Topics included on this page:

• Basic Services
• Related Services
• Area We Serve

Basic Services

• 24 hour crisis intervention with trained staff and volunteers.un

• Emergency residential shelter services to battered women and their children when in immediate danger. The primary resource for emergency shelter is the Administrative and Residential facility located in Willmar. Built in 2005, this building has six bedrooms capable of housing a total of sixteen adults (women only) and children. When that number is reached, other families, including men, are sheltered at motels until room is available at the Shelter House.

• Information and assistance to victims attempting to escape violence. Assistance includes:
  • Resources for security and protection
  • Food
  • Clothing
  • Personal supplies
  • Furniture

• Referrals, transportation and accompaniment to other services such as:
  • Permanent housing
  • Medical and mental health
  • Finances
  • Child care
  • Skills training or employment

• Information and assistance to survivors for legal remedies such as:
  • Court "Orders for Protection" and "Harassment Restraining Orders".
  • Divorce
  • Child custody
  • Visitation plans.

• Weekly survivor's support groups:
  • Willmar  
  • Benson 
  • Olivia  
  • Montevideo

Call the outreach office for the county in which you live to learn when the support group meeting for that county is held.

• Facilitates intervention groups for child witnesses of domestic violence; one is for Spanish-speaking children.

• Help survivors develop individualized safety plans. Click here for more about safety planning.

• Advocate for victims in the legal and criminal justice systems
  • Harassment Restraining Orders (HRO's)
  • Order for Protection (OFP's)

• Network with and train personnel who respond to domestic violence.

• Intervene on behalf of survivors with abusers when there is potential for further danger to victims.

• Public awareness and education to community groups and students through presentations,events,activities, and community groups.

• Supervised exchanges and visits of children with custodial and non-custodial parents. Click here for information about Harmony Visitation Center.

• Provide language and culture specific services to Hispanic/Latina persons in the service area.

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Related Services

• Community Advocacy Program for Hispanic/Latina -- Kandiyohi County

• Criminal Justice Intervention Program -- Kandiyohi County

The Criminal Justice Intervention Project at Shelter House works with criminal justice agencies to provide a coordinated response to domestic violence within the community and assure accountability from those who choose to use violence within their family.

The program coordinator works with victims whose partners have been arrested or charged with domestic violence related crimes to help them understand how the criminal justice system works and assure that their rights as victims are upheld.  Safety for battered women and their rights as victims are upheld.  Safety for battered women and their children is always the primary concern.

The Kandiyohi County Coordinating Council, which is made up of representatives from may agencies including law enforcement, prosecutors, probation officers, child protection workers, Guardians Ad Litem, and others meets every other month to share new information about domestic abuse and discuss problems that arise with the community response to domestic violence.

• County Outreach Program Offices:
  • Olivia (Renville County) 320-523-1015
  • Benson (Swift County)  320-842-3206
  • Montevideo (Chippewa and Lac Qui Parle Counties) 320-269-6520
  • Willmar (Kandiyohi, Meeker, and all other counties)

  320-235-0962 or 1-866-223-1111 (toll free, 24 hours/day)

• Harmony Visitation Center click here for more information

• Support for Victims of Sexual Violence in Kandiyohi, Renville, McLeod and Swift Counties click here for more information

• Youth Program: This program is designed to create healing opportunities for children who have witnessed domestic violence and to prevent domestic violence in future generations. Major programmatic activities include:
  

Inquiries about the Youth program should be directed to Juliane:

• 320-235-0962
• julianeb@willmarshelter.com

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Area We Serve

Primary Service Area

All Shelter House basic services and related services are available to families who live in the following counties:

• Chippewa
• Kandiyohi
• Lac Qui Parle
• Meeker
• Renville
• Swift

Secondary Service Area

Emergency residential services are available to families who live in these southwest Minnesota counties:

• Big Stone
• Cottonwood
• Lincoln
• Lyon
• Jackson
• Martin
• Pipestone
• Murray
• Redwood
• Rock
• Nobles
• Yellow Medicine

Families from these counties are referred to the Shelter House for emergency residential services by domestic violence providers that serve these counties. The Shelter House will provide emergency residential services to these families when the following conditions apply:

• When space is available at the Shelter House.
• When space is not available at a local emergency residential facility.
• When a family must be relocated as an extreme safety measure.

General advocacy services will be provided by the domestic violence agency from the family's home county.

If you live in one of these counties but don't know who to call for help about domestic violence, you can reach the neareast shelter or safehome program at 1-866-223-1111 (toll free, 24 hours/day).

If you live outside Minnesota, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for a referral to a domestic violence provider in our area.

1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
1-800-787-3224 (TTY)
http://www.ndvh.org/

 

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