Kay Mixon is the executive director of the Cumbee Center to Assist Abused Persons .

1. What is the Cumbee Center?

The Cumbee Center is a nonprofit organization established in 1979 to coordinate existing services and emergency assistance for domestic-violence victims and their families, as well as development of an emergency shelter program in Aiken County. The center later expanded to include services such as rape crisis counseling for sexual abuse.

2. Is it only women who suffer from domestic violence?

Men get abused, also. It's a lower number who report it. Most are ashamed to admit it.

3. What type of help is available to victims?

We provide counseling. There is someone on call 24/7. At 5 a.m., if the phone rings in our shelter, there is a body there answering. We have beepers. We go to the (emergency room); we take clothes for rape victims; anything the other victims need, we are there for them. We provide shelter. We do the crisis counseling. We have two master-level counselors, and one is licensed doing therapy here.

4. According to a study released by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety last year, Aiken County has the highest rate of sexual violence against children in the state. Why do you think that is?

You would like to say, well, that's just some that are low-income, uneducated, but it's not. It happens in all social groups. Three-fourths of Aiken County is rural area. They don't always have services right there. Transportation is a problem. So when it's in a family and that family is kind of isolated, it continues on until someone steps in and breaks the cycle.

5. Can an abuser be cured?

In 1993, we started a batterer's treatment program called Unity. We have an 82 percent success rate with that. You have to deal with the problem, and the batterer is the problem.