(Posted 2023 June)
Domestic and Sexual Violence Services’ Clinical Services Humanizes Families Impacted by Violence
Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Counseling Services and Anger & Domestic Abuse Prevention & Treatment (ADAPT) program have been brought together under one umbrella: Clinical Services. Recently, Volunteer Voices spoke with Melody Vielbig, Clinical Services program manager, about why this merger was necessary.
Volunteer Voices: What does Clinical Services do?
Melody Vielbig: We provide support and intervention to those who have been harmed or those who harm others in order to create greater victim safety in the community. Specifically, we offer individual and group therapy for victims/survivors and their children for both domestic violence and sexual violence, as well as providing a psychodynamic/psychoeducational group for those who cause harm. We have groups for those who identify as female and those who identify as male. If folks are transgender or don’t ascribe to a specific gender, they are allowed to choose which group feels comfortable for them.
Most recently we’ve added quality assurance, which helps makes sure our work meets the standards we set, and that we are doing what we say we’re going to do.
A very small part of what we do is support our fellow friends in community education to create some level of prevention, for instance, the Unpacking Gender training created by the Countywide Coordination Team.
Why was it important to put Counseling and ADAPT under the same umbrella?
It’s become clear to us that we have a unified mission. That mission is to create greater victim/survivor safety and community safety. The work we do in Counseling and ADAPT are both in service to that goal. When we come to the work with a unified mission, we do the work better.
When those who work in ADAPT have feedback and awareness of the impact of violence on victims, it gives them a better understanding of how to create accountability in those who cause harm.
At the same time, those who come to us as victims/survivors have many needs, including, sometimes, to remain in the relationship. It’s important for us to humanize the whole process of families who are impacted by violence and to treat that from a whole systems perspective.
What are the challenges to coming together as Clinical Services?
When you are used to functioning separately and come together, it is a new experience. It is habit to see yourself as separate. But what we have found is that the more opportunities we have to spend together as a team, as a whole program, we recognize how the work of one is so vital to the other.
We also continue to work within our program and within the community to understand accountability and those who cause harm. If you’ve worked in a silo where you work with one, you see a piece of a whole. The challenge is to bring everybody together to see the whole and to hold compassion and accountability. We have people who are being served by ADAPT who are both victim/survivors and have self-referred for their own harmful behaviors. We recognize we’re not serving a separate group of people. I think we do a better job when we do that. It is a difference of perspective, and that can take work. That can take energy. That’s why we believe so strongly in having these programs together. We have to see and hold compassion and empathy for the whole family system.
How do volunteers help Clinical Services?
Volunteers are critical to the work we do. Particularly those who support ADAPT. We have been so blessed. They create a layer of accountability that builds a layer of greater safety in our community. We couldn’t do the work we do without our volunteers. They are a critical lynchpin to the work we do.
This article posting is part of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Services' Volunteer Voices monthly newsletter for current and potential volunteers. If you're not already a volunteer, learn how to get involved. Find out about upcoming trainings, volunteer trainings, happenings around the DSVS office and information about articles, books, media recommendations and more.
Learn more about the Domestic and Sexual Violence Services (DSVS).