence. “My goal is to give people the information they need to be part of the fight against this epidemic,” Stewart says. “The more people understand and the more the system works to get victims and offenders the help they need, the more impact we can have.”