WARSAW — The Beaman Home is a shelter and outreach center for domestic violence victims, and wants to Inform the community that February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.

Dating violence is a pattern of behavior that includes physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse used by one person in an intimate relationship to exert power and control over another. Teen dating violence is generally defined as occurring among individuals between the ages of 13-19 years old.  Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year.  One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence.  Unfortunately, our community is not exempt from these statistics, and our teens suffer from this type of abuse as well.

The Beaman Home, through its SYNC Up! Program, is experienced in working with teens on this issue and others.  Offered by an expert in the field, holding a masters of social work from Indiana University, the Beaman Home’s SYNC Up! Program provides solutions in prevention of many issues our youth and teens are dealing with.  The SYNC Up! Program promotes healing, safety, and resilience in the lives of children, youth, and adolescents who have experienced trauma through relationship violence and abuse.

To support the effort of awareness of Teen Dating Violence, the Beaman Home is encouraging everyone to wear orange on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.  Post a photo or selfie with your orange on The Beaman Home’s Facebook page.  We will share your photo to encourage others.