Helping Victims From Domestic Violence

Primary prevention interventions have been shown to be the most powerful and cost effective methods to combat domestic violence. When primary prevention is not delivered with sufficient impact to be fully effective, more expensive secondary and tertiary interventions are required. (Transforming Communities. ND)

The best plan to solve the problem of domestic violence is to create massive awareness about domestic violence necessary to victims, policymakers and the society in general on the identification, effects, prevention, affirmative action as well as reduction of domestic violence especially between intimate couples. For the purpose of this discussion, this essay will focus on domestic violence between intimate partners. This awareness will be instrumental in making people understand that domestic violence is a predicament known to affect most families of the world, their culture, economic status, gender, age and educational background notwithstanding. Currently, there are quite a number of misconceptions and controversies surrounding the whole

Although we lost Ellen Pence, a woman who changed how domestic violence is addressed, in 2012, there are many lives that are being saved to this day because of her work. Ellen Pence found her calling in 1977 when she began working for the Minneapolis Housing Authority that helped individuals relocate with housing complications (StarTribune, 2010). It was then that she immersed herself through domestic violence cases and set the standard for addressing these cases. Ellen Pence is especially known for establishing the Duluth Program, a program that address batterers in the court systems, and Praxis Training, which are training on addressing domestic violence for law enforcement, advocates, community agencies, and institutions. Pence’s 35 years of service change the way domestic violence cases were handled, educated key players in domestic violence cases, and showed the world what it was like to be a victim of domestic abuse. Without her efforts, many individuals in power addressing these cases would be lost and those to who are victims would not be understood as they are today.

Unlike in the United States women in Haiti suffer from the lack of rights and privileges available to women in most western countries. Gender inequality seems to continue to be a

arrested on the grounds of questionable violence (proof should be established in the court of law). The value that directly correlates with domestic violence from a social work perspective would be the importance of human relationships, the social worker has to comprehend that cultivating a healthy and supporting relationship between family members is vital while creating a stable environment for society. It “promotes, restores, maintains, and enhances the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, and communities” ("Code of Ethics (English and Spanish) - National Association of Social Workers").

Domestic Violence Shelter and Services, Inc. (DVSS) is a nonprofit agency located in Wilmington North Carolina. DVSS provide support services, shelter, public education, and prevention services to citizens of New Hanover County. The agency has two locations, the Open Gate located at 2901 Market Street, and a women and children’s shelter located in an undisclosed location. DVSS operates three for profit resale stores. Vintage Values stores are located at 413 South College Road #9, 5226 South College Road #10, and 609 Castle Street. All proceeds support the operation of the shelter and its programs (M. Lama, personal communication, November 8, 2013).

On 03/18/2017 at approximately 2132 hours, I was dispatched to 8340 Rd. 46 in the County of Montezuma, and State of Colorado for reports of a domestic disturbance.

Domestic violence calls to the police became popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s. History indicates that these calls were considered “family matters” that should be handled by its family. Following the landmark case of “Thurman vs. The city of Torrington”, that garnered a severe financial penalty for the police for failure to respond, changes occurred. In this case, Tracy Thurman was awarded $2.3 million when she sued the city of Torrington, CT police department for their failure to arrest her abusive husband.

In most circumstances, family and loved ones are usually seen as the most reliable support systems that a person can have. However, there are certain circumstances in which family members are the ones who are creating the problems. One of the prominent issues that can potentially occur within families involves domestic violence, with the victim usually being a woman. With most family matters, those who are looking from the outside are usually hesitant in intervening with those types of personal issues. In order to reduce the occurrence of domestic violence, there must be assistance and training provided for all of the parties involved. This includes providing assistance to the victim, perpetrator, and third parties in order for change

Domestic violence exists everywhere and affects all people regardless of socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, or religion. Most times physical violence is accompanied by emotional abuse and controlling behaviors. The result of domestic violence includes physical injury, psychological issues, and death. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) occurs in 1 of 4 women in the United States and can be correlated with a loss of emotional, social, physical and mental health. Intimate Partner Violence is an issue that does not receive a lot of recognition and is overlooked majority of the time. There is a lot of information on women in intimate partner violence relationships that explains how it affects women physically, mentally, and socially.

In completing this essay, an opportunity was provided to select a case study and determine whether individual, group, or both kinds of services would be most effective treatment for a client. The essay will be based on the case study of Working with Survivors of Domestic Violence: The case of Charo. The issue the client is facing will be discussed, along with my recommended intervention. The essay will conclude with identifying the best delivery method for an intervention with supporting resources to validate my decision.

This is because of the laws in Haiti that are not really strong. According to Clark “Violence against women occurs across all classes in Haiti and can only be punished under general laws against assault and battery, if at all. No specific laws against domestic violence exist in Haiti” (Clark 305.) The people are trying to change the rules but the government seems like they don’t really care about the voice of the people. The stuff they really care about is campaign, carnival, and elections. They spend a lot of money to make the carnival and elections happen, but they forget about the women who are in need. Sometimes the people wonder where they get all of the money from to make this happen. They tell the women they don’t have resources for them, but they spend all the money on other things that are not important. In Haiti, even a sixteen years old girl could get abused. If people have a house with young people, they have to watch out for bandit, or rapist. In “A Chance for Congress to Help Haitian Women,” Amanda Klansing, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch; (an international organization that works on these kinds of issues,) tell us the story about “Where a sixteen year old was living, the men in the house would abuse her. She went to the police, and explain them everything, they did not press charges even though there are laws against abusing minors” (Klasing). After the earthquake, that was previously

Women will continue to suffer from domestic violence unless there is some sort of intervention to help them. When dealing with this population, it is essential to create a safe environment where the woman can talk freely about the abuse without any retaliation from the abuser. When someone comes into a therapeutic session, everyone deserves to be treated with respect and care. This in turn will create a sense of hope that a different type of life can be possible. Also, knowing that there is a support system can help the woman begin the process of change. Despite this, the process of leaving the abusive partner is slow (Warshaw, n.d.)

Shalva organization is an ongoing community invention organization in Chicago. It is working to effect social change for domestic abused women in Jewish communities. Domestic abuse (also known as spousal abuse) is when a partner in an intimate relationship manipulate the other partner by a systematic pattern of coercive behavior. There are multiple forms of domestic abuse such as verbal, emotional, financial, sexual, physical, and psychological. To combat domestic violence against women in Jewish communities, they provided multiple free services such as mental health counseling. They provide a twenty-four hour crisis line, individual and group counseling, financial

Women’s shelters, also called domestic violence shelters, serve as a community housing resource for individuals who need to escape abusive situations. Past maltreatment could range from physical violence to psychological or even financial control. AOTA (2011) defines domestic violence as: “pattern of coercive behavior designed to exert power and control over a person in an intimate relationship through the use of intimidating, threatening, harmful, or harassing behavior.” Oftentimes, there have been several layers of abuse happening simultaneously. While residents who end up at shelters have typically lived through traumatic experiences, their specific ordeals and personal reactions to them will vary. The people seeking shelter are survivors who have taken the first step towards changing their lives for the better or people in the middle of crisis.