Womens Center Of Montgomery County

Programs: Established in 1976, the women's center of montgomery county (wcmc) is a volunteer-driven, community organization with a primary focus on freedom from domestic violence and other forms of abuse. Our programs are administered by 226 trained volunteers and a paid staff of 4 full and 15 part-time employees in offices in elkins park, norristown, lansdale, pottstown, colmar and bryn mawr. Through our medical advocacy project, we provide onsite staffing at abington/jefferson and holy redeemer hospitals. Services include: 24-hour hotline; legal advocacy; court and hospital accompaniment; individualized & group peer counseling;elder abuse services; information and referral; stalking prevention; prevention education and outreach. Our direct services are aimed at helping to stabilize individuals in crisis and assist them in exploring options to help restore them to safety and security. The wcmc supports domestic violence victims and their families in their transition toward safety, with a goal of serving a minimum of 4,900 victims annually. Our program addresses the problem of interpersonal violence with services that include intervention, prevention and empowerment. Our direct services are aimed at helping to stabilize individuals in crisis and assist them in exploring options to help restore them to safety and security. Through our programs and services we work to save lives, promote self-sufficiency, create institutional change and reduce the impact of domestic violence. We also train first responders and other social service providers to effectively identify and refer victims. Our community education work focuses on both prevention and helping individuals self-identify by recognizing the dynamics of abuse and available resources to assist them. The array of services we provide includes: intervention focused services:counseling services: 24-hour domestic violence hotline/crisis response; safety planning; individualized counseling; support groups; elder abuse services; referrals to community-based information and resources including therapists, lawyers and other social service providers and county assistance programs. Our 24-hour hotline provides counseling to victims of domestic violence and their significant others. It also provides information, referral and legal options counseling to domestic violence victims. Legal advocacy: court accompaniment; legal options counseling; direct advocacy for victims seeking emergency, temporary and final protection from abuse (pfa) orders; assistance with indirect criminal complaints (violations of pfas). Additional services include: assistance with locating affordable and/or temporary housing, emergency cash assistance for victims escaping an abuser, crime victim compensation filings, victim impact statements to the courts, and assistance locating emergency shelter. Prevention focused services, training and systems advocacy:community education to create awareness about abuse dynamics; curriculum based programs for youths teaching non-violent behavior to break the generational cycle of violence; dating violence and stalking prevention; training for law enforcement officers on effective response protocols. Internal training for volunteers and staff for skill development and counseling certification. We also distribute a monthly newsletter and utilize social media and technology in our outreach efforts. Medical advocacy: training to medical providers in universal screening, identification and early intervention; technical support to hospitals developing domestic violence protocols. Our medical advocacy efforts include the identification of children at risk due to exposure to domestic violence in their homes and outreach urgent care centers throughout montgomery county. The primary beneficiaries of this project are domestic violence victims and their families who live in montgomery county. In 2016/17, we served 4,929 adult unduplicated victims and 238 significant others (children and family). Through our legal advocacy project, we provided court accompaniment assistance to 1,966 individuals seeking emergency, temporary and permanent protection from abuse orders and district court & preliminary hearings. Another key constituency is our volunteer community of more than 200 trained counselors and advocates who assist in the direct provision of services to victims.