Hope's Door In The News

BETSY WARRIOR: A TRUE WARRIOR FOR WOMEN

For Women’s History Month, we are highlighting Betsy Warrior, an author and leader in the movement against domestic violence.

Betsy Warrior’s Working on Wife Abuse was published in 1976 as the first international directory for organizations and individuals supporting and advocating for women experiencing domestic violence. Not only did the publication provide a list of refuges for women experiencing domestic violence, but it also spread awareness of the issue and opened up a conversation. Women who read the book reached out to Warrior to see how they could help existing refuges or provide similar services in their region.

As a survivor of abuse, the movement against domestic violence was a personal cause for Warrior. In her 1978 edition of Working on Wife Abuse she said, “The names in this directory represent millions of hours of womanpower spent in an effort to expose and combat the physical and psychological terror women are threatened with and subjected to daily.”

Warrior wrote numerous other feminist publications focusing on domestic violence, including Housework: Slavery or a Labor of Love, which discussed financial abuse in relation to unpaid labor at home. She was an inspiration and powerhouse for the early battered women’s movement. “To say we are profoundly indebted to her vision, passion and dedication is an understatement.” Barbara J. Hart, J.D. – Director of Strategic Justice Initiatives, Muskie School of Public Service, Portland, Maine, August 2013.

Betsy Warrior received the first Jane Doe Unsung Hero award in 1993 and has been recognized by Boston Woman’s Magazine, Women’s ENews, and more.

Which of these trailblazing women can you identify?

Hope’s Door’s New Men’s Support Group

This February, Hope’s Door expanded our support group services and began our first male support group. One in seven men will experience domestic violence in his lifetime; Hope’s Door is proactively offering this potentially life-saving support system to the clients we serve.

Men experiencing domestic violence often times feel they are unable to seek help due to negative social stigmas. Maya Lloyd, the counselor facilitating the support group, said, “Offering a support group for men is a significant way to reach a demographic that has become widely stigmatized in this field, and serves as an opportunity for male survivors to recognize that they are not alone. Abuse knows no gender and inclusivity is crucial in ending domestic violence, which is our mission.”

A member of the support group said, “Hope’s Door is progressive in recognizing the gender equality of victims of domestic violence, providing an example for other organizations and for our society to follow. The support group is a source of strength for us and allows us to learn together and from each other how to cope with the past and present, and how to change the path forward for a safer and happier life.”

Maya added, “As the facilitator, my hope is that the men who attend the group will not only be encouraged in their own healing journey towards safe, independent, and abuse-free lives, but may also offer support and encouragement to other men who may feel helpless in similar situations.”

Learn more about Hope’s Door’s programs and services.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call our 24/7 free and confidential hotline at 888-438-8700.

February – Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

The Hope’s Door Youth Prevention Team is working with high school students throughout the month of February to help promote Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.

Youth Educators Kacie Martinucci and Liz Van Buren have attended events throughout Westchester including “Beading the Odds” in New Rochelle and a Freshman Assembly on healthy relationships in Scarsdale. “Beading the Odds” is an event in which one in three students receives purple beads to wear throughout the day to visually represent the one in three students who will experience dating abuse. At the Freshman Assembly in Scarsdale, students perform various scenarios to demonstrate warning signs of dating abuse and what a healthy relationship looks like. These educational events are essential in helping students understand what dating abuse looks like, how common it is, and how they can help themselves or a friend in need.

To test your knowledge on dating abuse, try our online quiz.

Learn more about our Love Shouldn’t Hurt Youth Prevention Program or get your school involved by contacting Youth Prevention Coordinator Manuella Torres at 914-747-0828 x1014.

If you, a friend, or a family member need help, call our 24/7 free and confidential hotline at 888-438-8700.

Counseling Services

Safety Planning

We help survivors assess their level of danger and educate them in safety strategies — whether the survivor decides to leave or to stay in the relationship.

We help tailor a safety plan with each survivor and, as approved by the survivor, we help coordinate the safety plan with the employer, children, family, school, friends, the criminal justice system and other relevant persons.

Danger Assessment

Our counselors are certified in the use of the Danger Assessment, which was developed by Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, and which helps to predict an abused woman’s risk of being killed by her intimate partner.

While we cannot predict what will happen to any individual victim, there are risk factors associated with domestic violence homicides; and we help victims identify how many of the risk factors apply to them.

Counseling & Support Groups

We are a safe place where survivors can break the silence about abuse, begin to heal, and learn:

safety strategies and techniques
self-advocacy skills
the difference between a relationship dominated by power and control and one based on equality, respect and trust

Information & Referral

To respond effectively to the needs of survivors, we maintain a directory of community resources and have close working relationships with many service providers and governmental departments in the community with the resources survivors need to secure safety, justice, independence, and healing from the trauma of abuse.

Office of Victim Services Compensation

Certain crime victims are eligible for compensation through the New York State Office of Victim Services (OVS). We help crime victims determine if they are eligible for OVS compensation; and if they are, we help them prepare and submit the application.

Advocacy

We teach self-advocacy skills and assist survivors in securing rights, benefits, or other needed services. This might include emergency housing, financial assistance, intervening with employers, creditors, schools, churches, medical providers, private insurance companies, workers compensation, and public assistance.

Legal Advocacy & Representation

We help survivors empower themselves with the skills to navigate the courts and the criminal justice system. The Hope’s Door Legal Center helps victims seeking orders of protection, pursuing divorces, establishing custody, and fighting for child support, among other civil legal needs. We also have counselors advocate for survivors and accompany them to court.

Multi-cultural Services

Abuse is even more difficult for multi-cultural and immigrant victims due to language and cultural barriers, discrimination, immigration hurdles and legal status.
We offer culturally appropriate services tailored to Latin, Hispanic, Asian and other multi-cultural victims.

Next Step Economic Empowerment Program

The Next Step Program fosters the economic empowerment and self-sufficiency of survivors of domestic violence. We guide survivors in identifying their barriers to safety and independence and implementing strategies to overcome those barriers. A key strategy is the “Next Step Fund.” Survivors may request funds for expenses associated with educational and vocational needs. As one survivor stated: “All that stood between me and a job was $90 for a pair of regulation shoes – Hope’s Door provided that and I’m on my way.”

The Next Step Program is supported by these corporate and foundation funders:

Avon Verizon