Denton County Friends of the Family

Friends of the Family offers emergency shelter for survivors of relationship violence and sexual assault. Persons seeking shelter may call the crisis line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 800-572-4031 or 940-382-7273. Eligibility for shelter will be determined based on safety concerns related to relationship violence or sexual assault, resulting in the person having no safe place to stay. In the event a caller is not eligible for our shelter, referrals to other local resources will be provided.

Services Available at Shelter

Adult Advocacy and Case Management - The advocates are available to assist clients to develop and update a service plan that is tailored for their family. This can include assistance with Protective Orders, Crime Victim’s Compensation, safety planning, finding and obtaining housing, and working toward short and long-term goals.

Child Advocacy and Case Management - The children’s advocate is available to current shelter families. The children’s advocate partners with the mother to actively work together to meet the children’s educational, mental health, and physical needs.

Crisis Intervention - Crisis intervention staff are available in the evenings, overnight, and on weekends to assist with gaining access to basic needs such as toiletries, clothing, or food; safety planning; assistance in resolving concerns; supportive listening and encouragement; referrals to counseling staff or other mental health resources; and referrals to resources in the area.

Counseling - Individual counseling is available for all adult clients upon request.

After School Program - The Children’s Program hosts an informal after school program where they facilitate age appropriate activities and assist children with their homework.

Play Therapy and Adolescent Counseling - We offer play therapy or adolescent counseling to children under 18 in the shelter.

Groups – Several groups are offered at the shelter for clients including healing and recovery, parent support groups, and choosing healthy relationships.

Basic Needs – We provide for basic needs such as food, toiletries, some transportation assistance, some medication assistance, and clothing assistance.

Pet Shelter – We have partnered with DASF to provide some limited assistance to clients during their stay at a shelter to house their pets in an offsite kennel while they seek safety in a shelter.

Denton County Friends of the Family provides free professional counseling services to child, adolescent, and adult victims of relationship violence, sexual assault, and child sexual abuse.

Professional counseling is provided by staff counselors and counseling interns. Staff counselors have a minimum of a Master’s degree in a counseling related field and are licensed or license eligible and all counseling interns are currently enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral program in counseling or a related field.

All counselors strictly adhere to the ethical guidelines identified by the state licensing boards, as well as those outlined by the American Counseling Association and the American Psychological Association.

Counseling services are designed to fit the needs and experiences of the clients in a warm and non-judgmental, supportive environment. Information shared in counseling is kept confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside of Friends of the Family

Counseling is available to children and adolescents, ages 3-17, who have been victims and/or witnesses of relationship violence (physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse) or sexual assault on a case by case basis.

Counseling services help build self-esteem, teach new coping skills, and provide a safe environment to process traumatic experiences. Counseling involves building trust by going at the child's pace, letting the child choose what to say and when, and accepting the child and his or her perception of the world.

Child & Adolescent Counseling Services Include:

Play therapy/Activity therapy - helping children express themselves through toys and activities.
Adolescent Counseling - helping adolescents express themselves through talk or activities.
Group Counseling - in which children join with other children or siblings to explore related issues (groups may be activity, talk to play-therapy based).
Family Counseling - in a case by case basis, exploring issues related to relationship between parent/guardian.
Parent Consultations - in which caregivers discuss their child's progress and needs, learn new parenting skills and receive support and resources, usually once a month throughout their child's counseling process.

Services for Victims and Survivors of Sexual Assault
No appointment is necessary for immediate 24-hour crisis intervention and advocacy services including hospital accompaniment. Call the crisis hotline at 800-572-4031 or 940-382-7273 for more information 24 hours a day.
Crisis Intervention and Advocacy are available during regular business hours (9 A.M. - 8 P.M. Monday-Thursday and 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. on Fridays). Call the crisis hotline at 800-572-4031 or 940-382-7273 for more information.
All services listed are available at our Outreach Office located: 4845 S. I-35E, Corinth, TX 76210
Advocacy and case management
Court accompaniment
Law Enforcement Offices accompaniment
Hospital accompaniment
Attorneys' office accompaniment
Group and individual counseling for adults
Activity therapy, group counseling, and individual counseling for adolescents (ages 11-17)
Play therapy for children (ages 3-10)

We are best known as the emergency shelter in the area, but for years now our agency has been building our capacity in order to provide transitional housing. When you think about everything that goes into a survivor of domestic violence thriving on their own- enough money saved for a deposit on a house or apartment, a stable job earning enough to make ends meet, transportation to get herself and her kids to/from work and school, and a support system to help her through it- 30 days in emergency shelter is just not enough.

That is where our new program comes in! We know that for many survivors of family violence, for their life apart from their abuser to be sustainable they need more time to build a foundation. After exiting our emergency shelter, clients can now move in to their very own apartment thanks to our Transitional Housing program! We are able to help victims of sexual and domestic violence secure safe housing options as they transition out of the emergency shelter, flee from an abusive home or are recovering from the financial abuse that 98% of victims of domestic violence experience. The transitional housing program provides safe housing combined with comprehensive services to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in their path to independence and emotional well-being.

The launch of our transitional housing program will meet a critical need for domestic violence and sexual assault victims as they struggle to achieve financial stability. The program is funded by awards from the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and the Criminal Justice Division Grant (CJD). ESG offers short term housing assistance for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. CJD offers financial assistance for 6-18 months and additional services such as counseling, life skills, budgeting, and employment.

24 Hour Crisis Line
940-382-7273 or 800-572-4031

We operate the sexual assault, rape crisis and domestic violence crisis line for the entire County of Denton.

Our legal department consists of 2 on staff attorneys, a paralegal and legal assistant. They provide legal services for clients ranging from protective orders, family law needs, child custody as well as hosting legal clinics for victims.

This was Violence Intervention & Prevention (VIPP)

The focus of the VIPP Program is to help people who are abusive or become violent in intimate relationships.

What is Abuse?

Relationship violence usually involves a pattern of repeated, abusive behaviors that can escalate over time. Abusive behaviors are destructive to the relationship and are used to have power and control over the partner. These behaviors include verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, which can be covert or overt in nature.

Physical Abuse - Is the use of bodily actions and weapons to threaten, punish, dominate, restrain, control, injure, corrupt, or control another person.
Emotional and Verbal abuse - is the use of mental tactics such as aggression, anger, humiliation, sabotage, fear, manipulation, dominance and threats to inflict emotional damage on another person.
Sexual Abuse - is the use of forced or unwanted sexual activities to dominate, manipulate, threaten or control another person.
Financial Abuse - Is the use of money or money related matters to dominate, manipulate, threaten, control or take financial advantage of another person.
Religious or Spiritual Abuse - Controlling, damaging or constraining of another person’s religious values and interests, practices or icons or misstating religious purposes to abuse another person.


VIPP PROGRAM CURRICULUM

The curriculum for the battering intervention groups is psycho-educational in nature. It addresses both the participants beliefs system which they use to justify their behaviors and it teaches new, respectful and equality based behaviors, to replace the abusive ones. This is done through our curriculum which is based upon the Duluth model of education groups for men who batter.

The groups are open, which means participants can enter the group at any time. This can be helpful to reduce the defensiveness of participants when they first begin the groups.

There are nine topics covered during their 27-week participation and we spend three weeks on each topic. These topics are based on the Power and Control and Equality wheel that was developed by talking to battered women about the abusive, controlling behaviors used by their batterer to control them. The nine themes are:
1. Non-violence
2. Non-threatening
3. Respect
4. Trust and Support
5. Accountability
6. Sexual Respect
7. Partnership
8. Negotiation and Fairness
9. Parenting

In general, each week has these components:

1. Pay their group fee.
2. Check-in: this is used for client to report significant events regarding his relationship that he wants to discuss with the group. It may also be used if the client feels he needs support form the group if he is having a hard time implementing what he is learning in group.
3. Review homework if given from the previous week.
4. Participate in exercises and/or activities outlined for that particular lesson.
5. Processing what client has learned during that session.
6. Participants must always address their partner by her first name. This is to help participants think of their partner as a person, not an object.

Each topic usually is covered for three weeks. Each topic has these components:

1. Definition of the topic. This is to help clients “be on the same page” about what we are discussing.
2. Homework is given. This may be in their workbook, separate handout or they may be asked to bring something such as a newspaper article to class which is applicable to that particular topic.
3. Experiential exercises. Often there are interactive exercises designed to help clients look at their own behaviors and the effects those behaviors have on others.
4. Applicable videos may be used.
5. Minimization, denial and blame are always addressed in group.

Community Education is a big part of what we do here at Denton County Friends of the Family. We offer programs about the prevention of relationship violence and sexual assault to all parts of our community. From our Bumbles presentations with children as young as kindergarten-aged to Media Literacy presentations for adults, we cover the whole spectrum of education about relationship violence and sexual assault. To schedule a presentation, call and speak to someone in our Community Education department at 940-387-5131.