February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month and our presentation from Deb Bordsen and two staffers from Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County was timely, with Valentine’s Day just around the corner.

In 2025, DVS served well over 23,000 individuals. Of that, 116 adults and 142 children had over 9,000 safe bed nights at their emergency shelter. Do you realize what that means? These are incidences of REPORTED violence. Imagine the numbers that go undocumented each day, each month, each year?!

Violence is an ever growing fact in our society and it does not manifest itself in a vacuum. It is behavior that perpetuates itself year after year, sometimes through many generational cycles. It crosses socio-economic boundaries, racial lines, educational backgrounds and any other perceived demographic that seemingly would not, should not be affected. It is a societal blight that can show up anywhere.

One of the ways DVS is working to break the cycle of violence is through education. For the very reasons listed above, when violence does show up, the victim often is ashamed, feeling that it shouldn’t have happened to them, and “why did it?!”

A particular focus this month is on the youth population. Teens are far less likely to report physical or sexual violence and may feel they have less resources or trusted adults they can contact or share information with. They may have difficulty drawing a firm line with a potential perpetrator. Drawing a line may seem hard because they don’t want to feel ostracized or be mocked by their peers. Giving them the skills to advocate for themselves could help prevent a future tragedy.

For more information visit: dvs-SnoCo.org.