COLUMBUS, Ohio -- "Know better. Do better. Be better." That's the message violence-prevention advocates are hoping catches on among young men and boys in Ohio.

A new social-media campaign from the Ohio Men's Action Network is working toward establishing healthier definitions of masculinity and norms surrounding gender-based violence. Glenn Harris, assistant director of prevention for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, said it starts with an understanding that simple biases can escalate violence.

"Violence just doesn't happen out of nowhere," he said. "It happens on a pyramid. Starting at the very lowest rungs are examples of sexist jokes, racist jokes, different biased comments and things against marginalized populations."

Harris said they're teaching men that they have an important role to play in preventing violence in their homes, in their relationships and their communities. He's hopeful this outreach will help curb the spike in domestic violence that typically occurs around the holidays, which could be exacerbated by the pandemic.

The campaign encourages men to speak up when they hear disrespectful gender-based language, stand up to abusive behavior and lead others by demonstrating respect in words and actions. Harris said they're trying to go outside the boundaries of their typical prevention work.

"It's having these challenging conversations that typically we've steered away from," he said, "and it's having those challenging conversations specifically with men and boys, understanding that a large amount of the perpetrators are young men and boys."

Harris said they're reaching out to young men through schools and universities, community partners and fatherhood organizations, where he described some of their messages as especially powerful.

"And we got a good response from men and fathers, who actually became conscious of their actions and their behavior, and what they're showing to the young people in their homes and in their community," he said. "So, fathers were being introspective in that way."

An initiative at one Ohio nonprofit is taking on the topic of men and sexual violence.

There is a false notion men are not experiencing sexual violence or are only perpetrators of it, but a 2015 study indicated nearly one quarter of men experience sexual violence in their lifetime. At the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the "Engaging Men" initiative is trying to bring men into the conversation.

Jayvon Howard, Engaging Men coordinator for the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, hosts a monthly Instagram live event he calls "Q and A with Jay," the second Wednesday of every month at noon. He said breaking through preexisting beliefs is a big part of the project.

"This issue of sexual violence, especially around male survivorship and male victimization, we don't culturally think that it's real, that it's something that ever happens, and men feel that for themselves as well, or about other men," Howard explained.

Howard emphasized the event offers a safe space for both men and women to learn about resources for survivors and anti-violence strategies. Most questions come from women, and he is hoping to get more men involved.

"It helps kind of uplift and change the narrative a bit that 'OK, maybe this space is for me to be a part of, maybe I can ask questions, maybe it's OK for me to explore this topic safely,' " Howard pointed out.

A new Minnesota law has gone into effect this week involving a program that keeps address information confidential for victims of domestic abuse.

Minnesota's Safe at Home initiative assigns participants a post office box to use as their legal address, to help as they escape an abusive situation or a stalker. It also details how state and local agencies have to respond to data requests without disclosing the person's location. Among the changes is clarification of the requirement that a landlord cannot display a person's name who's in the Safe at Home program.

Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, a main sponsor of the bill, said no major issues prompted the updates, but they're still important.

"As technology changes, too," she said, "that we're sort of making sure that what is in statute matches with the reality of what it's like to live as someone who lives in fear for their safety."

Another change expands the definition of "real property records" that are prohibited from disclosure. Becker-Finn said they had long pushed for these updates, but general political gridlock proved to be an obstacle.

In broader efforts to help abuse and assault victims, Becker-Finn said she would like to see agencies be more responsive and sensitive to those reporting an incident. In many communities, she said, the way survivors are treated can make it harder for them to even file a report.

"I think we do have a ways to go when it comes to that side of things and actually holding people accountable," she said.

Advocacy groups have said Minnesota also must take steps such as committing to testing its backlog of rape kits to better support victims. Recent reforms largely addressed future kits.

Last year, the state did remove a statute of limitations on reporting sexual assault, with the goal of giving survivors more time to decide when to pursue charges.

New work is being done in Ohio to help free people who are caught in the complex web of domestic violence, addiction and mental health.

Cheryl Stahl, who is heading the Ohio Domestic Violence Network's new Substance Use Mental Health Project, said most survivors who seek services are facing multiple traumas and concerns.

"You're working with women who - say, from childhood - have had sexual-abuse experiences and then date people who are abusive," she said "Those people perhaps are using drugs. They get introduced to drugs; they may have mental-health concerns that are being masked by the trauma."

Research indicates that between 47% and 90% of women who seek substance-use disorder treatment say they've experienced domestic violence. Stahl said the project is teaching advocates at shelters about addiction and mental health, and how they can better assist people who struggle with these challenges.

Stahl said domestic-violence survivors can be reluctant to leave because of mental-health and substance-use coercion, when an abuser uses tactics to undermine their sanity and sobriety.

"The abusers will often use substance use particularly as a way of threatening to take custody of children," she said. "You may have the abuser as the person who is providing the drugs and sort of in control of when they get them and when they don't."

Stahl said the training will teach shelter staff how to talk about addiction in ways that encourage change and can connect survivors with peer-support services, and provide help for people who are actively using but not ready to enter treatment.

"Survivors aren't going to shelter necessarily to get off of drugs, that's not what they're seeking that service for," she said. "So, introducing some harm-reduction strategies - safety planning with people on how to hopefully prevent overdose."

Stahl said some of the work will focus on identifying brain injury as it pertains to substance use and mental health. The three-year project is starting in seven counties and Stahl said she hopes to expand it to 30 shelters.