This book describes the results of research
conducted in a domestic violence shelter in New York
City. The effectiveness of Sanctuary, a milieu
therapy model that integrates trauma recovery and
social justice empowerment, was the primary focus of
the study. The broader aim was to describe the
strengths, needs, resiliency, and impact of
interpersonal trauma on the women who resided in the
shelter. All who participated were very
enthusiastic. These women who had been silenced
by abusive partners, marginalized by a social
service system that did not adequately meet their
needs, and rendered invisible by a society that did
not fully understand their plight, wanted their
voices heard and their stories understood. They were
all women of color, negotiating racism, poverty, and
violence in their homes and communities. They sought
safety, respite, and nonviolence. Since unconscious
systemic racism is form of social violence, it is
vital that it not be replicated in the shelter.
Therefore, the residents' experiences of racism and
the meaning of racial identity in their lives is
included, and efforts to work from an antiracist
framework are described.
conducted in a domestic violence shelter in New York
City. The effectiveness of Sanctuary, a milieu
therapy model that integrates trauma recovery and
social justice empowerment, was the primary focus of
the study. The broader aim was to describe the
strengths, needs, resiliency, and impact of
interpersonal trauma on the women who resided in the
shelter. All who participated were very
enthusiastic. These women who had been silenced
by abusive partners, marginalized by a social
service system that did not adequately meet their
needs, and rendered invisible by a society that did
not fully understand their plight, wanted their
voices heard and their stories understood. They were
all women of color, negotiating racism, poverty, and
violence in their homes and communities. They sought
safety, respite, and nonviolence. Since unconscious
systemic racism is form of social violence, it is
vital that it not be replicated in the shelter.
Therefore, the residents' experiences of racism and
the meaning of racial identity in their lives is
included, and efforts to work from an antiracist
framework are described.