Domestic violence is a hidden scourge in American society. It’s the kind of thing no victim wants to admit suffering, often not even to herself. Victims of domestic violence sometimes blame themselves for their plight, and they sometimes try to convince themselves that things would be better if they’d just treat their abusers better. They begin to believe the degrading things their abusers often say about them.

What they need — and what’s so especially hard for most victims of domestic violence — is a boost of self confidence and a plan. A free seminar set for Tuesday at Triple T Sports Center is designed to help women develop exactly those things.

Citizens will receive specialized self-defense training from defense tactics instructors and will be able to connect with several community resources that can help them. They will be told the importance of having an escape plan to put into action when abuse takes place, and they will learn the key elements necessary to make such an escape possible for them — a spare set of keys hidden somewhere, for example.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women ages 15 to 44 in the United States, according to the Suffolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, which is sponsoring the seminar along with a variety of other agencies. A woman is beaten in the United States every nine seconds, statistics show. The violence affects not only the partner who is abused, but also children in the home who observe the violence.

Tuesday’s seminar is designed to help break that cycle. But mostly organizers want abused women to know, in the words of Diane Bryant, director of victim/witness services in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office: “Every situation is not necessarily helpless or hopeless.”

Those words can empower victims of domestic abuse. And isn’t it time there was a shift in the power structure of such relationships? For more information, call 514-4373.