VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — "I was in an abusive situation... My family couldn't help me. I didn't have any financial help anywhere."
Those words are from Colleen Gorman, a domestic violence survivor who credits the Samaritan House in Virginia Beach with helping her escape a very dark chapter of her life and rebuild.
Gorman remembers the day it had escalated to a frightening point.
"It was 2015 Christmas. My two boys had left the house to go hang around with their friends. It was Christmas Day and I said, go ahead, go, go, go, go. I didn't want them to hear the badgering that had started up again," Gorman said. "My husband badgering me and calling me the names and the things that a man of that caliber did. I mean he just... I couldn't do right when his things were bad in his life it was projected out to me."
She and her 6-year-old daughter were still in the home.
"I was in the bedroom with my daughter. And he banged the door and banged the door and banged the door — we wouldn't come out," Gorman recalled. "He got the door off the hinge, busted it off the hinge. At this point I'm in the closet with my daughter. On the phone with my sister in Florida and she called the police."
The police did arrive, but officers said they couldn't force Gorman's husband out of the house, prompting her to take shelter at a friend's home.
"I went to a friend's house that he didn't know where she lived," Gorman said.
And during that time, "Samaritan House contacted me and told me they had a place for me," Gorman remembers. But, it was more than just a place to stay.
"They gave me clothes, you know, when I left that day on Christmas Day, I only left with what I could drag out of there. I was able to go into a clothes pantry and pick up clothes, and then for my 6-year-old daughter — who didn't have clothes — they gave me a gift card to take her to Walmart and buy clothing," Gorman said. "It meant the world. It meant the world because I didn't have anything else, nothing else."
Samaritan House also offered meetings and taught Gorman computer skills to help her fill out job applications.
"I was raising three children with an alcoholic addict, bipolar narcissist," Gorman said. "So I didn't have really any education besides what I taught myself and what high school gave me. And Samaritan House gave me the strength that I could do it."
With their support, Gorman gained confidence, secured a job, and was promoted to manager within three months.
"That was such a big: 'ah, I did it, I did this, I can do it,' you know it was a big step and they helped me get an apartment at that point once I had a regular paycheck coming in," Gorman said. "They made me feel love where I needed it so bad. I didn't have that and Samaritan House gave all of that to me. With the grace of God and this program, I wouldn't be who I am right now."
When asked what her message is to other women in similar situations, Gorman said to get help.
The Samaritan House's 24/7 hotline is 757-430-2120. For more information click here.
