COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)– A Central Ohio domestic violence survivor and advocate has a message for those in abusive situations: You are not crazy and there is help.

“There is hope,” said Marica Phipps, CEO & founder of Battered Not Broken. “There are people out there that are there to help you, that understand, me myself being one of them, and that’s why I started this organization is because I’ve been through it.”

Columbus Chief of Police Elaine Bryant said the shooting death of a 1-year-old girl near Polaris Tuesday night was a domestic violence situation. The baby’s father, 28-year-old William S. Roberts, has been arrested.

Bryant said the shooting of both the mother and the baby happened inside a home. Then, she said Roberts put the mother and girl into a car and crashed that car before carjacking another couple’s vehicle and crashing it as well.

Phipps, herself, nearly lost her life at the hands of an ex-partner in 2013. She says she understands how difficult abusive situations are and how women may feel judged, but her organization and several others throughout Central Ohio will help without judgment.

“Follow your intuition. Your gut never leads you wrong,” she said. “If you know that you are in an unsafe situation, if you have just a little bit of doubt that this man is not good for me, he’s not good for my children or if he has a temper, that’s all you need right there. You don’t need anybody to tell you to leave, to go. You take what you feel in your gut and go with that.”

If you need help, call the Ohio Domestic Violence Network at 614-781-9651 or reach out to your local domestic violence program, which can be found by searching on odvn.org or batterednotbroken.org.

Many programs offer emergency shelter, legal advocacy, support groups, and counseling.

You can watch the full interview with Marica Phipps in the video below.