Safe Shelter of St. Vrain, on Thursday, will launch an educational series on domestic violence. The series focuses on the experience and resilience of child survivors.
The nonprofit organization, which provides resources and support to individuals affected by domestic abuse, has hosted an annual symposium over the past six years, according to Executive Director Jackie List.
Safe Shelter had to postpone its two-day event in 2020 because of the pandemic. This year’s online event includes a mini-series consisting of two virtual keynote presentations by trauma expert and Oglala Sioux Tribe citizen, Ethleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs, and Occupational Therapist Ana do Valle, followed by question and answer sessions in May and in August, List said.
The two virtual sessions will lead up to a third and final in-person session in Jan. 2022.
“The overall theme of that symposium will be children who witness domestic violence are forever changed, not forever damaged,” List said. “We want to give people a sense that, yes, it really negatively impacts children and youth, and with proper intervention ... they can adjust and lead good, productive lives.”
In 2020 Longmont Public Safety received just over 950 calls related to domestic violence, with close to 54% of the cases resulting in an arrest. More than 28% of the cases involved a child victim who witnessed or was in the household at the time of the occurrence, according to Kim Heard, Longmont Ending Violence Initiative, or LEVI, project coordinator.
Last year saw the highest number of domestic violence calls, skyrocketing as the pandemic hit, Heard said.
“I know part of it was from the pandemic and people being locked up together,” she said. “(Also) the jails aren't keeping people right now, so the offenders are just going back and re-offending.”
The average reoffence rate for those accused of domestic violence is nearly 40%, she said, adding service calls rates are about 8% higher now than last year at this time.
Various agencies locally and across the county continue to invest resources to address the issue, Heard said. “They may be letting them out of the jails but they're not letting them get away with it.”
Longmont’s Public Safety has three detectives solely investigating domestic violence cases and the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office recently announced the formation of a task force to investigate incidents of domestic violence in the context of COVID-19.
Safe Shelter provides emergency shelter for victims of domestic abuse, crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy services and other educational opportunities in addition to the symposium, including high school student and peer education, according to the website.
Just in 2019, the organization served 1,450 high school students through its Teens Ending Relationship Abuse Program, sheltered 212 community members, provided 14,112 meals, supported 629 nonresidential clients and 179 children.
Historically, over 100 people have attended the in-person symposiums in past years. Naomi Harris, Safe Shelter’s development director, expects to have about half that many people join the virtual sessions, she said.
“Our main adjective for all symposiums is to increase the knowledge and ability to respond to various issues. We present professionals, mental health, advocates involved in the domestic violence field, educators and legal and law enforcement,” Harris said. “(The event) is for anybody who interacts with families and children and youth.”
The social unrest, the country saw throughout the past year, was also a heavy influence in the focus on the series, according to Harris, adding that marginalized communities often feel invisible when it comes to this issue.
“People from different backgrounds often have additional issues or experiences,” she said. “We wanted as much as possible to honor that and respond to that, and wrap some of that information in addition to (information about) direct services and interventions.”
The first session of the series will feature Ethleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs, an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe with over thirty years of experience in youth, family and community development, mental health, juvenile justice and cultural development, according to an informational flyer.
Iron Cloud-Two Dogs has done a lot of work around historic trauma, Harris said.
Throughout the pandemic domestic violence has increased in our community, according to List, and it is important for people to fully understand the broad challenges that this issue presents to the community in general, she said.
“(Domestic violence) is a social problem not a family problem,” she said. “We need community support not only monetarily … but also in recognizing (the problem) and responding in a safe way.”
