The Victim Assistant 🐼

 Boundaries are beautiful. Boundaries increase self-esteem, helps to promote independence, autonomy, and helps you conserve your emotional energy for self. On the flip side, building up walls comes from a place of defensiveness but, setting healthy boundaries comes from a place of love for self. So let's explore how to connect with others through healthy rules and guidelines when it comes to intimacy, communication and interpersonal relationships. We learn about boundaries early on in life through our culture, family dynamics, and our environment. Boundaries can change over the years as our minds grow and perspectives change. As we mature, our perspectives can shift. We begin to have a better understanding of who we are and what we are comfortable with. Through self-reflection we often can begin to define and identify the boundaries that we need to set in place and with whom. Boundaries are flexible because situations and circumstances change in relationships and there is sometimes

 The other day, my former co-worker and friend checked in on me and updated me on our former digs. We both worked in the family violence unit and she was a detective. She investigated family violence and sex crimes cases and also worked with me as a liaison in the community. Together, we both sat on a domestic violence fatality review board and worked a daily detail that focused on advocates and officers working cases together so they can provide the best services to victims of crime. The benefits of community engagement and specialized investigative units, in law enforcement, allows for us to create safer communities and increased justice for victims of violent crimes like domestic violence and sexual assault. My friend mentioned that the police agency we worked for recently reallocated resources away from the specialized domestic violence unit and gave a position to another squad. Our upset came from the fact that we know the impact of domestic violence in our community. People would