Housing and legal assistance, trauma-informed counseling, victim advocacy, medical care and more could be co-located in a center being explored by local officials.
Caitlin Schmidt Survivors of family and interpersonal violence in Tucson often have to retell their story and relive their trauma as they seek various services from providers across town.
People are also reading… A one-stop shopThe Pima County Domestic Abuse Coalition — an organization of community service providers, government and law enforcement agencies — has been working for years to improve the landscape for survivors. While there are many organizations in town to assist crime victims, they each specialize in their own areas, making expanding their services difficult, Fordney said.
Hurdles to overcomeIn March, the University of Arizona's Southwest Institute for Research on Women published its Pima County Domestic Violence Community Needs Assessment, which surveyed 47 domestic violence survivors and nine service providers about existing services, unmet needs and their thoughts on a family advocacy center model. Service providers included crisis, legal and housing advocacy, law enforcement, case management and community programs.
The assessment found that almost all survivors liked the idea of a family advocacy center that could provide a range of services in a single location, and many speculated that the model might help decrease the number of times a survivor had to tell their story. "There are significant benefits to developing a Family Justice Center in Pima County, however, doing so prior to addressing the current system challenges... is premature and will likely stretch limited funds even further," the report said. Those challenges include capacity and accessibility of services, a well-trained workforce, organizational shifts and a well-developed community response.
"It's about helping survivors of these type of incidents recover from their trauma, get to the other side of that and be safe," Brady said."This is not a law enforcement project. Not all survivors want to see prosecution. But being able to help them manage their trauma and the impact that experience has had on them is of huge value."
In 2001, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors established a"Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence" initiative, creating a small fee on vital records to help create a related office within the county administrator's office. "I like this model a lot because I'm a big fan of collective impact and bringing a whole lot of different people together to collaborate and break down silos and fix things," Hall said."It's client-centered and the client voices are listened to and are heard. That adds a level of credibility to the center."
In the long-term, a family advocacy center could also help with prevention. Research has shown that early intervention in childhood trauma can drastically improve a person's life. By addressing the root causes of interpersonal violence through family therapy and programs to address food or housing insecurity, real change could be possible 10 to 15 years down the road, Hall said.
"It’s been 15 years since there were any services in Santa Cruz County, and even that was all within the local hospital," she said."There was no advocacy, just the medical exam, back in the day.""It’s the entire healing portion of helping survivors get through the process and move forward," she said."We're all aiming for the end goal of helping the survivor and helping the family through the process.
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