Megan: Mom, attorney, survivor

Megan, an attorney, worked in domestic violence and knew the nuances inside and out. But it’s different, she says, when it happens inside your own home.

“I met my husband when I was working in the DA’s office and fell madly in love.” Early in their relationship, the abuse started. “The first time he laid hands on me was when I was pregnant,” she remembers. He promised it would never happen again. “I wanted to believe that,” Megan said. “And I did believe that.”

One night, though, the violence escalated and the worst and most violent episode happened. They were living overseas for her work, and Megan decided to return home to Milwaukee, knowing that she and her children would need the support of family, as well as professionals trained to help survivors like her. That is what brought her to Sojourner.

“It was really Sojourner that got me to stay away and learn what my life with violence was like and then how to live a life without violence,” she says.

She remembers the first support group she attended. “I couldn’t even speak,” she says. “I didn’t want to admit that I was a victim of abuse.”

Eventually, though, it became where she felt “the most comfortable and the most at home and the most accepted.”

Now, Megan is a leader, serving as a member of Sojourner’s Board of Directors and as a member of VOICES, a group of survivors who speak out to educate about domestic violence. She shares her story because she knows how important it is. “Rates of domestic violence aren’t going down, they are going up,” she says. Before we can solve the violence in our community, we have to fix the violence happening in someone’s home.

“It’s not an easy process,” says Megan, “but it’s a very possible process and it’s one that ends with a lot of happiness.”

Megan is grateful to Sojourner. “In my heart, I really believe they were lifesaving to me and my children.”