Recently, the City of Fort Pierce proclaimed Aug. 3 to Aug. 6 as Narcissistic Abuse Justice Week, in part due to the advocacy of Daniel Ryan Cotler, a Port St. Lucie native who has been pushing for the legal recognition of psychological abuse. He said that the proclamation is a big step.
“Well, first off, it was really validating. Going through the kind of abuse that I endured and everything, there’s like this second injury that happens afterwards, where you kind of get erased by the community that you’re in because people don’t understand it, and they kind of write it off as just a bad breakup or just drama,” he said. “I started reaching out to the cities and stuff, because the way that we get this information out there is to get people to start a conversation, and the city of Fort Pierce is willing to have that conversation. I really thank the mayor for issuing the proclamation and taking the time out to listen to what I had to say. Fort Pierce is saying that they stand with survivors of domestic abuse.”
In addition to his writing and founding the Heal Loudly Movement, Daniel has advocated for legislation to criminalize psychological abuse, define legal terms for it, and establish legal accountability…