Domestic violence should never happen to anyone. Saddening statistics show that globally, one out of three women has been physically assaulted by a person close to them such as a husband, boyfriend or ex boy-friend. As a result, a lot of women and children have not been able to escape this heinous act. The moment her then boy-friend tried to hit her and then threw her down the stairs was the turning point for Deborah Alessi. She survived the abuse but the action completely changed her life. Later in life, Deborah, a business woman, decided to start a non-profit organization to offer assistance to other women that have been in situations such as domestic violence. She may not be able to stop such incidents from happening, but she certainly has contributed greatly towards giving back these victims a new start on life and helping them leave their traumatic pasts behind. She appropriately named it €Face Forward' and it is based in Los Angeles. Her organization is mostly inclined to helping women and children. Her foundation seeks out domestic violence and gang aggression survivors and takes care of their medical expenses for reconstructive surgery. This is because most of these victims have few treatment options and may not be able to afford the same. She has enlisted the help of her plastic surgeon husband in this selfless endeavor. Dr David Alessi has been performing plastic for close to more than 23 years.

How they do it

To be able to achieve their objective, the Alessis work hand in hand with community leaders as well as community centers. The elders help to identify the victims who that are committed to their physical and emotional recovery. The victims must present evidence of the incident in order to receive help. Such evidence may include documents like police reports and medical records. The community centers with legal assistance, job searches and places to live. The organization also urges the victims to leave their abusive relationships or get out of the violent situations.

Apart from reconstructive surgery, the organization also offers psychological therapy for these victims. After the victim goes through the healing process, she is expected to come back and give back to the society by simply volunteering to assist other women and children that are going through the same problems of domestic violence or gang aggression.
Funding

To take away the ugly physical and emotional scars that have been left on survivors, the organization depends mostly on donations, and events like auctions to take care of their expenses for reconstruction
Even though she cannot stop the beastly acts from occurring, Deborah has devoted her time to helping victims to be able to get their smiles back, be re-integrated into the society, to get jobs and start life all over again.