The rural community setting – isolated homes, lack of or hard-to-reach community resources, and community members knowing each other – may create a greater risk of family violence. Given these characteristics, a targeted and tailored approach to prevention, detection, and intervention must be put into place to address the issues and keep victimized members of the community safe.
Andrew Campbell leads this session’s discussion about family violence in rural communities. Andrew is the CEO and Founder of Campbell Research & Consulting and is an expert on domestic violence and its associated risks. He provides education for agencies on family violence to develop effective community responses leveraged by data analysis.
Points tackled on the webinar are:
- An overview of partner abuse and how the current approach to this issue puts other members of the household in danger.
- The risk factors to family violence particularly in rural communities that influence victim vulnerability and perpetrator accountability.
- The concept of the opportunity to abuse which takes place when a capable perpetrator shares space and time with a vulnerable victim and other variables that impact this.
- The different stakeholders that must work together to let perpetrators know that abuse will be detected and reported and consequently stop the abuse from occurring.
- The nuances of the forms of family violence – partner, child, elder, and pet abuse – in rural communities.
- The typical circumstances that victims find themselves in – isolated, trapped, unaware of resources available to get help and support, and in fear of being ostracized by the community.
- Who the victims and perpetrators are and how partner violence cases steadily rise with incidents increasing in severity and frequency.
- The barrier to seeking help posed by the physical inaccessibility of victim services.
- The even higher rates of domestic violence and victim fatality observed in American Indian and Alaskan Native women.
- How the pandemic exacerbated the barriers to reporting partner violence incidents.
- Two particular risk factors for child abuse in rural communities.
- Elevated child abuse in rural environments as perpetrators wear masks to avoid suspicion.
- How exposure to domestic violence makes a child more at risk of abuse or neglect.
- How children’s conduct in school and youth suicide rates may provide insights into the violence children experience at home with adults.
- The similarity of numbers in terms of the reports between rural and urban and the disparity in the number of incidents before a report is made.
- How dependency on the perpetrator and embarrassment prevents older adults from reporting.
- Who the typical perpetrators of elder abuse are and how the companion animals of these older adults also become at risk of abuse.
- The prevalence of pets in US households particularly in homes where violence occurs and how perpetrators target pets to get to their human victims.
- How the most violent perpetrators in rural areas prefer to abuse cats than dogs.
- How the rural environment prevents the common reporters of animal cruelty from making reports which emphasizes the role of animal control in spotting incidents of abuse.
- Creative recommendations to prevent isolation, detect abuse and mask-wearing perpetrators, provide safer reporting channels, and make services more accessible in rural communities.
Questions from the audience were about:
- What it means to ‘not able to best help anyone unless we help everyone.’
- Navigating anxiety-inducing and triggering circumstances.
Webinars with this Speaker
- Disaster Without, Disaster Within: Natural Disasters and Family Violence
- Sept 29: The Road Less Traveled: Family Violence in Rural Communities (this webinar)
- Dec 7: Role of Faith-Based Organizations and Domestic Violence
Resources Mentioned During this Webinar (Paid Links)
Audience Comments
- “Andrew Campbell’s presentation was PHENOMENAL. I loved the statistics, and especially the stories he’s shared of not only the pain of the victims but of their hope. Many blessings to you, Andrew.” — Nicole
- “We are doing lots of work in rural/tribal Arizona and working to increase safety for victims and their pets. I got lots of fresh ideas. Thank you Justice Clearing House and Andrew.” — Doreen
- “There was really more than one valuable piece of information. One that stuck out was that in rural communities with higher reports of elder abuse there are higher reports of child abuse. “– Beth
- “Thank you for a great presentation. A lot of information in a short time! The animal information was new and interesting to me.” — Trisha
- “Mr. Campbell is amazing – love listening to him and really benefit from his observations about life in rural communities.” — Teresa
- “Great topic, I have been in probation for over 20 years, including assignments in Domestic Violence. I have never heard in trainings or considered pets associated with victims with support or being abused as a result of the abuser. Great presentation.” — Yvette
- “He did a great job of getting through a lot of material in a short time without getting caught up in unnecessary details. great job of integrating his own experience as context for what motivates him to do his work.” — Phillip
- “A very captivating speaker.” — Cynthia
- “I work in [location removed] where we are very populated but felt this is a good topic because so many people are still isolated due to the pandemic. This opened my mind to other possibilities. I particularly liked the part about the lady who could go to the mailbox which makes me think that perhaps we are too dependent on phones and other technology to communicate. Thank you so much!” — Tiana
- “I think that this webinar accurately names a lot of the issues we are seeing in rural communities.” — Meghan
- “The entire webinar was informative. I practice in rural Kansas. The examples Andrew used and information assists in my ability to serve my clients. Also, I will use his information in presentations, talks or grants to show why DV is such a crucial issue in rural areas and it touches on so many aspects of our lives.” — Candace
- “What a great presenter. He keeps you engaged and is interesting. Would love to see more webinars from him. “– Christine
