Whether or not you realize it, you probably know a victim-survivor of domestic violence.

"One in six women and one in nine men are victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives," said Shana Stringfellow, the coordinator of victim advocacy services at the Northern Illinois University Women's Resource Center. "Three out of four people know someone who has been through that."

When most people hear the term "domestic violence," they think of a physically abusive relationship between a husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend, Stringfellow said. But the Office on Violence Against Women, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, defines it as "a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure or wound someone."