Staff members at Family Crisis Center provide help for those looking to escape abusive situation through a variety of services, including shelter, court advocacy, education and more. They can be contacted during hours at (580) 436-6648 or by 24-hour hotline at (580) 436-3504. PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER.
Family Crisis Center responds to abuse victims’ needs with help from the community By Sunnie Dawn Smith
R
ecently, there has been a trend among those who work in domestic violence advocacy to change the name of what they do from advocacy to homicide prevention. While this might seem drastic to some, it is in many ways the truth of what they are doing. While not all abusive relationships end in homicide, an alarming number do. In 2018, according to the Oklahoma Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board, there were 82 people murdered as a result of domestic violence. This is one reason why organizations like the Family Crisis Center located at 615 E. 12th St. are so important. While they cannot be open all the time, they do have a 24/7 domestic violence hotline. They can be called at (580) 4366648 during business hours, Monday and Tuesday 8 a.m-6:30 p.m., Wednesday 8 10 • www.adahub.com
a.m.-5 p.m., and Thursday 8 a.m.-6 p.m.. The 24-hour hotline can be reached at (580) 436-3504 any time help is needed. The Family Crisis Center provides education, advocacy and life-saving help to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. It began in 1980 just as a hotline manned solely by volunteers, but as it grew, the first shelter opened in the 1990s. The shelter is one thing the organization leaders are wanting to improve upon, mainly because they are often at capacity and sometimes have to send victims and their families to other towns for safety. While domestic violence is already traumatic enough for the partners involved, children present a greater challenge as being uprooted from their friends and family can be even more traumatic and devastating.
While most people want to see an increase in the use of their services to the community, this is one area where an increase is both sad and frightening. “I would love it if one day I came in and I didn’t have a job any more – if there was no need for our services,” executive director Shelley Battles-Reichle said. It does not seem like that day is going to come anytime soon, though. Family Crisis Center victims advocate Kati Johnson said she laments the fact that they are seeing more people than ever. “Clients seeking sexual assault services have doubled in the last year,” Johnson said. “As for domestic violence, during the calendar year 2018 we housed 152 people in the shelter, which was an increase of 44 percent. Non-residential services went up 115 percent.”
