My Journey Through a Once Horrendous Childhood Environment
I was a victim of witnessing domestic violence towards my mother by my father during the time I lived with them until the age of 25. I didn’t realise I was a victim of domestic violence until I watched a documentary about it. The documentary was about a child who constantly witnessed her father physically abusing her mother. The situation depicted in the documentary was exactly the same as the one I was in, and both she and her mother had a legally issued protection order, hiding from her father/husband.
My father constantly abused my mother verbally and physically. I vividly remember instances where, if he didn’t like his dinner, he would throw food and shout, “I can’t eat this horrible dinner!” My mother then had to clean up the mess he made; this occasionally happened. When he would come home drunk, he would sometimes hit my mother. I always pretended to be asleep, hoping he would just go to sleep without doing anything harmful. I consistently felt mentally insecure during that time.
If anybody who had/have similar experience as mine, please ask for help. There is how to let others know without speaking on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_for_Help
If you are interested in learning more, additional information is available:
Conducting Interviews with Child Victims of Abuse and Witnesses of Crime: A Practical Guide (Amazon UK)
Child Abuse: An Evidence Base For Confident Practice (Amazon UK)
Child Victims, Child Witnesses: Understanding And Improving Testimony (Amazon UK)