Pittsburgh area domestic violence counseling center among 5 Justice Dept. grant recipients

Since 1978, the staff at Crisis Center North, a nonprofit counseling and resource center for domestic violence victims, has worked to empower its clients and help them feel safe.

Through its Paws for Empowerment program, the center began to provide therapy dogs during counseling sessions with victims and during visits to court through the Victim Assistance Canine Program supported by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

This fall, staff learned the center will be one of five recipients of a nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Victim Services. The money will be used to expand all aspects of their mission. Due to the nature of its work with victims, CCN staff does not disclose its office location.

“The grants are to provide emergency and transitional housing assistance for people with pets,” said CCN Executive Director Grace Coleman. “So many people feel that their pet is a family member, but a lot of domestic violence centers have yet to incorporate pet planning or pet safety.”

Coleman and CCN canine intervention specialist Dana Friday both said it’s heartbreaking to see how pets can be weaponized by abusers.

“There are so many victims who’ve lost their pets,” Coleman said. “They’re told, ‘Why don’t you just leave the dog behind?’ And they do, and they never see it again.”

In an abusive household, Friday said, many times the abuse begins with a pet.

“(The victim) may be the only one who takes care of that animal,” she said. “They don’t know if their abuser is going to take care of it, or say, ‘If you leave, I will hurt this animal.’ ”

A safe place

Through the federal grant, CCN will expand its housing program and provide two transitional housing units for victims and their pets for up to two years.

“And we’ll be able to do temporary housing by reaching out to local hotels,” Coleman said. “It will also allow us to work with larger animals, which is pretty much unheard of among domestic violence programs.”

The large animals may even include horses, through agreements with local stables. “You just can’t take your horse and leave,” said Friday, who rides horses. “Where are you going to go?”

Friday said the grant will also help fund things like pet supplies, food and other items that a victim may not be able to round up when leaving.

“These animals offer support,” Friday said. “Victims are leaving an abusive situation — they can’t tell anyone else in the whole world where they are, and rather than stay there alone, we want them to be able to have that pet with them.”

The grant will also help provide for a pet to be taken to an animal shelter for temporary housing or medical care.

“There’s been so many studies about how pets help with support, releasing feel-good hormones, lowering blood pressure,” Friday said. “We’re so excited for this grant because it gives us opportunities to get people out of these situations and go somewhere they can feel comfortable, as opposed to a women’s shelter, to try and find a new life for themselves and their pets.”

The grant also includes an education outreach component, with CCN staff working to train local veterinarians to recognize the signs of animal abuse in a household.

“I’ve been asked to be a founding member of the Keystone Link, a Pennsylvania coalition looking at the intersection of human and animal abuse,” Coleman said. “Overall, abuse generally manifests itself with an animal prior to any other abuse.”

Reaching out

CCN staff also has another way to connect with victims, thanks to a program they happened to launch at the exact right time.

In January 2020, shortly before pandemic shutdowns began in the U.S., CCN officials launched an app giving domestic violence victims more accessible and discreet ways to communicate. Specifically, the app features both text and chat functions ans allows users to close it quickly. Messages disappear so they cannot be seen by an abuser.

“It really enhances safety, and it was the first app of its kind that had both text and chat functions available,” Coleman said. “Part of it was also reaching out to a younger demographic that doesn’t talk on the phone much anymore. We’re making contact as convenient as possible.”

As the covid-19 pandemic took hold, the app proved to be highly valuable. Potential domestic violence victims stuck at home with an abusive partner have a way to silently reach out.

“We had a survivor who would contact us on a daily basis about safety planning issues,” Coleman said. “The tactics she’d used to de-escalate violence in the home — going grocery shopping, running an errand — weren’t available in the early days of the pandemic. There wasn’t anywhere to go, so the team was giving her planning advice every day.”

And thanks to the app, the woman was able to safely communicate with CCN staff during a trip to the bathroom.

Benjamin Barnes, CCN’s community outreach specialist, said that even this past summer as pandemic restrictions had eased, he has seen a nearly 50% increase in people reaching out through the app.

“It’s been substantial,” he said. “I think it serves as a segue to motivate people to actually call and speak with us. Usually after a couple of hours or days of messaging, I’ll see that trust start to open up. And they almost always give us a call.”

Coleman said the U.S. Justice Department plans to bring together all five grant recipients to share their findings.

“We hope that it can serve as a national model,” Coleman said. She hopes the app, combined with the grant funding, will help CCN make strides in ensuring that safety for “both ends of the leash” — people and their pets.