What Types of Services Do Shelters Often Offer?

One of the biggest misconceptions people have about domestic violence and sexual assault shelters is that shelters only provide a place to stay.

Emergency shelter is absolutely an important service. For some survivors, having access to emergency shelter may be the reason they are able to safely leave an abusive situation at all. Without shelters, many people would have nowhere safe to go when fleeing abuse.

However, advocacy organizations and shelters often provide far more than housing alone.

There are many different shelters out there. Some have private funding, while others are funded by grants, and they vary in size depending on the city and area. Because of this, services can vary pretty widely between organizations.

Advocacy work can involve helping survivors navigate systems that may feel confusing, overwhelming, or even intimidating, and this is often during one of the worst moments in a survivor’s life.

For example, advocates may help survivors learn how to file restraining orders, go through the process of housing applications, regain access to important documents like Social Security cards or birth certificates that may have been left behind during the fleeing process, and connect with community resources. Advocates may also help survivors better understand the legal and safety options they have access to.

This work often goes beyond simply responding to trauma itself. Advocates may help survivors rebuild stability in practical ways that are necessary for moving on from the situation.

Many shelters and advocacy organizations also provide community education and outreach programs. These organizations are not only there for people currently experiencing abuse. They also work to educate communities, reduce stigma, increase awareness about different types of abuse, and help people become aware of resources that they hopefully will never need to use.

The goal is often prevention, education, and support in addition to crisis response.

Services for children can also look very different from services for adults.

When working with children, we know that we are inherently working with a population that is extremely vulnerable, and many children do not fully understand the scope of what they have either been exposed to or experienced in terms of abuse and violence. Children often process trauma differently than adults depending on developmental stage, emotional understanding, and environmental factors (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], n.d.).

Some children may struggle to express fear, confusion, or trauma in ways adults immediately recognize.

I do want to say that generally these organizations, the ones I am talking about, are not the same as Child Protective Services. If there is suspicion that a child is being abused, it is best to report it to the proper authorities or go through an organization that works mainly in child advocacy.

Advocates at domestic violence or sexual assault shelters often work alongside a parent, guardian, or another supportive adult while helping children access resources and support.

I think our main role as advocates, though, is restoring choices back into survivors’ hands and giving them the ability to choose how they want to move forward.

Many survivors have spent long periods of time in situations where control was taken away from them through abuse, manipulation, fear, or even difficult systems they were forced to navigate. Having options and choices again can become an important part of healing and recovery.

This is one reason individualized services matter so much. Every survivor’s situation is unique, and we try to meet survivors where they are.

Something many people do not talk about enough is the shame survivors often feel when reaching out for help. Research has shown that survivors of intimate partner violence frequently experience stigma, shame, fear of judgment, and victim-blaming attitudes that can make seeking support more difficult (Taccini et al., 2023).

Many people do not want friends, family members, coworkers, or the greater community to know they are experiencing things like domestic violence or sexual assault, as there is still a lot of stigma around these topics.

Survivors may fear blame, judgment, embarrassment, or even worse… disbelief.

Seeking help should never be looked down upon, but the reality is that many survivors walk around carrying deep shame, believing they are not worthy of support and seeing themselves only as victims trapped in helpless situations.

This is why I truly believe that reaching out for help can be both life-changing and extremely difficult at the same time.

Shelters and advocacy organizations exist not only to provide safety and resources, but also to remind survivors that they deserve support, dignity, choices, and the opportunity to move forward safely.

References:

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (n.d.). Child trauma. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health/trauma-violence/child-trauma

Taccini, F., Mannarini, S., & Rossi, A. A. (2023). An attempt to conceptualize the phenomenon of stigma toward intimate partner violence survivors: A systematic review. Behavioral Sciences, 13(3), 217. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10044728/