Retreat, Inc.

All of our services are free of charge and confidential. We are committed to meeting the needs of victims and their families at each level of their journey. To that end, we offer a comprehensive list of services. Our other focus is on preventing abuse before it occurs, through education.<br/><br/>The Retreat utilizes a multi-channeled approach to meet individual needs and implement community prevention strategies.<br/><br/>Intervention: <br/>• 24/7 Emergency Hotline and Shelter.<br/>• Collaborations with local police, medical providers, other DV agencies, other health & human service providers, governmental agencies, and local schools and colleges,<br/>• Specialized training for staff working with vulnerable populations including seniors, children and youth, and limited English speaking victims.<br/><br/>Prevention:<br/>• Through in-school education, from 3rd Grade through college level, to change the social norm.<br/>• Community presentations and partnerships to educate the public in healthy relationships and safe bystander intervention.

The Retreat is the only agency serving Long Island's East End with domestic violence services: Hotline Services – Telephone crisis intervention is available 24 hours per day. Staff and trained volunteers link callers to the shelter, outreach services, police, and emergency health services, while providing supportive listening, basic information, and referrals. Counseling – Individual and group counseling is provided for adults and children. Clients take control of their lives, make positive changes without guilt and begin to heal. Group counseling combines education about abuse with mutual support. Legal Advocacy – Trained legal advocates accompany victims to court, explain the legal process, and assist in obtaining orders of protection, stay away orders and custody. Residential Services – The emergency shelter provides housing for 18 adults and children for an up to 90-day length of stay. Services available at the shelter include counseling, legal advocacy, education, and case management, among others. Crime Victim Assistance – The Retreat provides immediate confidential response and assistance to victims of domestic violence. In addition, we provide Rape and Sexual Assault Services, Children's Services, Support Groups, and Information & Referrals. Violence Prevention and Education –In-school education programs effectively help students to build self-esteem while enabling them to identify and understand how to deal with problem situations. We educate the community via workshops and presentations. Additional Education Programs include: • Suffolk County Fatherhood Initiative: Assisting at-risk fathers with parenting and partnership skills to prevent incidences of family/domestic abuse and overcome challenges that inhibit men from being responsible fathers and supportive intimate partners. • Take Charge: Individualized training programs providing career guidance, job placement, and financial empowerment education. • SHARP: Anti-violence re-education program that helps abusers to take full responsibility and accountability for abusive behavior and teaches new strategies to deal with relationship issues. • Teen Leadership Project: Preventing abuse and promoting respect in all relationships and expanding prevention of all relationship abuse including bullying, harassment, sexual assault and teen dating violence. • Enough is Enough: Statewide program in New York aimed at preventing all types of violence in the college population. • Partners in Prevention: A collaborative effort between The Retreat and LI Against Domestic Violence, this initiative focuses on the prevention of sexual assault of youth and young adults involved in foster care, substance abuse treatment, and developmental disabilities communities. The Retreat is run by professional social workers, teachers, legal advocates and a staff trained to meet the needs of people in crisis. Our Executive Director is a a former Judge, and many of the managerial staff hold advanced degrees.

The Retreat surveys clients to ensure that we are providing quality services. In 2017:<br/>• 90% of our clients report increased overall wellbeing after working with The Retreat.<br/>• 90% of our clients report that after working with The Retreat they now know more ways to plan for their safety. <br/>• 90% feel they are better able to effectively parent their child(ren). <br/>• 90% report that after working with The Retreat's staff and volunteers they now know more resources available in the community. <br/>• 90% report that they would refer a friend or family member to The Retreat

In 2019, The Retreat recived 3476 hotline calls, provided 4906 safe night in our emergency shelter, assisted with 1184 legal services PLUS an 5,087 students in local schools and 2,756 college students participated in our prevention education programs, AND over Retreat Staff presented at 181 outreach events. In 2020, our goals include: • upgrade website and complete the internal and external communications/public awareness plan; • expand fund development to meet the resource needs of serving victims of domestic violence and preventing it for future generations; • implement training to more effectively work with diverse populations including LGBTQ, people of color, immigrants, human trafficking victims, elderly and disabled; • and continue to expand cross-system collaboration to address social change activities.