October is designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you or someone you know who lives in Westchester is a victim or survivor of domestic violence, please consider contacting WJCS. Our WJCS Trager Lemp Center for Treating Trauma & Promoting Resilience provides comprehensive outpatient, evidence-based treatment programs to help adult and child survivors of sexual abuse, sexual assault and harassment, and domestic violence. We also have programs for youth who have experienced or witnessed domestic violence as well as programs to help high school students cultivate the skills to build healthy relationships.
Founded in 1982, our WJCS trauma center has been at the forefront of identifying, treating, and healing the psychological trauma caused by sexual abuse, domestic and community violence, and other traumatic life events. Families dealing with a member who perpetrates abuse, whether physical, emotional, financial, or other controlling and manipulative behaviors, often feel unsafe and don’t know where to turn for help. The WJCS Trager Lemp Center offers individual and family trauma counseling at WJCS clinic locations in Hartsdale, Mt. Vernon, Yonkers, and Peekskill, and also offers referrals to our community partners for legal representation, shelter, and advocacy services
The Nurturing Parenting Program in Yonkers is a support group for mothers and their young children who are affected by domestic violence. Participants in the Nurturing Parenting program are taught constructive and caring parenting skills in order to help break the destructive cycle of abusive and neglectful childrearing. The program provides on-site childcare, dinner, and MetroCards.
To inquire about any of the programs above, please contact Sylvana Trabout, LCSW-R, Assistant Director, Trager Lemp Center 914-949-7699 x2471; [email protected].
WJCS also provides emotional, practical and advocacy support to victims of domestic violence in our WJCS Crime Victims Advocacy Support Services Program (CVASSP). Our staff accompanies victims of domestic violence to hospitals, police stations, and courts, provides referrals for temporary housing and domestic violence shelters, assists with filing claims with the NY State Office of Victim Services, and helps with safety planning. Our staff includes bilingual advocates as well as trauma-informed therapists/counselors.
For more information about the Crime Victims Advocacy Support Services Program, please contact Josefa Romero at 914.761.0600 x2245; [email protected].
WJCS’s Margaret’s Place Program, in partnership with the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation, educates youth and school communities about violence prevention and conducts violence awareness and prevention campaigns in schools by engaging youth leaders. The program supports young people affected by family and relationship abuse by providing a safe place in schools where students affected by violence can meet with a professional counselor or social worker trained in domestic violence intervention and prevention. WJCS Margaret’s Place programs are situated at Cross Hill Academy (Yonkers), Emerson Middle School (Yonkers), Peekskill Middle School, and White Plains High School.
For information about WJCS Margaret’s Place, please contact Beth Thompson, LCSW, 914-949-7699 x2481; [email protected].
To read about Domestic Violence: Myths and Realities, click here.
In an emergency, please call this 24/7 HOTLINE: 1-800-405-3991
