Domestic violence walk raises funds for My Sisters’ Place

By Rebecca Saunders
The Catholic Sun

Arizona’s law enforcement officers respond to a domestic violence call every five minutes, according to the Arizona Governor’s Office. One or more children witness domestic violence every 39 minutes.

Domestic violence is an increasingly common issue in Arizona. Last month thousands of Valley residents gathered to end the violence by marching through the streets of downtown Phoenix in the Walk to End Domestic Violence April 22.

The fundraiser gathered funds for shelters throughout Arizona and promoted education on the issue. My Sisters’ Place, a Catholic Charities domestic violence shelter in Chandler, is one of the many shelters that count on funds from the annual walk to cover basic costs of running its facility.

“We want to empower the woman to make her own decisions,” said Yvonne Taylor, director of domestic violence programs for the Catholic Charities East Valley office. “We will guide her and provide her with information, but ask her what she sees that she needs for herself and her family and gently support that.”

A 30-day shelter, My Sisters’ Place focuses on the needs and education of the women, but also has a great deal of programming for their children, including art therapy and trust-building activities. The staff of the 17-bed shelter works with women on legal, safety and personal issues during their stay.

“When a woman comes in we recognize that she is both in crisis, probably has some self-esteem issues, but has a short period of time to accomplish a lot,” Taylor said of the initial intake process at My Sisters’ Place. “We try to assist her in both understanding the dynamics of domestic violence through provision of domestic violence education groups and we have a case manager assigned to each family.”

Following a stay at My Sisters’ Place, women have the option of applying to Pathways, a transitional housing program that Taylor also oversees. Due to a lack of funding, Pathways currently only has one house and two apartments, limiting the number of families it can support.

While participating in Pathways, which is an 18-24 month long program, the woman pays 20 percent of her income toward rent and the rest is subsidized by Pathways. She continues to work within a case plan and focuses on learning life skills while meeting with a support group and counselor.

“A lot of times women who are in domestic violence situations don’t have the opportunity to make decisions in their household, the abuser doesn’t let them,” Taylor said. “Sometimes we find the women have all kinds of strengths that they don’t even recognize as strengths because they never got an opportunity to make decisions.”

The support group that meets at a church in Chandler is not only for the Pathways’ participants, but also for women in the community that may not be able to get into a shelter. The counseling is free and includes a monthly session from an attorney who offers free legal advice to the women.

The third program Catholic Charities sponsors is PAVE, an acronym for “Preventing Abuse and Violence through Education.” A Catholic Charities staff person and a resource officer assigned to each Chandler school teach the program to seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders. The police officer teaches from experiences he or she has encountered when responding to domestic violence calls and the Catholic Charities staff person educates the students about victims’ resources and how to recognize the symptoms of abuse.

“We’re hoping to prevent domestic violence by educating young people,” Taylor said. “Sometimes young people think, ‘well, I’m doing this because I love him or her,’ and maybe don’t realize ‘this is abuse.’”

Taylor is passionate about the Walk to End Domestic Violence and hopes it continues to raise awareness and money for shelters.

“I look at domestic violence as being a life or death issue,” Taylor said. “If you can’t feel safe at home, where can you be safe?”

For more information on Catholic Charities East Valley domestic violence programs or to make a donation, contact My Sisters’ Place at (480) 821-1024.