Kickboxer turned author talks domestic violence with college students

DYERSBURG, Tenn. — Leaders discussed domestic violence and its effect on a community Thursday morning to a group of students and professionals at Dyersburg State Community College.

“This is a way to bring real-life practitioners to the students’ reality,” Dyersburg State criminal justice professor Michael Brooks said.

The morning’s speaker, Scott Thorson, a kickboxer and now author, was a victim of domestic violence and shared his story.

“At any given night, I could hear my dad beating and raping my mom, and ultimately what happened is, as a child growing up, I didn’t know how to feel, how to love, and I didn’t know how to be loved,” Thorson said.

Brooks said this topic is something often discussed with students. “Real-life practitioners telling their personal stories, or how they interact, is helpful to our students to put it into focus what domestic violence involves and entails.”

Thorson hopes those who hear his experience will find a way to overcome the types of obstacles he’s faced.

“It’s a hole that I tried to fill with everything from drugs to alcohol, to fighting professionally, failed relationships, and nothing seemed to work. But when I got my life right with God, everything kind of fell into place,” Thorson said.

Domestic violence’s danger to children, legal issues for victims, and how law enforcement reacts to these situations were all discussed.

For more information about resources for victims of domestic violence, visit the Wo/Men’s Resource & Rape Assistance Program website.