Grant will Fund Collaboration in City Plagued with Domestic Violence

WOONSOCKET, RI—Two area nonprofits are teaming up and using a federal grant to deploy a renewed effort to improve health care responses in domestic violence cases.

The effort focuses on the city of Woonsocket, plagued by domestic violence. The city has the highest domestic violence rate in the state accounting for population size. In 2013 alone, there were 407 arrests.

Together, Thundermist Health Center and Sojourner House are planning a partnership to offer more complete services to domestic violence victim in either agencies’ care.

The two nonprofits are natural partners and the new effort, funded by a grant from Futures Without Violence, will increase the number of reciprocal referrals and help their respective efforts dovetail.

“We see a great opportunity to integrate intimate partner violence screening into our practice,” said Chuck Jones, Thundermist president and CEO. “We recognize that Woonsocket is deeply impacted by IPV [intimate partner violence], and that strengthening our existing partnership will have a positive impact on staff, our patients, and our community.”

The grant, totaling $14,000, will be split equally.

Social workers who work directly with victims of domestic violence know that one single agency will never solve the problem.

“Sojourner House has been providing services and advocacy for those impacted by domestic violence to the Woonsocket area for close to 30 years, and statewide for almost 40 years,” said Vanessa Volz, executive director of Sojourner House. “We know that intimate partner violence is a pattern of abuse that can’t be solved by just one type of social service provider. We welcome the opportunity to partner with Thundermist on this important project to widen the scope of each of our agency’s prospective referrals.”

Specifically, Thundermist will offer health education and harm reduction strategies to patients at their Woonsocket location. Sojourner House will provide Thundermist patients with appropriate safety planning and support services to address intimate partner violence in the Woonsocket area, with both organizations making reciprocal referrals as appropriate.