LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Looking back on the past is not a fond activity for Nicholas Bryant.
It’s a history stained by domestic violence.
“I was in a rough spot. I got into heavy drinking at an early age. I actually became someone who hurt people and hurt the ones that I love,” Bryant said.
It took years for Bryant to break out of that vicious cycle, when he was given no other option.
“I end up getting arrested, honestly. They gave me an ultimatum, man. It was like you’re going to go to jail for this or you going to take these classes and going to try to get right,” Bryant said.
Bryant found reform through Safe Nest’s Batterers Intervention Program.
From CEO Liz Ortenburger’s perspective, to learn how to bring down domestic violence, prevention leaders need to learn about it from the source.
“We are never going to get to a solution for domestic violence…if we don’t work with abusive partners,” Ortenburger said.
“If the survivor decides to leave, that survivor has left a vacancy for a new survivor to be created. If we haven’t dealt with the root cause of this.”
Ortenburger told FOX5 last year alone, 22,000 domestic violence cases went through Clark County courts.
She maintained intervention can help bring down mass incarceration.
Buy in from participants like Bryant back up that claim.
“I feel remorse every day. That’s something that probably would never go away. Something that I have to deal with. I use my story to help other people,” Bryant said.
“You got to face it, you got to deal with it. You’re going to have to take accountability. You’re going to have to understand that. Even though you did these wrong things, there is a right path to take, but you have to want to change. The first step is wanting to change wanting to be better.”
Safe Nest spoke to FOX5 in June about a spike in domestic violence homicides in the valley.
As of now, there are 15 homicides connected to domestic violence in 2025, the leading known cause of murders in Las Vegas this year, according to Las Vegas Metro Police statistics.
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