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Speaker 1: In January is Stalking Awareness Month, and new research shows

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Speaker 1: it's not just frightening, it can be dangerous. A major

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Speaker 1: Harvard study finds stalking can dramatically raise a woman's risk

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Speaker 1: of heart disease. And here to explain why this is

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Speaker 1: a public health issue, we're joined by Maricella Real Faust,

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Speaker 1: CEO of Human Options and Orange County nonprofit working to

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Speaker 1: end relationship violence. Good morning, Maricella.

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Speaker 2: Good morning.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk about having sure. Let's talk about this

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Speaker 1: Harvard study. It links stalking to higher rates of heart disease.

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Speaker 1: Why is that such a critical wake up call?

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Speaker 2: It's critical because it's important to understand that when someone

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Speaker 2: is being stocked, most of us will say, oh that

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Speaker 2: you can call the police, and or that's something that's

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Speaker 2: a little scary that we don't quite understand the long

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Speaker 2: term effects that it has. So someone when someone's being stacked,

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Speaker 2: it causes comic stress, which really then that individual, if

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Speaker 2: they aren't able to get help, or if they aren't

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Speaker 2: able to get support, they are not going to be

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Speaker 2: able to work through that stress. That then clauses longer

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Speaker 2: term health issues, So that risk.

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Speaker 1: Then jumps even higher for women who seek restraining orders.

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Speaker 1: What does that tell us about where survivors are in

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Speaker 1: this cycle of trauma.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. So survivors when they're accessing

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Speaker 2: legal support or they're attempting to get some legal support,

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Speaker 2: whether the restraining order or some other type of legal remedy,

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Speaker 2: what happens is, oftentimes abusers will use the legal system

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Speaker 2: to create more abusive situations. They will go and intimidate

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Speaker 2: them in courthouses. Oftentimes weave tied survivors in the courthouse

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Speaker 2: trying to get a restraining order, and the abusive partner

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Speaker 2: will do things in that setting to see more anxiety

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Speaker 2: and stress, whether that is physically intimidating by curly really

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Speaker 2: close to them, not removing, like locking in eyesight wise, gesturing,

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Speaker 2: making rude comments. Where then that survivor is getting more

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Speaker 2: and more anxious and stress for their lives and also

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Speaker 2: really sort of that detrimental second guessing of whether they're

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Speaker 2: doing the right thing, and all of that create again

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Speaker 2: long term anxiety, stress and depression for a survivor.

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Speaker 1: Now, why do you think it's important to reframe stocking

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Speaker 1: as a healthcare emergency and not just a legal or

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Speaker 1: emotional issue.

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Speaker 2: Well, this Harbord study clearly tells us that there are

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Speaker 2: long term effects. Right one is, forty one percent are

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Speaker 2: more likely to develop heart disease and seventy percent are

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Speaker 2: at risk. For developed Women with restraining orders are seventy

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Speaker 2: percent higher risk of developing heart disease. If we don't

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Speaker 2: pay attention to this, we are not really doing our

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Speaker 2: job in helping prevent heart disease or other issues that

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Speaker 2: affect women. It's important to note that stocking today is

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Speaker 2: something that is preventable or something that we could address.

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Speaker 2: And again, it's the long term effects that we don't

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Speaker 2: often think about that have more loans from health issues

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Speaker 2: and implications for anyone who's been abused.

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Speaker 1: Whenever I hear about studies like this or situations where

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Speaker 1: someone is being stocked in this way, I always my

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Speaker 1: first instinct is to say, how can I help or

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Speaker 1: what can I do so? What kind of trauma informed

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Speaker 1: support do survivors need? And what warning signs should family

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Speaker 1: and friends or doctors be watching for.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one is really fundamentally asking if you're witnessing somebody

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Speaker 2: who is living in a situation where they are being

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Speaker 2: abused and or stocked, it's asking that individual if they

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Speaker 2: feel safe, what support you could provide to them getting

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Speaker 2: them connected to counseling services. At Human Options we provide

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Speaker 2: counseling services, safe housing, and advocacy, which often is a

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Speaker 2: way of walking alongside survivors so that they can get

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Speaker 2: connected to those needed services and navigate a system that

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Speaker 2: can be very complex. Often it's really helping survivors understand

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Speaker 2: why they are feeling in a particular way. You know,

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Speaker 2: when you're height and stress, your blood pressure is raised,

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Speaker 2: you can't sleep, you can't do any of those things

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Speaker 2: in really helping them understand the physical toll that that's

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Speaker 2: taking on them. Again, really emphasize with that individual, let

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Speaker 2: them know you're there to support them, connect with them,

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Speaker 2: and let them know that they're not alone, because often

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Speaker 2: many of these situations still very isolating to an individual

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Speaker 2: who's experiencing it, and they need to still for connect

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Speaker 2: it to someone.

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Speaker 1: And you know, oftentimes we hear about instances of stalking

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Speaker 1: after it's too late, after something terrible has happened to

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Speaker 1: the victim and the person that's the target of stalking.

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Speaker 1: Can you speak to about if you have any information

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Speaker 1: or numbers related to how often there are instances of

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Speaker 1: stalking that's happening. I know you're in Orange County, but

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Speaker 1: can you speak to how often this is actually a

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Speaker 1: problem or an issue there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so statistics say it's one and six women who

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Speaker 2: experienced talking the other. It's often minimized. Again, sometimes when

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Speaker 2: someone is being stocked in the early stages of it

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Speaker 2: is they're not quite sure. It's like, oh, we just happened.

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Speaker 2: If I'm been to each other and that was on.

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Speaker 2: This person seems to be showing up everywhere that I'm at,

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Speaker 2: and so there's a there's an element of not fully

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Speaker 2: believing that it's happening, and then once it's happening, not

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Speaker 2: being able to fully being able to fully communicate that

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Speaker 2: to somebody who is a friend or a a relative

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Speaker 2: that individual. If you don't understand the tactics somebody goes

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Speaker 2: to it's it's not normal for me to be running

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Speaker 2: and all of a sudden somebody shows up on the trail. Right,

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Speaker 2: those are things that are that are clear instances of stocking,

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Speaker 2: or somebody who stands outside your house and is monitoring

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Speaker 2: you at all hours of the night, or somebody who

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Speaker 2: clearly knows all of your moves and is showing up.

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Speaker 2: We've had instances like that where it's it's difficult for

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Speaker 2: the person who's being abused to describe that because what

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Speaker 2: happens is even when they reach out for some sort

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Speaker 2: of legal remedy, then that they have to explain what's happening,

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Speaker 2: and sometimes it's just difficult to prove. So why I

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Speaker 2: found these flowers outside my door? And so you're having

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Speaker 2: to justify, well, how do you know they left the flowers?

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Speaker 2: You know, how do they note with them? Do they

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Speaker 2: have any business there? Maybe that's what they Maybe they

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Speaker 2: were at the grocery store at the same time. Maybe

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Speaker 2: they weren't following you. So there's a lot of that

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Speaker 2: that happens, where there's so much explaining that we have

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Speaker 2: to do to the general public that oftentimes survivors begin

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Speaker 2: to believe that they well, maybe this isn't really happening

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Speaker 2: and it's not that big a deal.

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Speaker 1: And this is truly such a double pronged issue here

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Speaker 1: when you're talking about people being able to recognize the

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Speaker 1: signs of stalking and then also recognize physically what's happening

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Speaker 1: to them while stalking is happening, while they're the victims

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Speaker 1: of stalking. So I'm so glad we had the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to talk about this and hopefully shed some light on

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Speaker 1: this situation. So Mary Sala, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for taking the time