It is never too late in the month of October to ring the bell. It is Domestic Violence Awareness Month: the month we devote ourselves with insistence, to raising awareness about domestic violence. We want survivors to know we are here when they need us, and we want allies to know we are here to inspire their continued support.

The year has been filled with massive challenges of enormous proportion. The community, our leaders, and system operatives were focused on health, hunger and the economy. All warranting a laser focus. With so much at stake, and so much unknown. This only grew, as time passed.

The pandemic required functional and operational adjustments at the Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC), similar to other businesses, government agencies and community organizations.

We needed personal protective equipment (PPE), office deep cleaning and additional cleaning supplies, disinfectants, and hygiene items for the office and staff. We installed plexiglass partitions for meeting rooms and the reception area to comply with physical distancing guidelines. In addition, DVAC provides masks for staff and clients in need.

Laptops and software licenses needed by staff working from home to access the agency’s server and computer files have also been challenges. With budget shrinkage on everyone’s mind. Do we abandon our island families?

While complying and pivoting, all we could really think about was the number of people who are prisoners at home, under the complete control of their abusive partner. The only person an abuser has control over, (this is heightened during times when they feel powerless), is their partner. For victim survivors they had no respite, no job to go to, no way to escape, no school drop offs, no church services to attend. Nowhere to go. No privacy, fewer options.

Unyielding terror sets in for us at that recognition. Right? This should be a shared community perspective. Not yet. Let’s dedicate ourselves in the year ahead, to think about what is going on behind closed doors.

Business leaders, educators, clergy, child care providers, families, neighbors, co-workers, elected and appointed leaders may ignore this problem; it will be at our collective peril. The trauma experienced by people who are brutalized behind closed doors carry that with them to school, work, church and marketplace. I have been accused of exaggerating the problem. It is my deepest wish that, at this moment, our experiences at DVAC and my professional experience impart the mandate to name, respond, act and prevent harm in the family. The emotional toll and the real cost to us is predictable. Corrections, health care, business, law enforcement, courts, schools all pay a price. Pay now or pay later. Early intervention is a best practice.

At DVAC, staff had 18,549 client contacts since April; Helpline received 1,849 calls, and 4,250 safety plans were completed with survivors whose lives define the absence of safety. We made some program pivots, to serve those whose safety was evaporating with every day that went by. A chat feature was added to our website: It averaged 4,000 visits each month.

We also added a text feature to our Helpline. Making a telephone call with an abuser nearby, listening, monitoring, controlling communications is impossible; 427 texts were sent to the program. We extended these services to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In spite of the limitations faced by victims, DVAC’s statewide Helpline reports a 46% increase in contacts. During the same time period, DVAC’s provision of legal information to domestic violence survivors increased by 22%. Domestic violence is a consequence of the pandemic.

Safe families are at the core of a healthy community. This remains one of our most robust and enlightened community goals.

Nanci Kreidman is executive director of the Domestic Violence Action Center.