Team One Love UW-Madison held its first “Escalation” workshop to raise awareness on the warning signs of abusive relationships Tuesday in the UW-Madison Social Sciences building.
The workshop screened a 45-minute video on the escalation of violence in an abusive relationship, followed by a small group break-out session to discuss different forms of abuse, self-help strategies and how to assist those involved in an abusive relationship.
The national One Love Foundation was founded in 2010 in honor of Yeardley Love, who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend one month before she graduated from the University of Virginia.
UW-Madison Team One Love President Maiya Weber said the main goal of the workshop is to inform students on the topic of abuse and resources available to them on campus.
“Hopefully the workshops make college kids more aware of what’s happening because they are the most vulnerable group for relationship abuse,” Weber said. “We want them to know what they can do to help themselves and others and to be able to talk about it in a safe environment.”
Team One Love will collaborate with organizations including Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment and End Violence on Campus to run additional workshops in October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
In addressing partner abuse, Weber said she hopes Team One Love will create a dialogue on campus about the ways to avoid and combat relationship abuse.
“It affects such a big population but people don’t want to talk about it, or intrude on friends, but we need to step up to fix the problem,” Weber said.
Weber said, in addition to attending workshops, it is important to get more trained facilitators on campus to lead discussions and further promote awareness.
Team One Love will have a second workshop Thursday.
