Blog
The Women’s Center 2022 EmPower Luncheon
Trauma Informed Care
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Millions of Americans live with a mental illness every year, yet only 43.8% sought treatment in 2019 (NAMI). At The Women’s Center, we believe it’s crucial to raise awareness to break the stigma of living with a mental health...
What will it take for rapists to be held accountable?
The Minnesota Supreme Court just last month overturned a rape conviction because of their definition of “mental incapacitation,” which essentially says that anyone who gets drunk and is rendered incapacitated, i.e. passed out, is at fault for being raped. I,...
Rape Crisis Response
The Women’s Center provides rape crisis response through partnerships with area hospitals and health centers, providing on-site, immediate advocacy for survivors of sexual assault who report for a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE). Currently, we support SANE...
Crucial conversations with teens: talking about healthy relationships
Talking with your teen about consent and boundaries is the best prevention against dating violence. And these conversations are critical – 1 in 3 girls in the US is a victim of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner, and 1 in 10 high school...
CONVO: Creating Opportunity for Non-Violent Outcomes
In January, The Women’s Center launched a brand new Instagram account specifically for teens. CONVO – which stands for Creating Opportunity for Non-Violent Outcomes – is a page designed to make violence prevention engaging and accessible. As the violence prevention...
2021 State of the Agency Address
We are incredibly thankful for the compassionate support we received from our donors and friends in 2020. Throughout a very tumultuous year, you helped us continue doing what we do best – providing safety, shelter, and support for survivors 24/7, 365 days a year. Last...
Spotlight on Services: Helping Survivors of Human Trafficking, Increasing Awareness
Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. We can prevent human trafficking in our community by educating ourselves and each other on how to identify the signs of this human rights violation, how to help prevent it, and how to support those who have been...
New Hope for the New Year
As 2020 draws to a close, it’s hard to not reflect on everything that happened this year and how it impacted our work. Perhaps the easiest way to describe it is… HARD! Deemed an essential agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and Safer at Home orders, we had to...
How You Can Support Our 24-Hour Hotline
The Women’s Center’s 24-Hour Hotline provides a critical lifeline to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Last year alone, we responded 7,170 calls – that’s almost one call an hour, every hour of every day during the year. Our trained staff and provide:
COVID-19: Workplace Recovery Plan
Para ver la actualización de COVID-19 en español, haga clic aquí. The safety and well-being of our clients, staff and volunteers continues to be our priority. We have resumed most of our in-person programming, adhering to the CDC’s recommendations, with modifications...
Common Warning Signs of Abuse
The following list can help you determine whether you or someone you care about is involved in an abusive relationship. Not all of these characteristics need to be present for a relationship to be abusive, and characteristics by themselves do not necessarily indicate...
Internet Safety Tips
Keep Your Use of the Internet Secret From Your Abuser If possible, avoid using your home computer or any computer that your abuser may use. Lots of information is saved on a computer when you use the Internet. Information about passwords, such as the password to your...
Earlier Intervention for Domestic Violence Victims: The Lethality Assessment Protocol
It takes a community to create a holistic support system for victims of domestic violence. To do that, we partner with law enforcement, hospitals, government agencies, and many other organizations and groups. One of the most impactful collaborative programs in...
What Makes It Difficult to Leave Abusive Situations
When learning about domestic violence, people often ask “why don’t they just leave?” This is one of the most common myths about abuse, and there are many factors that make it difficult for victims of domestic violence to leave an abusive relationship. While it may...
Remembering the Lives Lost to Domestic Violence
People often ask us about the purple figures displayed on our grounds in October. The history of these silhouettes is tied to a project called “Remember My Name” started by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) and Ms. Magazine in 1994. The purpose...
What to expect when calling our 24-Hour Hotline
The Women’s Center’s 24-Hour Hotline provides a critical lifeline to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Last year alone, we responded 7,170 calls – that’s almost one call an hour, every hour of every day during the year. Our trained staff and provide: an outlet...
Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This year, it is especially important to raise awareness as domestic violence has been reported to be at peak levels across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Waukesha County, dispatchers reported 33.8% more...
The Correlation of Domestic Violence and Systemic Oppression
The Women’s Center holds racial justice as a fundamental value and a guiding value to our work. As our country confronts the realities of systemic racism, this year during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are highlighting the fact that domestic violence is...
Spotlight on Services: Advocacy
Here at The Women’s Center, we provide holistic, trauma-informed programming for survivors of domestic and sexual violence that emphasizes healing, empowerment, and justice. One of the core ways we do this is through short-term advocacy. How we provide advocacy Our...
Self-Care
“Self-care” is everywhere these days, flooding podcasts and social media feeds with advice, research, and of course, advertising. In our consumer culture, valuable ideas are often diminished or oversimplified in order to capitalize on what is trending. Following suit,...