"Let me start by introducing myself."

"My name is Joshua, and I am the Founder & Director of The Utah Bunker House. Many people in society do not take it as seriously when a man is abused.  I was one of those people until it happened to me. Thats right, I am a Male SURVIVER of Domestic Violence. When the person I thought i knew and loved snapped one night, without any warning, pinning me down, and choking me, I thought, should I fight back or hit her to get her off of me so she would stop choking me? Like most men out there, I was afraid to fight back or defend myself out of fear that I would be the one going to jail even if it was self-defense and not her. With her on top choking me, it became a matter of life or death at that point once i got her off of me. After i had gotten to my feet and caught my breath, i turned to see her holding a knife. Long story short, after the worst night of my life being choked and held at knife point for what seemed like an eternity, I walked away that night, thankful to be alive. One of the officers that had responded even went as far as to praise me for how I handled the entire situation saying that he couldn't have done a better job if he tried. He continued by saying that you could hear the fear in my voice on the recording, yet somehow, I walked away after thinking I would be going to jail Sadly, just a few short months later, I was unlawfully evicted from my apartment, (that's correct.) and ended up homeless for two and a half years. During my two and a half years homeless, I sadly got a firsthand look into how little if any help there was and still is, not just here in the state of Utah. but throughout the entire United States for male victims of Domestic Violence and other like crimes. To make matters worse, (during a time when everyone began hating the homeless) add to that, I was also a male victim of Domestic Violence and to hear of a man being the victim......well its almost if ever unheard of."   

 "I was laughed at, called names, told I was weak, that I wasn't a man if i let that happen to me, that I made it up, or if it did happen that i was the one that did the abusing and more.  I had but lost all hope and was at that breaking point in my life where I was wanting to simply just give up and even went as far as to look for a way out, ANY way out. That is until one day someone said this to me on the phone: ("It sounds to me that if the opportunity were to arise to start and run an all-male Domestic Violence Shelter in Utah, you would do so") to which I responded: ("your damn right I would.") Later that night I laid awake thinking to myself, ("why wait for someone to come along and say they are going to do it, when I'm the kind of person when I say I am going to do something I do it.") It was then, in that moment I knew something had to be done to help other male victims, so that no man would ever have to go through what I had gone through nor alone. I could not, sit back and see, read, or hear of another man going through what I went through, finding little to any support or committing suicide. 

"The truth is, abuse of ANY kind, IS NOT A JOKE!

Not in ANY situation, between ANY two people,

NOT at ANY time!!!” 

Since that day, I have it my mission to see that there are adequate resources available for other male victims of Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner/Spousal Abuse, Narcissistic Rage/Abuse, as well as Sexual Abuse here in Utah."