BELOIT — DEFY Domestic Abuse Beloit has been awarded a $4,000 grant from the Stateline Community Foundation to remodel the program’s current donation room into several additional secure, confidential spaces. The change will allow DEFY to increase the number of on-site services for survivors residing at the emergency shelter.
The new space will provide two or three private spaces for residents to receive supportive services on-site from DEFY advocates and providers. Currently, DEFY attempts to use cubical spaces in the program’s donation room for these services, but this does not provide a private and confidential space for survivors to engage with these services.
DEFY plans to complete the project in 2024, which will be a benefit to all survivors served at the facility. In 2022, Defy served 272 survivors at the program’s facility.
Kelsey Hood Christensen, Director of Empowerment Services at DEFY, explained that creating these spaces will allow DEFY’s Family and Youth Advocate and Bilingual Advocate to have an office on-site for regular and ongoing access to services for youth-, parenting-, and Spanish-speaking- survivors. Currently those services are offered in a different location. The new offices will also provide a private and confidential space for Family Services therapists to provide mental health therapy regularly. Until the renovation, these services are required to be scheduled at alternate times because of lack of confidential space.
With the new space, DEFY will more regularly invite other service providers to meet with residents on-site, as the program will not be restricted by inadequate space; these service providers could include housing service providers, child protective services, attorneys, and others.
DEFY Domestic Abuse Beloit is a part of Family Services of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, Inc. It extends to survivors of domestic abuse all the support offered by Family Services. This includes parenting support; therapy and counseling; legal advocacy; and community outreach.
Family Services also includes the following programs: Individual & Family Counseling Program; Sexual Assault Recovery Program; Praxis Employee Assistance Program; Youth2Youth 4 Change; and The Neighborhood Resilience Project.
For more information about Family Services, visit www.familyservices1.org.
Family Services is a funded partner of United Way Blackhawk Region and United Way of Green County.