Every nine seconds a woman in the United States is being assaulted or beaten; a staggering statistic that Iowa state lawmakers aimed to change with a new system put in place that's proving to be another resource for domestic violence victims to turn to.

"Close the top and lets pull out the bottom," Yvonne Townsell explained to her 11-year-old son, Trevon Jones as they emptied the dishwasher together.

While it was just dishes when Channel 6 was there, there are also hopes of putting the past away.

A year sober and drug free, Yvonne has worked the program at Omaha's Open Door Mission and is now living on campus, working in housekeeping at an area hotel and paying rent.

Before she got help, she was in an abusive relationship fueled by drugs, alcohol and anger. "I was always raised as the type of person that if you put your hands on me to protect myself. That's basically what I was doing in this relationship, protecting myself. I went to jail because of this situation," says Townsell.

Jail made Townsell face her life. She turned to family and friends for help with her addictions and getting out of the abusive relationship.

That's the first step according outreach advocates at the Catholic Charities Phoenix House in Council Bluffs.

The step after that could involve filing a protection order to keep the abuser away. "When people get served the paperwork, it is one of the scariest times that the victim is facing. You don't know how that respondent is going to respond," says outreach advocate SaraAnn Lampert.

Easing those fears in Iowa is an automated service that lets those who file protection orders know when its been served, and when it is about to expire.

Lampert says navigating a way to get out of a relationship that is abusive is the hardest part, and the IPONDA, which stands for Iowa Protective Order Notification for Domestic Abuse Program makes it that much easier.

Victims in Iowa can register online at registervpo.com or by calling 1-888-742-8463.

Although she never had to file a protection order, Townsell wishes Nebraska had the same program. "Without that protection, I think they'll stay in that relationship and just drown themselves in it."
Now out of the abuse herself, Yvonne is fighting for a better life, she's been working with her son to avoid him making the same decisions she made.

"If Trevon was to see any of it, my mind wasn't thinking right then, so yeah, I'm sorry that he had probably went through some of the things that I had took him through."

Sometimes a protection order can seem like just a piece of paper, that's why at the Phoenix House, all victims are encouraged to have a safety plan.

It sometimes includes a protection order, along with community resources, knowing who to trust and what places to avoid.

Although Nebraska does not have a notification program like Iowa's in place, there are plenty of resources to turn to, including Catholic Charities
and the Women's Center for Advancement, formerly known as the YWCA.