As October marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Appalachia Insider is sharing the following guest opinion submitted by Elizabeth Fitch, Executive Director of Turning Point Domestic Violence Services. Fitch reflects on the lives lost to domestic violence, the challenges survivors face in Eastern Kentucky, and the importance of building communities where future generations can live safely and freely. The following OpEd is published in its entirety, without edits. “October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As Director of Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, I want to share a few thoughts. In Kentucky, 31 people are remembered through ZeroV’s 2026 Speak My Name memorial, honoring those whose lives were taken by intimate partner violence between September 2025 and August 2026. Thirty-one people who had families, friends, hopes, dreams, and plans for their futures. Thirty-one people whose lives should have continued. And those are only the ones identified through the available information. When we talk about domestic violence, we are talking about our friends and neighbors. Domestic violence affects everyone and I want to acknowledge that men are victims and survivors, too. Their experiences are important, and support is available at Turning Point Domestic Violence Services for all. According to Kentucky’s 2025 Domestic Violence Data Report, research indicates that 39.6% of women and 22.2% of men in Kentucky have experienced physical violence, sexual violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime. While attending the Mountain Grrl Festival in Pikeville October 16th and 17th, I was able to speak with many women who were there to celebrate others and share their creativity in all forms of art, music and their stories. It had me thinking even more about the women of Appalachia. We can recognize that domestic violence affects everyone while also making space to talk specifically about the violence women experience and the barriers, they face. We hear often about how strong Appalachian women are. And they are. They have raised families, held communities together, worked hard, led social change, and carried burdens that many people will never see. They are some of the most amazing people I have met and gotten to know, but I think we need to start asking ourselves some questions. Why have we expected women to be so strong? Why have we celebrated their ability to endure instead of questioning what they have been forced to endure? When we talk about domestic violence, we’re not talking about something that only happens somewhere else, to others. These are women we work with, we are friends with, women we go to church with, and women standing beside us in the grocery store. Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate based on age, gender, race, income, or background. Here in Eastern Kentucky, we grow up knowing what it means to face challenges. We know what it means to live in communities where resources can be limited, where transportation isn’t always available, and where finding affordable housing can be difficult, if not impossible. For many experiencing domestic violence, those challenges can become barriers to safety. People often ask why someone doesn’t just leave. But imagine being a woman with children, little to no income, limited transportation, and nowhere affordable to live. Imagine that the person hurting you controls the money, the transportation, or the home. Now imagine being told that the solution is simple: just leave. Leaving isn’t a single decision. It’s a complicated process of trying to find safety while protecting your children and preserving what little stability you have. We need to stop asking why she stayed and start asking what we can do to make safety possible. These women did not suffer abuse because they failed to leave. They suffered because someone chose to cause them harm. That’s why having Turning Point as the local domestic violence service program matters. Survivors in Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin, and Pike counties deserve access to safety, advocacy, and support without having to leave their entire community behind. At Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, we want all survivors to know that help is available. You don’t have to be ready to leave a relationship to reach out. You don’t have to know what you want to do next. And you don’t have to face everything alone. We are there to listen, support, and help survivors understand their options while respecting their choices. I want to live in an Appalachia where all our daughters and granddaughters inherit our strength, but not our suffering. Being a strong Appalachian woman should mean having choices, opportunities, and freedom, not having to survive abuse. Our goal is not only to help a woman survive domestic violence. We want her to have the opportunity to build a life she loves. A life where she can go to work without being afraid. A life where she can raise her children in peace. A life where she can laugh, dream, make plans, and decide what comes next. Surviving is important. But every woman deserves the opportunity to thrive. Appalachian women deserve lives defined by their dreams, not by what they have survived. We can be proud of where we come from while still working to change what needs to change. I hope as a community we honor the women we have lost by changing the conversations we have about domestic violence by believing survivors, supporting the organizations working to keep people safe, teaching our children what healthy love looks like, refusing to excuse controlling or abusive behavior and by building communities where families will ever have to experience this kind of loss. Because the greatest memorial we can give the women whose lives were taken is to work toward a future where no lives are taken. We cannot change how the stories ended for those we lost, but we can change what those stories inspire us to do next. May the future generations of Appalachian women be known not for how much they endured, but for how safe and free they are able to live. Turning Point DV Services Kentucky Certified Domestic Violence Advocates are available 24/7 at 1-800-649-6605 or (606)886-6025.” DISCLAIMER: This guest opinion was submitted to Appalachia Insider by the author. The preceding information does not necessarily reflect the views of Appalachia Insider as an organization. #AppalachiaInsider #DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth #TurningPointDVServices #EasternKentucky #AppalachianWomen #CommunityAwareness