By Amy Matzke-Fawcett
An Old Dominion University senior is sharing her experience with intimate partner violence in her new book and an upcoming awareness event on campus.
Cerlisa Collins, a criminal justice major who will graduate this December, was shot and stabbed at her Richmond apartment by a former boyfriend in May 2021. A male friend was killed in the same attack.
While the experience left Collins with physical issues and trauma she is still recovering from, it also left her with a drive to share her story and empower others in abusive situations. The Nov. 3 event, “I Will Survive: Preventing, Detecting and Recovering from Intimate Partner Violence,” will include a signing of Collins’ book, “I Will Survive: A Personal Story,” along with a panel discussion featuring experts in intimate partner violence.
“I was ambushed and I’m still hurt, but I just wanted my voice to be heard and I believe this is what God has called me to do,” Collins said.
The event came from a brainstorming session between Collins and Amanda Petersen, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, after Collins reached out. Not long after the attack, she found herself in Petersen’s Gender-Based Violence course. Collins had enrolled months before the crime, not realizing how relevant the class would be.
Collins’ situation is all too common. One in three people experience violence that can include physical, sexual, psychological, stalking and economic control, Petersen said. According to her research, Black women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV).
“One common line about IPV is that it can happen to anyone, which of course is true, but there’s also groups that are more likely to experience these forms of abuse,” including trans people, undocumented people and people of color, Petersen said.
“There is also important context to what happened to Cerlisa,” Petersen said. “If you look at the homicide data, 8% of men are killed by a current or former partner, and with women, more than 50% are killed by a current or former partner.”
Furthermore, women are more likely to experience effects from intimate partner violence, including missing days of work because of injuries and living with fear.
To help educate people on these issues, the event will include panelists from around Hampton Roads. Along with Collins, they include:
- Courtney Pierce, Black and African American advisory chair, Samaritan House
- Kristen Pine, YWCA chief operating officer and co-director, Norfolk Family Justice Center
- Shon Reed, assistant professor in ODU’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice
- Quinci Rockette, intimate partner violence counselor, LGBT Life Center
Collins will share some of her story at the event as well as what she’s written in the book. But she emphasized it’s only part of what happened to her.
“I want to share to women to empower them to speak up and not just live day by day, and let them know that despite the circumstances they will thrive,” Collins said.
At first, you don’t want to believe that a partner is abusive, she said.
“A lot of women love hard and think they can fix their partner to be a better person, or change themselves to change him.”
Copies of “I Will Survive: A Personal Story” are available on Amazon or through ODU’s bookstore. The event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries on Monarch Way. Resources for those experiencing intimate partner violence will be available. The panel will be streamed on Zoom. Organizers ask that both those attending in person and on Zoom register in advance at https://bit.ly/surviveIPV.
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October 28, 2022 at 02:00PM
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Attacked by Ex-Boyfriend, ODU Student Tells Her Story - odu.edu
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