Concerns over domestic violence continue as the COVID-19 pandemic forces people to stay home.
Neisha Himes said she knows what it’s like to be the survivor of domestic violence.
She is the founder of the non-profit G.R.O.W. Foundation, an agency that helps survivors, and she works as a Domestic Violence Outreach Liaison for the Newport News Police Department.
She said the pandemic is making it tough for people to seek help and is putting an added strain on many families. She said COVID-19 is forcing victims to spend more time with their abusers in many cases. For many people, home is not a safe place, but they are being told to stay home.
To help survivors, she took action and wrote an adult coloring book that’s filled with quotes from local survivors, images and her own poetry. The book is illustrated by Disha Kedia Gupta of Not Just Doodle.