Human Service Characteristics

Interview with Linda Williams

Good afternoon. Welcome back to class. Today we're at YWCA is Domestic Violence Prevention Center. We're speaking with Linda Ellis Williams. Linda, thanks for joining us today. Welcome. Thank you. Linda. What is the Domestic Violence Prevention Center and what is its mission? We are one of the largest programs under the YWCA and we're basically probably what you hear in the community as a safe house. And our mission is to provide safety and make changes lifestyles to end violence in people's lives. It what does it mean to be a safe house? Well, what is it safe house? It's a shelter that families who are dealing with domestic violence or any kind of violence in their home can come to to get away from that lifestyle. Now you in particular, what is your title in the organization and how did you first come to work here? Well, my title is Director of this program and I actually came into this program years ago, almost 20 years ago, as a victim of domestic violence, me and my children were fleeing our household. We had a very violent relationship with their father and we had to leave because of that. But now, what do you do on a day-to-day basis as part of your job? Well, that's that can be from anywhere from a Tuesday. My main duties and responsibilities is just overseeing the running of the shelter and the hiring and staffing and making sure that everybody is trained and equipped to do their job. But on any given day that can go from doing those responsibilities to be in court with a victim, advocating for protective orders, helping a family flee their home, come to the shelter. It can be a wide range of anything basically. Can you describe the specific population that this organization serves? Well, the population in our shelter or more so, low-income families who need to leave their home. We deal with low-income and higher income on the outside. But the families actually come into a shelter or people who can't afford just to go out and go stay in a hotel or to fly out of town, or to go somewhere else to be saved. They don't, they don't have means to do those things. So they have to take advantage of what we have in this community to help them. What are some challenges that you face working with this particular population? Well, resources, of course, especially with the economy being the way that it is there. We're seeing less and less resources out there that help maneuver or people through the system to get them from a to Z so that changing this lifestyle is part of what they get to accomplish. We see it's hard to maneuver. People do that system. Again with the economy being the way it is. It's hard for people to come into our shelter and go out and seek employment That's a little longer coming. Housing is always has been a problem with getting people into safe housing or affordable housing. Of course. Statistics say that average victim will leave and go back eight to 12 times before leaving for good. So that's that's one of our biggest obstacles to cover. Can you describe some of the services offered here at the YWCA? Number one is housing, of course, to keep families safe. We have a large component in our program about advocacy, which is again, advocating for victims of domestic violence, advocating for their children, advocating in the court system to get protective orders to if they're facing assault and battery charges. Just helping them to know that, right? No. The system know what they're up against. Doing safety planning, lots of safety planning, which like I said, our number one goal is to keep everyone safe, to prevent fatalities, and just helping children to be able to cope with what they're going to have to deal with. If I say to you, average time is eight to 12 times this mom is going to go back. That's eight to 12 times this child is going to go back. So we have to build resilience in this child to help them, to be able to live through all this and to still have hope at the end of the day that this doesn't have to be my future. Right. Linda, you've been involved in this organization for a long time. How do you see this plays making a real difference in people's lives. I see it. We're empowering people. We're empowering people were changing people's lives every day. Giving them any equipping them with what they need to overcome these unhealthy lifestyles. And that makes a world of difference even on a personal basis. As I said, me and my children had to flee to the shelter during the middle of the night to leave our home. That was full of violence. And what this program did for us was to change a lifestyle cycle of abuse. I came from a long history of abusers and victims of domestic violence and sodium, my parents and their parents. So I broke the side, was able to break that cycle with my children so that their lives will be different. Now, having been here a long time, what do you find personally most rewarding working here? I'm seeing people's lives change, empowering people, giving them hope, giving them what they need to get through another day. Given children their smiles back and give them equipping them with what they need to live through all this and still come out on top. Different people who, who've worked in this organization and currently do. What are some characteristics of those who do really well working in? People who do this work from the heart. People who care, people who are not in this for the money, because this is not a big money business in this, but people who actually are doing it because they want to make a difference in the world. Great, Thank you so much for joining us today. This has been very rewarding. Thank you. Thank you.