Shelter
Women’s Services offers temporary shelter to women and their dependent children who need housing because of domestic violence or other crises such as homelessness or unsuitable living conditions. Click here to read more.
Counseling
Women’s Services, offers supportive counseling services to adult and child victims/ survivors of domestic/sexual violence and their significant others. Services include individual and group supportive counseling, 24-hour hotline, crisis intervention and accompaniment to medical, police, or court proceedings. We also assist victims of domestic or sexual violence to seek legal relief from abuse. Click here to read more.
Advocacy
Advocates from Women’s Services provide assistance and support to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault as they go through the medical, criminal and/or civil legal system.
Following an incident of violence, victims may need medical attention. Women’s Services staff is available to respond to hospitals as advocates for the victim and their loved ones throughout their experience. Advocates provide information about various medical and legal procedures and help assess the victim’s future needs for services. Click here to read more.
Medical Advocacy Project
Medical Advocacy Project (MAP) – The primary focus of our MAP is to provide trainings for health care providers to improve their response to domestic violence victims seeking medical treatment. A secondary service we provide is assisting companies and organizations with drafting and implementing workplace domestic violence policies and procedures. Click here to read more.
Education & Outreach
One of the most effective forms of prevention is education. Women’s Services is dedicated to educating the adults and children in our community about the dynamics of abuse and interpersonal violence with a special emphasis on personal safety.
Women’s Services presents abuse awareness programs to schools, professional organizations, and other community groups. The school-based abuse awareness programs are designed to reduce abuse through the educating of school age children, their parents, and teachers about the incidence of child abuse as well as strategies to combat it. Click here to read more.
Community Gardens
Although it may not be inherently obvious, there is an intersection between preventing violence and promoting healthy eating and physical activity. In 2013 we started to explore the correlation between food security and violence prevention and planted our first vegetable garden. We believe that by creating activities around healthy food access we are actively engaging all age groups in community stewardship and strengthening community bonds. By fostering a sense of pride and ownership in the gardens we’re not only deterring violence, but also providing increased access to healthy, affordable food, enriching neighborhood aesthetics, cultivating (pun intended) community collaboration and strengthening the fabric of our community by building social capital. There is mounting evidence that promoting social connections and trust among neighbors contributes significantly to a decrease in violence and crime. That’s why we’re encouraging our neighbors to plant a community garden today to squash violence tomorrow! Click here to read more.
