What kind of services does a shelter have to help battered women?
Shelters are not only four walls and a roof. Once a bettered woman has dealt immediate issues of safety and survival, she begins to address her long-range and practical needs. Women entering a domestic shelter have taken a courageous step to regain control over their lives to ensure safety for themselves and their children. The focus in the shelter is stabilizing their lives, helping understand their options, and increase their ability to achieve their goals. Shelters might offer individual and group counseling sessions with a social worker or therapist to encourage a woman to talk about her experiences and sort through her feelings. Shelter residents are concerned with developing the friendships and social connections that their abusers have prevented them from having. The environment helps women understand that they are not alone and a surrounded by women who have survived similar circumstances. Support groups enable women to learn from each other, build trust and a sense of community, and are a valuable tool for women to establish or re-establish independent lives. The women also need time to address their personal needs. Many of the women are focused on moving into housing and getting jobs to support their children. They are assisted with locating a permanent place to live as well as taught independent living skills such as financial and household management, as well as cooking and cleaning skills.
