REFLECTIONS | RIE PEARSON

Title

What Rie Pearson Taught Me About Surviving Domestic Violence

The Story

Rie, a former domestic abuse police officer, now educates young women and families on recognising relationship red flags. She shares her own experiences of abuse, her time in the justice system, and her disillusionment with how society treats the most vulnerable.

Opening

I’d been wanting to interview someone who had been in the police force, as I think their perspective on life is quite surreal. They operate every working day seeing what could be deemed as the worst of society, and then go home at night to a different environment. That has surely got to affect how you walk through life, and can that be shut off.

What Stayed With Me

Although Rie was at the front of helping people and dealing with issues, seeing crime on a daily basis, she was still becoming a victim herself. Sometimes this becomes reality as we settle onto noraml behaviour, routine, and when you add a family, the options are a little more complicated to resolve. You can’t just walk away.

What resonated with me is the fact that Rie took control of her life, saw it, understood that a decision needed to be made and did it. You might think, “Well you’d expect that from a police officer”. Not really. As I’ve just mentioned she went home, away from a different more extreme environment than she was used to. You might not see it as bad as you would if you had a different job.

The Bigger Reflection

Courage, strength and the ability to help others. Changing her purpose in life to help others because the day job, the law, wasn’t doing as much as what Rie could on her own. Definitely something to take onboard when you are lost and looking for that purpose yourself.

A Line I Won’t Forget

“I wish abusive people would just stop doing that”

The words of an exhausted person seeing the same thing over and over again. It would be easy to give up, move away from, doing something else.

Rie doesn’t. She stays. She helps. She finds a way because people need her.

Closing Thought

What more can I add to the above. I think the take away is just help. Reach out. Don’t hold back in asking someone if they are ok, and because they say “yes it’s fine” might be something that needs a little more attention in the near future.

It’s tricky. Sticking your nose into someone’s business, when it might be “fine”, but I think it’s worth the risk by asking. It could save someone’s life.