While a woman is living at the shelter, she attends the weekly support group. I t is often her first experience with a woman's group. The purpose is support, not therapy, because support is what most women have not had, and is what most women need. Those who are seen as needing the extra support provided by professional therapy are referred to proper sources. In the weekly meetings, once a woman shares her feelings about violence and abuse with other women and learns that most abusers behave as her abuser does, she no longer feels alone and guilty.
Child care is provided so that all women in the shelter can meet with and support one another.
It is a time of great healing. While a woman is living at the house, she is also beginning to work on her own plans. If she needs economic assistance, Women's Advocates will help her apply for welfare assistance while she is still at the shelter. Legal counseling is often necessary, if in the end, divorce is the solution. Protection orders, exclusive occupancy of her home, custody and support remedies can be initiated, with or without the initiation of divorce proceedings.