Fresh Start Women's Foundation

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Groundbreaking Program Offers Practical Information On Domestic Abuse

PHOENIX (Dec. 30, 2004)—Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, Sojourner Center and Halo of Hope Foundation have formed a partnership to provide a groundbreaking program for women who are living with domestic abuse, either physical or emotional. The unique series, facilitated by master’s-level staff, is designed for women who are less likely to seek help from a domestic violence shelter, have a job or other financial resources, or have a strong support network of family or friends. This 10-week program, “Creating Healthy Family Relationships,” will offer comprehensive education and information in a discreet setting, without the structure of traditional, clinical counseling.

“A local independent study on domestic violence from 1999 revealed that at least 17 percent of the women living in Maricopa County were currently living with abuse,” said Sandy Cowen, Fresh Start executive director. “There is no reason to believe those numbers have declined, so now it represents at least 210,000 women. A great percentage of those women are from working, middle-income families or are women of means, yet they are still suffering in silence. From the outside, their lives appear normal, but each day they live in constant fear of saying or doing something that will send their partner into a verbal or physical rage.”

This pilot program is funded through a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, which made it possible to initially offer this series at no charge for 2005. Sessions will begin Jan. 10 and offer ongoing, weekly workshops that are taught in the Jewell McFarland Lewis Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center in central Phoenix. Staff members from the Sojourner Center, the state’s largest domestic violence shelter, will teach several workshops, conduct weekly support-group sessions, and offer assistance through the shelter’s 24-hour telephone hotline. Women will have the opportunity to learn the difference between dysfunction and abuse, how to set healthy boundaries for their lives, what they can and can’t fix in their relationships, how to protect themselves financially, and how their children are negatively impacted by merely witnessing verbal abuse in the home. Fostering a healthy self-esteem is an emphasis of the program, and information about safety planning is also available for women facing physical abuse.

“We are excited to help set this program in motion,” said Connie Phillips, L.I.S.W., Sojourner Center executive director. “We know there are many women--beyond the reported 15,638 in 2003 who were turned away from DV shelters due to over-demand--who remain in abusive situations. Now there will be an easily accessible program to provide the much-needed information and options for women and their families.”

Children will also directly benefit from this new program. Staff from Halo of Hope Foundation, which is dedicated to helping families with children who are at-risk for trauma or who have experienced the trauma of witnessing violence, will lead workshops where mothers and children, ages 6 to 12 years, work together to create more healthy relationships. These six sessions, which are a part of the 10-week program, have been offered at the center since it opened.

“It is an honor to expand services to respond to these specialized, unmet needs in our community,” said Terri Leveton, M.S., president and founder of Halo of Hope. “This project will collectively provide services to address immediate needs of women and children, while providing early intervention/prevention information. It will cover such matters as trauma-related mental health, substance abuse and future abuse/victimization risk factors for both women and their children.”

The Fresh Start women’s resource center, a comprehensive self-help facility at 1130 E. McDowell Rd., was selected as the program’s site because of its wide-ranging services and uplifting surroundings. Legal assistance, a lending library, mentoring program, job-resource network and the self-esteem-building program will help supplement the information offered in “Creating Healthy Family Relationships.” A free child-watch area is provided for children too young to attend the workshops or when women attend sessions for adults. Most importantly, the center’s atmosphere provides a relaxed, educational setting for women to learn more about and to begin to address the subject of abuse.

The series will continue consecutively throughout the year in 10-week cycles, and is open to all women. For more information, for workshop hours and to register for the program, call the Jewell McFarland Lewis Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center at 602-252-8494.

The resource center opened in October 2002 and currently averages 2,000 visits each month.