Earlier this month, I stepped into another woman’s shoes and experienced what her life felt like leading up to her murder.

Her name was Lena Petrovich.

For about half an hour, I was Petrovich, a 23-year-old Ukranian. I fell in love with my pen pal’s “beautiful, thoughtful” letters — something right out of a romance novel.

I could barely speak English when I came to the United States, so when my husband raped me, it was difficult to communicate with police, doctors and homeless shelter staff.

Sometimes I went back to my husband after he beat me. But he quickly became angry and accused me of flirting with other men.

On one particular Thanksgiving night, I made an effort not to put on any make-up. I didn’t want him to think that I was going out of my way to look nice for other men who were gathered for a dinner party. I did speak with one of his relatives and later, during our drive home, my husband yelled at me. I told him I didn’t want to ignore his relative and be rude.

He shot me in the chest seven times.

My experience was part of a role-playing workshop called In Her Shoes. The event was hosted by the Federal Way and Tukwila Municipal courts, The Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission and St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

A community education tool, In Her Shoes is designed for learning about domestic violence and its impacts on the community.

Each participant during the event picked a card that included information on a particular domestic violence survivor or victim. As we roamed around the room at the St. Vincent de Paul Parish, selecting different cards for different scenarios, some of us were given Bandaids or slings to put on. Some of us were given flowers after our batterers wooed us back to them.

The most challenging part about being a domestic violence survivor was navigating the different obstacles that women face, from language to transportation barriers.

I reflected on those barriers at the end of my journey in Petrovich’s shoes, when I sat in an area labeled as a funeral home and held a candle alongside other “victims,” including Federal Way Deputy Mayor Jeanne Burbidge.

It’s not as simple as asking a woman to leave a man who hurts her.

I also listened to Judge Dave Larson cite statistics, including that there were 1,245 crimes against persons in Federal Way in 2012; 757 of those calls qualified as domestic violence crimes.

But it’s difficult to sum up such a broad issue in one newspaper article.

So next month, the Mirror will launch a domestic violence series, also entitled In Her Shoes. While October marks domestic violence awareness month, it’s important we remember that the issue affects our community all year long.

Mirror staff will interview survivors, local police and judges, as well as experts involved in treating offenders.

I hope this series will shine a light on domestic violence and the families the issue impacts. I hope you will take a walk In Her Shoes to help prevent others from becoming domestic violence victims.