NOTE: This post differs from DVSN’s normal blog content in several ways. It is an extensive exploration of both professional accomplishments and quite personal details in the life of DVSN’s Executive Director, Jacquelin Apsler, who only agreed to this profile if it...
There are many different forms of abuse, from physical and verbal to financial and technological. Psychological abuse can be uniquely damaging because it messes with victims’ minds. “I think, therefore I am,” according to Descartes. But what happens when one can no...
[This post was originally written in January 2025 and information was added in February 2025 to include the Victim and Prisoners Act 2024 coming into effect.] Coercive control is a form of domestic violence that has long been in advocates’ vocabulary but is rarely...
On September 18, 2024, Bill H.4744, “An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation”, went into effect in Massachusetts. This act updates and expands legal language about abuse. It also addresses new technology and its use in abusive behavior and sexual harassment. For...
There are numerous types of abuse from physical and verbal to emotional, spiritual, financial, and technological. While abusers use a variety of tactics to exert power in these different spheres, many of these tactics boil down to the same thing: coercive control....
