Mujeres Unidas y Activas: romper los ciclos de violencia con información

Domestic violence doesn't always leave marks you can see. More often, it starts quietly — with control, with belittling words, with isolation from family, with the slow erosion of a person's confidence in her own judgment. By the time physical abuse appears, if it ever does, the deeper damage may already be done.

That was the central message Mirna Ruiz, who manages the Mental Health Program at Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), delivered during a recent appearance on Alianza Contra la Violencia Doméstica, a radio program hosted by journalist Rossana Drumond. Ruiz spoke about mental health, prevention, and the free services her organization offers to immigrant women and survivors of abuse — resources that organizers say can be the difference between staying trapped in a cycle of violence and finding a way out.

"[Information is power]," Ruiz said during the interview, as Vida Newspaper reported. A person who is informed is better able to recognize abusive situations, know her rights, and find resources to overcome the barriers that stop so many women — especially immigrant women — from asking for help.

A space to be heard, not judged

Mujeres Unidas y Activas has spent decades doing community-based work with women over 18 and people who identify as women, with a particular focus on immigrant, Latina, and Indigenous women. Its origin story, as Ruiz told listeners, grew out of an effort to understand the conditions facing immigrant household workers — research that surfaced injustice and abuse, and led to something bigger.

"That's where the idea begins to generate — to create a space where women can feel in confidence, validated, and not judged, to be able to talk about the situations they are living," Ruiz said, according to Vida Newspaper.

That concept of community runs through everything MUA does. For Ruiz, asking for help should never mean a woman has to face a complicated system alone — especially when language barriers, immigration-related fears, or simple lack of information stand in the way.

Free counseling and real accompaniment

Among the services Ruiz highlighted are one-on-one counseling, accompaniments, and support groups, along with referrals to partner organizations when a specific need calls for other kinds of help. MUA also runs workshops on domestic violence, self-esteem, nutrition, and parenting, plus activities aimed at mothers, caregivers, and grandmothers. All of it is free.

Accompaniment holds a special place in the organization's philosophy. It's not about handing someone a phone list — it's about being present through a process that can be emotionally wrenching, and helping a woman understand she isn't facing it by herself.

Ruiz put it plainly: "That this woman can confirm that she is not alone in facing this — that alone is a great help."

For someone who has spent years living under fear, control, or constant devaluation, that kind of steady support can be transformative. Rebuilding a sense of capability and self-trust, Ruiz explained, is often an essential part of recovery.

MUA's support groups offer something similar. When participants hear other women describe what they've survived — and see them moving forward, starting businesses, chasing new goals — the effect can be profound. "You see that woman able to speak about what happened, share her experience, moving forward, starting a business or pursuing other goals, and you say — if she could get out of that, I can too," Ruiz recounted.

Prevention means naming what's been normalized

Ruiz was clear that domestic violence is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Immigrant women can face additional obstacles: language difficulties, fear tied to immigration status, or simply not understanding how the service system works in the United States.

"Domestic violence is not a homogeneous situation for all communities," she said.

That's why prevention, in MUA's view, requires services that are culturally appropriate and accessible. The organization offers services in Spanish and also works with women from the Mam Indigenous community, some of whom face an added barrier because they don't speak Spanish at all.

Prevention also means challenging cultural patterns that can make certain forms of abuse seem normal — the expectation that a woman can't question her partner, or that control is a form of love. "We try… to break those cycles of domestic violence through raising awareness of what violence is, through prevention with information," Ruiz said.

Workshops on domestic violence and self-esteem are part of that effort, helping women identify behaviors and consequences that often aren't immediately recognizable as abuse. Ruiz placed special emphasis on the loss of self-esteem — the moment a woman begins to believe she can't make her own decisions — as one of the clearest warning signs.

Why it matters in the 805

For Oxnard, where a large share of residents are Latino and many households include immigrants, the message lands close to home. Domestic violence affects more than the person experiencing it — it touches children, extended family, and the wider community. And October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, is precisely when organizations like MUA work hardest to make sure people know where to turn.

The takeaway from Ruiz's interview is deceptively simple: knowing the signs, knowing your rights, and knowing an organization exists that will listen without judgment can be the first step out of a cycle that too often repeats across generations.

For women in Oxnard and across the 805 who recognize themselves in these words, the starting point is the same one Ruiz kept returning to — reaching out. As she and her colleagues at MUA have seen again and again, the moment a woman realizes she is not alone is often the moment everything else becomes possible.