October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The Boothbay Register's domestic violence resource page has been updated and includes new informational sections just in time for this important month of reflection and learning. The page can be found on both the Register and Wiscasset Newspaper websites.

The resource page was spearheaded and created by staffer Lisa Kristoff. Kristoff received second place in 2014 from the Maine Press Association for a Special Online Project or Section, for her short story, a fictionalized account of a domestic abuse situation, entitled: “Sometimes someone else is you.”

The domestic violence resource page was designed to educate the general public, and victims, about the many forms of domestic violence by abusers — psychological, emotional, physical, sexual, financial and by stalking — on women, children, teens and the elderly.

Family pets also suffer in homes where domestic violence exists. The resource page now includes a section dedicated to dogs and cats, hamsters and horses, with links to the Maine Friends of Animals and the Maine Animal Coalition.

Each October for the past 10 years, the Boothbay Register has run a series of articles and/or features focusing on various forms of domestic violence. This year, one of those articles will be about the response of animal shelters and veterinary offices in cases of abuse against family pets.

A second new section focuses on the Maine Homicide Review Panel and includes a link to download the panel's 2014 report. Another article in the Register's domestic violence series for 2015 will include an in-depth look at the panel and the work it was created to do.

Domestic violence knows no boundaries and its effects are far reaching.

The Register encourages everyone to educate themselves about domestic violence and its many forms. Become savvy about the various ways abusers use technology, particularly cell phones, to torment and control their victims.

As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”

Let's start with our small corner of that world today.