 Hello, welcome to the Judge Ben Show. My name is Ben Joseph. I'm a retired Vermont Superior Court judge. This is a program in which I interview people about issues of concern in Vermont. I've done several recently about the domestic violence and sexual assault. And today is another interview in this series. My guest today is Chris Wookins, who's the director of an organization called Voices Against Violence, which helps people in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties. I wanted to say before I start talking to Chris that during the show, we've arranged to have 800 numbers projected on the screen for both domestic violence and sexual assault. And if you're in a county outside of Chittenden, you could contact the organization that serves victims and provides information about these crimes just by dialing that 800 number. And you will automatically be connected to the program in your county that serves people who have these problems. I'm very grateful to Towneeting TV for providing this service. And I hope that we'll do some good through getting people more information. Chris, are you the director of Voices Against Violence? Yes, I am. And just in broad terms, what is Voices Against Violence? Sure, we're an organization. We're actually a program of Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, otherwise known as CBOEO. So there are fiscal provider. And Voices serves Franklin and Grand Isle County. And we provide services to families impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. And to adults and children as well. We provide a whole array of services under that umbrella. And we've been around since 1980 in various forms. But we have a shelter facility. We have we provide children's services. We provide help with legal services, although I got to say we're not attorneys, but we do provide assistance in that area. We do have a transitional housing program as part of our housing services. And we have we do education and prevention work. And we also have a program called All About Kids, which is a program that provides supervised visitation for families, again, that are impacted by domestic and sexual violence. You do it a lot. I wanted to ask you, has the has the COVID business and the lockdowns and all that stuff had an effect on your business? Oh, it absolutely has. You know, it's really changed how we provide our services when we when this first happened last spring and we realized that we had to kind of lock down and staff went remote and that's something we had never experienced before. So we had to quickly decide, you know, figure out how we were going to do that. We had to buy equipment to do that. We had our hotline on going through an answering service 24 seven. So we wouldn't miss any calls. But we had to really look at how we were providing services and how people can access us when they were in their homes and they weren't able to leave. Was it safe to make a phone call? Was it safe to use their computer? Those kinds of things. So we tried to expand access to our program. We besides the hotline, we started a chat line so people can go on our website and actually just have conversations. Very safe conversations, encrypted conversations with us. And once we're done, those conversations go away. So there's no way to be able to go back, you know, for anyone to see any information. So that's one thing we're looking at, perhaps starting a text line. So there's a lot of different ways that we're looking to access, you know, be be more accessible to people that are either, you know, in their homes, they can't reach out. They're in very rural areas and they can't come in because we're not seeing people face to face right now, except we were seeing them in court. But even the court has gone totally virtual at this point. That's that's really, well, that's a home other issue. But that's a concern. Yes. How many people do you have working in voices against violence? Currently, we have 11 staff. Good. And we have, which doesn't include, we have an MSW, excuse me, MSW intern from UVM with us this year as well. So the master of social work, army, MSW, master in social work. Master in social work. Yes. OK. And so you you help people with housing if they're not safe where they're living. Is that the idea? Yes, yes, we can do that. We, as I mentioned, we have it. We have a shelter facility. It's called Lori's House. And right now we we have only three bedrooms available. And because of COVID, we, you know, we have to socially distance. We can only put one family in each room. So our census is down and shelter, certainly. But we also have a contract with the state to provide housing, overflow housing in hotels, local hotels. So we have agreements with with a couple of hotels in the area that we can put people up in hotels for shorter periods of time. And then hopefully we can move them into shelter and then go from there. So housing is a big service that we do provide. Yes. And this is provided not just to a woman who's been a victim, but to her children as well. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Because I think in the past, in my dealings with some of these things the concerns about housing have really prevented people from making a complaint because they don't have anywhere to go. Right. So if they've got some place to go, it's more likely they can reach out to you. Absolutely. You know, that's that's the problem that happened in COVID. People weren't even able to get out to make that phone call to say that we need to get out. So we're seeing, you know, for a while there, those numbers went down a little bit. Those calls went down, but now we're we're seeing them go back up again. Unfortunately, we just don't have the housing stock in our area. Well, I think in the whole state of Vermont, for that matter, but in our area, particularly, we don't have a lot of housing stocks. So and the cost of housing is has gone up continually. So people are stuck, you know, even if they do leave and they don't have, you know, if they don't have a job, they don't have any way income coming in. It's very difficult for them to be able to support long term housing. We do have a transitional housing program, which is very helpful. We have five apartments that we provide to survivors so they can stay in those apartments for up to two years. And during that time, we work with them on building, building ways in which they can support housing, moving forward, whether that's, you know, through employment or we help them get, you know, assistance through housing vouchers and and help them create credit and landlord references and things like that that will help them in, you know, securing safe and affordable housing in the future. I was told recently that a half of the homicide committed in Vermont during 2020 took place in domestic violence situations. So that's true. Yes, that's true. Chris, I didn't want to Chris, I did want to ask you about court orders and things like this that you might be able to what kind of court orders can you get to help people in this situation? Well, we work with people who one of the services we provide is to help people if they are interested in getting a relief from abuse order or straining order protection order, they're called many different things. So we can help them with that. Again, that process has changed because of COVID. So we used to be able to meet people in person, help them with the paperwork because it can be a bit confusing and help them kind of form their thoughts so they can write down what is actually happening to them and why they need protection so that, you know, it's easy for the judge to look at and, you know, determine. But again, that's being done remotely. So at this point, folks wanting to apply for relief from abuse order call they during the day, during the week, they can go to the courthouse and in and right in the vestibule there, they can pick up the paperwork and take it with them and then they can fill it out. And then when that's done, they take it back and leave it at the courthouse. Are you able to provide help to them in doing that? Over the phone, yes, because, again, we're not seeing people in person. So we can we can help them over the phone. And you can't you can't walk to the courthouse with them. We know we generally don't do that. But if rare occasions when something happens that somebody needs needs to see us in person, I mean, we're starting to do that a little bit. Then we'll try to make that happen. But after hours is difficult because they have to call the after hours line and they're talking to a court clerk and the court clerk is helping them fill out the form. And we're not part of that process because it's all done by phone. So what you do, you can talk to them before they make the call. So they know, yes, yes, yes, we can go through the we can go through the form or even, you know, afterwards if they have questions, you know, we certainly can call the court clerk does make those referrals to us for sure. But it just, you know, adds a little layer of difficult. Well, I think it's very important that people know that they can have assistance going through all the steps that might have to absolutely. Yeah, it's a really daunting process, you know, for people that that want to do that. You know, it's I think the civil legal process is pretty daunting. And it's difficult for people to grasp that. So, you know, it is we're there to, you know, answer any questions they may have. We also have a legal aid attorney working with us. So she can actually help people and represent them in court during those hearings. Oh, that that's very important. Yeah, if the other party is represented or if the case is particularly difficult, she can be there to help. So she's there every Monday in Franklin County when the when the relief from these hearings are and we provide a legal clinic every month so people can call and get, you know, sign up for an hour or half hour of her time and can ask any questions that they may have. It could it could be around protection orders or it could be around custody, divorce, you know, assets, things like that. So we try to provide as much information to folks as possible. It's a big thing. Yeah, it is. It is huge. And sometimes we do it twice a month because we have such a need for it. And now we're looking at maybe doing it once a week to help people so that we can touch base with people before they go for their final RFA hearings, RFA, meaning relief from abuse, relief from abuse orders. Yes. Well, do you find do you find that these orders are effective? They can be absolutely. I think, you know, and each person knows if it's if it's the right thing for them to do, we just, you know, we answer questions. Oftentimes, survivors ask us, well, you know, is this going to work? And we, you know, we say we don't know, you know, the person better than we do. And, you know, you you may be able to determine if it's something that is going to work for you. I think for for a lot of people, they do work. It's again, it's a piece of paper, but for some that piece of paper is enough to keep them from continuing to do a piece of paper that orders them to stay out of the house. Yes. Yes. Yes. And stay away from the house. It can order them to not abuse, not be in contact, no third party contact, those kinds of things. Oh, well, that's that's that's very important. It is when I've dealt with these cases in the past, I was always concerned about the children because I think that the children who live in an atmosphere with this domestic violence, it's just it's just destructive and it stays with them for years. And these orders allow them to include their children. It's part of that protection. Well, that's that's, you know, well, it's important. Do you have do you have contacts with the with the police? Yeah. Oh, yes. We have a good relationship with with all the police departments in our two county area. We actually have a a project with the St. Albans Police Department right now called the LAP, which is the Lethality Assessment Program. And it's a it's a program developed by a coalition in another state. And it is supported by the federal government through funding. And so we work with them to provide training. And then when police officers officers go to the scene of a domestic assault, they can determine what the risk level is for that particular situation. So they have basically a checklist and they have questions that they ask and then they check them off. And if there's the score is a certain amount that may trigger a call to us. So they call our hotline and then the survivor on the scene can talk with one of our advocates and work out a plan or just provide support or or say we'll follow up the next day, whatever they need. If they need shelter, then we would bring them into shelter or hotel room. So it's not a situation in which the police officer can leave and then the woman gets beaten again. I mean, that we hope not. Obviously, if the person leaves, you know, the person perpetrating the violence leaves or is arrested or whatever. And if not, then, you know, we may help her find some someplace safe to go. I think safety is so important. I think we're worried about safety is the big the big issue. You know, obviously, most of the victims here are women and they they're worried that they'll be beaten as a consequence of complaining. Right. Right. So if there's some way to guarantee safety, I think that's a key issue. Absolutely. I mean, that that's the basic, you know, one of the basic services we provide is safety, support and, you know, connecting to resources. So those are really some key goals of our program. Oh, it's very important. I think this is important throughout the state of the organizations that provide these services, I think face the same thing day in day out. You know, I'm sorry, go ahead. There are, you know, 15 programs throughout the state that are part of the Vermont network against domestic and sexual violence. So every county or every region has a program that they can connect with. We're we offer the same basic services. Some things are different, but some programs don't have shelters, some some do. And but we're all, you know, basically providing the same services. Well, I think that housing is a very key service. You know, yes, it is something that. Well, you know, if there's someone who's a victim of domestic violence, if they call the 800 number on the screen, they can find out what's available in the county where they live. Right. That's correct. I tried it just as an experiment. I found the 800 number in Bingo. I was connected to your program. Oh, OK, good. Good. It works. I can assure you that it works. It's good. OK. And so you actually do provide a service where you can actually go with a victim when they have to go to court. Yes, not currently, because there are no person hearings. But yes, you anticipate that the court visits will will begin again. I hope so. I think, you know, they went strictly virtual after the holidays, I think, and to try to avoid any spikes happening. So I'm hopeful that it will open up. It's just it makes it so much easier when we can be there face to face and providing that support for folks. Thank you for what you're doing. I think it's so important, just so important. I think the consequences, you know, to the to the victims, and especially to the children can be so far reaching. It can be something to follow the kids for years. And we we just have we just received we're working on a project that is actually really promoting some services for for children and working with our local mental health program and therapists in the in the region to provide some short term intervention for kids and moms that are experiencing domestic and sexual violence. So we're excited to be part of that project as well. Moving forward. Well, so you work with the police. You work with other programs. You you absolutely you can really reach out. And depending upon the case, it depends on what services are needed. Right. And you've got a lot available to draw from. We can't do this work alone. That's for sure. And we don't want to. So we do work with our community partners on, you know, to provide holistic services for sure. Gosh, gosh, gosh, gosh. How many of these complaints do you think you get in the course of a year? Well, we, you know, our numbers are a little wonky this year because of covid. Of course, yeah. Certainly, but generally, you know, we see probably between 500 and 550 unduplicated people a year that we provide services to. And that includes that actually does not include children. That's adult survivors, you know, at about 100, 250 children of those folks that we work with. But if you add the children that are impacted by the violence and the abuse, then we're talking, you know, a much bigger number. But so that that's probably, you know, what we do, we do about a hundred. You know, I'm trying to think about 1500, 1600 hotline calls a year. That we receive. So it's yeah, I think every year it's it's growing. We see more and more to alcohol and drugs of anything to do with the growth of these things. We definitely we definitely see that. We see the intersection of, you know, domestic and sexual violence, mental health and substance use for sure. It is oftentimes, you know, you know, survivors may use substances to numb the pain that they're experiencing, but they also can be drawn into that by the person that's causing them harm. It may be something that, you know, want that a perpetrator may use as a form of control. If they use alcohol or use drugs to get that person to use that, so then they have that control over that person by providing the drugs. Or oh, we see it in a lot of different different ways, and which is why we really work very closely with our substance use programs and our mental health, because it really it's just, you know, it's the intersection of all of those and trauma and more trauma people experience, the more that that can happen for them. So you can reach out to organizations and enlist their help with a survivor. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. We follow a harm reduction model and we work, you know, we work with people. You know, it doesn't mean they have to be sober to get our services, not at all. They could, you know, continue to be using. It may be a safety mechanism for them at that point. So we really work with people where they're at when they come to us for services. And it's this, these conversations and these things you're doing, they're confidential, I take it. Absolutely. Absolutely. We have very strict confidentiality statutes at the state level, but also at the federal level, the Violence Against Women Act prohibits us from giving out any information without the express permission of the survivor. And our confidentiality forms, release forms are, you know, noted for that so we can't give out any information unless the person wants us to. Are there any resources you feel you should have in addition to what you're already doing now or the more that people could. That's a good question. Well, I'm just worried about, you know, about government services. I just think it's it's a difficult thing. Yes, it is. I, you know, I as a director, I always worry about funding, whether we're going to have enough to do the work. You know, we could have more staff because the need is there. And I'm particularly concerned next year after the COVID funds, the CARES money came through to help. But what next year is going to look like, I don't know, revenues are going to be down in the state and that's going to impact our state funding. So I do think about that. So obviously more resources in that area would be helpful. But other than that, you know, housing is a huge issue for survivors and their children. And, you know, we work with housing authorities. We, you know, there's a group of us that meet twice a week now since since the pandemic started, just to talk about housing and going forward with housing authorities and what it's going to look like and how we can get more subsidized housing or even housing stock in our area. So that's that's a huge issue that it's going to be. And if those activities led you to find work with hotels, I mean, you you. Yes, yes, yeah. Yeah, so because we just don't have it. But the good news is that we are going to be expanding our shelter. We're going to be adding two more bedrooms. One of the things that we did this year in the midst of covid is to move some of the staff out of our where the shelter was and so that we could expand it and add some more bedrooms. So we're hoping I think within the next month to have those bedrooms available. It will help us again with social distancing. We can't bring a lot of people in, but we're trying to, you know, at least have a couple more options for folks that maybe can't stay in a hotel or have animals because we're a pet friendly shelter and they can't have pets in hotels. And we know that survivors when they if when they leave want to bring their pets with them because those pets are in danger as well. And we want to be able to help that. So we do take pets and shelter as well. Well, you're terrific. Thank you for what you're doing. I think it really is important. A number of people that I've seen in court who have had a difficult childhood. It just it happens so often. It's just very, very sad. Well, Chris, I want to thank you. I think it's really vital what you're doing. I hope that I hope that people see this and those who need it can take advantage of your services. Well, I thank you and I thank you for all your work that you've done. Well, it helped victims over the years as well. Well, you know, thank you. Thank you. I don't compare myself to you. That's for sure. Thanks. Thanks again. Thank you. So long. Thanks for looking in. Well, you may be seeing some other programs on the subject soon, I hope. Bye.