The next 8 posts will be dedicated to sharing the voices of our staff to help the community learn more about Women’s Advocates. Each post will have a theme and specific question that various team members have shared their perspective and experience on. Community members usually have many questions about what a shelter really is, who works there, and what work is being done. Sharing this information and these perspectives can help educate others who may be hesitant to stay at a shelter due to lack of familiarity or to educate others who work in fields that intersect with ours.
Overview of the Dynamic Team: The Heart of Women’s Advocates
You will be hearing from a variety of our team members that hold different roles in our organization. Below we have included a non-exhaustive description of what each of their roles includes to better contextualize and understand their responses to the corresponding questions.
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- Family Advocates: Help women develop and achieve goals during their stay. These advocacy goal areas include legal, public assistance, housing, and employment.
- Housing Advocates: Work with each resident to apply for and obtain suitable and affordable housing.
- Family & Legal Support Advocate: Assist women with filing assault charges or an order for protection, as well as work with child protection or court services if needed. An on-site partnership with the Domestic Abuse Legal Advocacy Center provides women access to legal guidance from volunteer attorneys. The advocates also provide referrals to attorneys and accompany women to their court appointments, court hearings, and police interviews.
- Mental Health Therapist: (Credentialed as a Licensed Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist) Provides individual counseling for women and children. Available during business hours, this counselor offers an approachable, calming, and daily presence for women who are healing as they stay at the shelter. Individual counseling offers needed support and provides referrals for continued care once the resident leaves the shelter.
- Children’s Advocates: Provide drop-in child care, school enrollment and tutoring, support groups, case management, and safety planning for the children that stay at Women’s Advocates.
- Crisis and Resource Advocates: Support callers, website visitors, and women in the shelter with safety planning, community resource connection, and shelter intake and navigation.
- Education and Outreach Coordinator: Provides community resource connection, online and in-person education and prevention training, and builds partnerships and awareness of domestic violence and Women’s Advocates in the community.
- Development & Volunteer Coordinator: Coordinates and plans Women’s Advocates fundraising events, maintains an online and administrative presence, engages in fundraising campaigns and outreach, manages social media presence, and coordinates volunteer engagement.
- Support Team: Includes Executive Director, Director of Programs & Services, Director of Development and Outreach, Director of Finance, Director of Operations & HR, Facilities Manager
- Facilities & Kitchen Associates