Family Justice Center Launching Domestic Violence Survivor Support Group

The Upper Cumberland Family Justice Center wants to launch a new domestic violence survivor support group.

Coordinated Community Response Specialist Dasha Cross said the group is part of a grant requirement from the Victim of Crimes Act Program. Cross said the group is an opportunity to understand the many facets of daily life impacted in escaping a domestic violence situation.

“There’s so many of them that it’s kind of hard sometimes to make sure all the needs are met,” Cross said. “So I think it will be really good eye-opening conversations to hear from them directly about what things they needed and they didn’t get and or what things that they did get.”

Cross said she thinks this is also an opportunity for empowerment, hearing from the survivor community and banding together to discuss what can be done better. Cross said this will be a sit down conversation with some outlined questions but not a strongly structured meeting. She said the survivors will decide how often they want to meet.

She said future adjustments to the program will be decided in part by the discovery in this group.

“For the people that we’re looking for in the focus group we’d prefer that they be removed from their situation for a while,” Cross said. “We want to make sure they are in a healthy place to talk about their experience.”

Cross said residents can reach out through the Upper Cumberland Family Justice Center website if you are interested in joining the focus group.