Case manager explains how safe haven helps with domestic abuse
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-Studies show 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 7 men in the United States, will experience physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Safe Haven is a non-profit organization that provides emergency shelter, and crisis intervention for domestic violence victims and their children.
“We offer thirty days of service”, said Patrice Butts, Safe Haven’s Domestic Violence Case Manager. “We try to help clients find homes or serviced they may need, get birth certificates, and we even try to help them find another shelter if we cannot offer them the shelter that they need.”
Safe Haven’s services range from temporary housing to professional crises counseling.
Domestic Violence Case Manager Patrice Butts said there are a few signs to look for when it comes to an abusive relationship.
“Physical abuse, mental abuse, and of course money issues”, said Butts. “If that man or woman does not want them to have any kind of resources, there is also of course when they make you get away from people, which is called Isolation. Isolation sometimes is one of the biggest signs.”
Domestic Violence is not just limited to sexual violence, and violent behavior. It can also be a person being controlling over what their partner is doing on social media.
“That is why often times they do not come with a phone, because the batterer has taken the phone”, said Butts. “Sometimes because you have a watch, you can communicate to the watch. Often times they take watches and phones and watch if you are going to your mother’s house, and how long you are going to be.”
Physical and mental abuse are not the only cases Safe Haven deals with. They also provide resources to people who deal with mental illness.
“We have a licensed professional counselor on our staff, and if they do not want her, we have other sources that we can reach out to like community counseling”, said Butts. “There are other resources in counseling that we can reach out to, and that is the first thing we ask them. It is a crazy time, and we show them the importance of talking about it to a counselor, and sometimes, they may not even want counseling ”
Butts said the Safe Haven office receives at least three to four calls a day about domestic violence incidents.
