StrongHearts Native Helpline has published individual reports about intimate partner violence (IPV) impacting Native Americans and Alaska Natives in all 50 states. Data from the reports was used to form a national picture of IPV among Native peoples in the United States, which is included in StrongHearts’ 2021 Year-End Report, “Sharing Our Stories.”
National findings from StrongHearts’ 2021 Year-End Report included:
- An 82% increase over 2020 in answered phone calls.
- A 381% increase over 2020 in answered chats.
- Phone calls comprised 74% of contacts; chats comprised 25% of contacts; and texts comprised 1% of contacts.
- Native IPV victims faced: abuse at hands of a non-Native partner (60%); have been strangled by their abusive partner (23%); abuser has access to a firearm (17%); experienced cultural abuse (14%); and disclosed being stalked (13%).
- Native IPV victims need: peer support (72%), shelter (35%), legal advocacy (33%), emergency financial aid (17%) and transportation (12%).
- Gaps in Native-centered supportive services create unique barriers for Native victims seeking help. There is a wide disparity of Native versus non-Native service providers in the United States: 60 Native shelters vs. 1,535 non-Native shelters and a total of 266 Native providers vs. 3,511 non-Native providers.
The state reports include information about the types of contacts received by StrongHearts; top barriers faced by Native IPV victims; gender of contacts; types of abuse disclosed by Native IPV victims and the top four items that Native IPV victims need the most.
