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House of the Good Shepherd
Phone:
(773)935-3434 Fax: (773)935-3523 Contact
Person: Claudia Palacio
e-mail:palacioc@comcast.net House of the Good Shepherd is a shelter for battered women and their children that seeks to end the cycle of domestic violence in families. Mothers and children who have been wounded by the effects of abuse learn to heal together and make positive choices for their future. Our comprehensive recovery program, based on counseling and education, helps violence survivors to heal, regain their dignity and become self-sufficient. Individual and group work supports emotional, social, educational and spiritual growth. Unlike an emergency shelter, House of the Good Shepherd offers an intensive residential program for women who are committed to building a new violence-free for themselves and their children. Each woman sets individual goals to work on what needs to happen in her life in order for her not to return to an abusive situation. Our program generally is three and one-half months long, which includes a two-week orientation period, although residents can apply for an extension to accomplish specific goals. When families are ready to leave House of the Good Shepherd, we network with other social service agencies to establish safe, affordable housing and on-going case management. House of the Good Shepherd has capacity for fourteen families, who usually range in size from one to six or more children. Our unusual and highly effective shelter arrangement of private individual apartments establishes the mother as the head of their own household with responsibility for her family and home. In their own apartment, each family practices independent living skills and learns to restructure their relationships in a stable, safe and secure environment. This independent style of living is more conducive to healing and better prepares the residents for life as a healthy family outside the shelter.
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