PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — October is Domestic Violence awareness month but due to the coronavirus pandemic, advocates say they are seeing a shift in the request for services.

When home becomes dangerous, domestic violence shelters like CASA becomes a safe haven. For years, CASA CEO Lariana Forsythe has dedicated her time to helping those victims in Pinellas County.

“As a domestic violence survivor, I felt compelled to come and share my story and my background with survivors who need help,” Forsythe explained.

In Pinellas County, on average she said she sees more than 6,000 reported cases of abuse and the county falls between the sixth and seventh highest in the state for the most domestic violence cases reported. 

“It’s really important to understand that just because there’s 6,000 reported cases of domestic violence, there’s so much more domestic violence going on that we don’t talk about, we don’t recognize and it goes under reported,” she revealed.

Forsythe mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for victims because they think CASA only provides shelter but she said there are so many other services available and they’re all confidential.

“Calls to our hotline have average an increased of 10 to 20 percent over the previous year,” she stated. “People are calling for help but they are asking for services other than just shelter.”

CASA offers prevention services for adults and children, even training for doctors and anyone in a profession who might interact with someone who may need help

Forsythe continued to say, “It’s important if somebody is living in an environment like that, that they’re paying attention, maybe hearing this story and understanding that those indicators could be very very dangerous and they need to call and get someone to give them some assistance.”

CASA has several events coming up throughout the month where anyone can get information on how to help others or themselves.