Peace House — a nonprofit organization that provides services to domestic violence and sexual assault survivors — has received a $500,000 grant to strengthen its services in Summit and Wasatch counties.  Executive Director Kendra Wyckoff said this is the first time Peace House has received the rural grant from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. She said she is excited to use the three-year, half-million-dollar grant to continue helping survivors throughout the Wasatch Back. The nonprofit offers services including emergency shelter for those fleeing dangerous situations and an all-hours helpline where individuals in need can talk with trained professionals. There are also options for children, including safety plans and support through transportation for schooling and recreation opportunities.  Peace House plans to use the rural grant to increase access to medical and forensic services, reduce barriers to participation in the criminal justice process and increase training for first responders and community partners, including specialized instruction on human trafficking in partnership with the Asian Association of Utah.  There will also be improved training for helpline operators. Those trained advocates are taught to walk survivors through a lethality assessment — a questionnaire utilized to understand the threat the individual faces. “If they screen in high danger, or an officer is concerned about the dangerousness, they will call the Peace House helpline and get that certain victim connected to resources right away,” Wyckoff said.  Wyckoff also referred to the “power and control wheel,” which is a diagram that outlines eight indicators of abuse. Some factors include emotional abuse, such as name-calling, gaslighting or mind games, isolation, minimizing and denying, using male privilege, such as controlling all big decisions or defining men’s and women’s roles, and economic abuse, like giving an allowance or preventing partners from getting a job.  Economic abuse is present in nearly all cases of domestic violence and abuse, according to Wyckoff and Peace House Chief Programs Officer Liz Watson.  “That can be easily hidden by someone saying ‘Oh, let me worry about that, don’t you worry about such and such a thing,’” Watson said. “If you’re controlling the purse strings and you’ve got a lot of the power and control in a relationship, how is someone going to leave?” Watson said there are some very clear signs of immediate danger.“We know that if someone has been strangled, then their risk of homicide increases 700-fold because it is a form of attempted murder,” Watson said. “And if someone strangles you once, the odds are that they’re prepared to do it again.” She said that’s present in about 70% of cases and is “much more prevalent than people think as a way of hurting an intimate partner.” But that’s where Peace House comes in. Watson remembers one instance when Wasatch County School District officials reached out when a mother and her children were identified as “at risk.” “We had a really good outcome for a mother and her children because the school brought us in and one of our Spanish-speaking staff, we were able to use that mobile advocacy,” Watson said. “It wasn’t one of our planned advocacy sessions, but we were able to mobilize quickly.” Watson said the Peace House team was able to recognize the high risk the mother was in by using the lethality assessment. Counselors stayed with the family until they were safely relocated.  Nearly 40% of the population Peace House serves resides in Wasatch County. Watson said it may be higher because some people who reach out to the crisis hotline may not be comfortable sharing where they’re from. The organization partners with the Wasatch County Health Department and local law enforcement to bolster services.Watson referenced a Wasatch County Health Department Community Health Needs Assessment survey, released in March, which identified domestic violence as a “concerning trend,” according to Wasatch County Health Department Director Jonelle Fitzgerald.  “I still think in some of our small towns, we would like to think that domestic and sexual violence isn’t happening,” Watson said. “And yet responses to the community survey showed that it was, and it’s very prevalent.” Wyckoff said Peace House is dedicated to helping those in need, and that the rural grant will boost services for survivors over the next three years.  If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or feeling unsafe, Peace House hotline operators are available 24/7 at 1-800-647-9161. The post Peace House receives $500,000 federal grant to improve rural services for domestic violence, sexual assault survivors appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less