COLUMBUS, Ohio — Advocates focused on ending domestic violence said domestic violence was already an epidemic in Ohio prior to the pandemic, however, since the coronavirus has run rampant and stay-at-home orders were put in place, the problem has only gotten worse.

One woman who survived domestic violence is using her experience to help others.

"I thank God for my experience even though I'm left with the scars," said Diona Clark.

Clark said she moved to Columbus in 2004 a couple years after graduating from Howard University. At first, she was traveling back and forth from Dayton, where she is from, to look for a job. Then, she met a guy who she ended up falling for.

"Very charming, very nice looking, very appealing to the eyes I would say, and he and I started to connect," Clark said.

So much so, the two moved in together. Clark said things were going well until he started getting aggressive.

"Seeing those signs that he showed me, I would say I chose to put my blinders on," said Clark.

She said it started with verbal and emotional abuse while her boyfriend was heavily drinking.

"There were the words of, ‘Oh you're fat. Nobody wants you’ or when I'm leaving out of the home like literally checking to see what type of clothes I have on," Clark recalled.

Clark said that behavior lasted for eight months before she decided she had enough and got her own place. Then, a couple weeks later, he showed up drunk.

"He told me, ‘You don't love me. I can go out here and blow my head off. You still wouldn't care,’ and I told him I do care for him but I care for him from a distance," Clark said.

Then he pulled out a gun and shot her in the chest and the arm before shooting himself.

"At this point, I'm like I'm done. This is it for me. I'm getting ready to die. Like, this is my last night existing on Earth," said Clark.

She survived and is now using her experience to help others. She has teamed up with Mary O'Doherty and the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.

"There was a survey done by the CDC within the last 12 years which shows that one in three women is affected by domestic violence," said O'Doherty, Executive Director of ODVN.

ODVN helps survivors get into shelters, receive counseling, child services and go through the court process. Most of its funding comes from federal grants and local donations. In 2019, the biennium state budget allocated $1 million for domestic violence programs.

This time around, O'Doherty is hoping to increase that number to $5 million. Last week, the Ohio House of Representatives called for half that amount.

"We're helping someone go from being dependent on public resources to someone who is going to be an independent, self-sufficient, tax-paying member of society. That's a really big deal," O'Doherty said.

Clark said those resources helped her become the person she is today. Aside from advocating for change, she also helps others as a social worker and has written two books about her experience and even got a law passed.

Clark gave words of hope to those in the situation she was in.

"There is hope,” she said. “That you don't have to be by yourself. I understand that it's a lonely place but you do not have to be by yourself."

Clark’s ex-boyfriend survived the shooting and was in a coma. He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2019, almost 14 years after the incident. Columbus Police apologized to Clark after they admitted they failed to follow up on the case.

He is scheduled to be released next year.​