Karen came to PDC back in the fall of 2015 after being referred by a friend. Karen stated that she previously lived in Minnesota with her husband, but she finally got to the point where she just up and left with her two children and came back to Wisconsin where she had family. Karen explained that she had only been married to her husband for a few years, but the physical and emotional abuse caused her to suffer immensely. Karen explained that her husband nearly killed her one night. He had her pinned down on the floor, and was strangling her to the point where she almost passed out. There were other instances where he wouldn't let her leave the house, and he would sit at the kitchen table and take out all of his guns and clean them one by one, talking about how he was going to go to other states and find the other mother of his children. Karen continuously lived in fear.

Luckily for Karen, she had her parents here in Wisconsin, and they supported her by letting her and her two children live with them until she could get back on her feet. I helped Karen get connected to as many resources in the area as I could. I helped her with housing, childcare, financial resources, and we did ongoing safety planning. Karen's previous employer in Minnesota allowed her to work remotely from here in Wisconsin, so that was extremely helpful for her. It didn't take Karen long to establish housing, and after that I helped her fill out the paperwork for filing a divorce. Karen still managed to have ongoing phone communication with her abuser and found a way where they could both agree on custody and placement issues. Karen knew that if she could just tough it out and "be nice" to her abuser and agree to certain terms, then he would allow her to stay put in Wisconsin, which was what was most important to her. She did not fear for the safety of her children, but she knew that if she ended up living back in Minnesota , then her abuser would have easier access to control her and would persuade her not to go through with the divorce. Just this month, I went with Karen back to Minnesota for her final divorce hearing. Neither Karen nor her abuser had attorneys, and miraculously the divorce hearing was finalized with all terms being agreed to. As an Advocate, I have never seen that happen with the level and history of domestic abuse that was present in this case. It also all happened under a year's time.

Karen is doing extremely well and is still very involved with PDC. She still attends our support group and wants to be a volunteer for our awareness and fundraising events. She is currently going back to school for Psychology and hopes to help other victims and survivors in the future.