WHAT WE DO
Our Services
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Shelter
Our shelter home offers residents a secure place to rest and relax as well as providing comprehensive wrap-around services to promote self-sufficiency and goal setting for each individual staying at the shelter home every hour of the day. The shelter is a nine-bedroom, 30-bed residence located in a confidential location in Lawrence, Kansas.
Shelter Programs
Safe Shelter
The Willow Domestic Violence Center provides safe and confidential supportive shelter services for all survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking and their children. Our 24-hour crisis hotline provides information, safety planning, and intake into shelter.
Health & Wellness
Trained staff and volunteers are on hand to offer shelter, assistance with safety planning, and access to the full range of Willow services.
Art
The Willow has two staff dedicated to serving the unique needs of survivors of human trafficking, as well as offering community education and outreach.
Children's Services
We serve survivors and their families in shelter, and in our community. Our Children's Services Program Coordinator plans activities, trips, and events both in the shelter and with our partner organizations.
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Transitional Support
Shelter is just the first step in a long journey. While at shelter, survivors are able to meet with advocates to plan the next step, and The Willow offers programs designed to make that next step possible, positive, and permanent. Transitional support includes referrals to agencies that can help with employment, transportation, and utilities, to short-term and medium-term housing with dedicated case management.
Transitional Programs
Foster Transition Support
When youth age out of the foster program at 19, they are at their most susceptible to falling back into a cycle of violence. Our Foster Transition Support Advocate meets teens where they are and works to establish networks of support and empowerment to give youth in foster care opportunities and pathways to success.
Transitional Housing Program
The Willow partners with Tenants to Homeowners and KU Endowment to offer Restoration House, a safe place to rebuild. The house features separate private apartments with leases of at least a year to provide survivors time to plan financially, find employment, pursue goals, and prepare for the future without the fear of having to move from place to place while doing so.
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Education & Prevention
Both in shelter and in the community, The Willow offers valuable outreach to help prevent, identify, and assist those affected by domestic violence and human trafficking. In addition, we recognize the differences between domestic violence and human trafficking, and so have staff on hand to both work with survivors, and to educate our communities.
Educational & Prevention Programs
Human Trafficking Support
The Willow has two staff dedicated to serving the unique needs of survivors of human trafficking, as well as offering community education and outreach.
Professional Trainings
The Willow offers trainings to law enforcement, hospitals, first responders, and other groups which work with survivors on a regular basis.
Community Presentations
Everyone wants to help. Presentations by The Willow can give our community the tools they need to identify domestic violence and human trafficking and know what to do when they encounter it.
Claire's Community
A program which trains adult mentors who work with children to be able to engage in difficult conversations about healthy relationships. Take part in this free training with follow-up group support and become a part of Claire's Community.
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Community & Rural Services
Our services expand far beyond the shelter, serving all three of our communities with individual meetings, court advocacy and assistance, referrals, immigration issues, and financial assistance. All of our services are free of charge, confidential, and available to all survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking who live in Douglas, Franklin, or Jefferson County in Kansas. The Willow is a safe space for people of all sexual identities and gender expressions. All services are accessible to those in need of a translator or physical accommodation.
Community Programs
Outreach
The Willow has dedicated advocates for Franklin and Jefferson County, as well as outreach services to Douglas County, ensuring that rural areas have the same access to court and individual advocacy, financial assistance, and the full range of Willow services.
Court Services
For many survivors, court is the first time that they will see their abusers since leaving, and can be incredibly difficult. Our court advocates meet survivors at court and are with them to answer questions and provide support. Community advocates help those members of the community outside of shelter who need Willow service.
HOPEworks
The Willow Domestic Violence Center provides a work program for cash assistance recipients who have experienced domestic violence. Through this partnership with The Department of Children and Families, the program includes safety planning, career planning, financial literacy, healthy relationships, and self-sufficiency plans.
Access
We have a dedicated Survivor Access Advocate at shelter to ensure that all accessibility needs are met, as well as a Director of Survivor Access whose focus is on ensuring our current services are accessible to all survivors, and that future services are built with accessibility at the forefront.
