An Ever-Evolving Transitions

The best way to understand what Transitions does is to break down what we do in terms of Safety, Advocacy, and Education in Union, Snyder, and Northumberland Counties. Transitions has increased its efforts to improve safety for all of the victims in our counties, with a particular recent emphasis on Northumberland County.  We increased the numbers of staff members committed to direct services for victims in the county and in 2014, purchased and renovated a large house that serves as our Safe House in the eastern end of the County.  In 2016, we were able to dedicate a Legal Advocate specifically for Northumberland County, as well.

In addition, we have improved Advocacy (Medical and Legal) in several ways.  While our Legal Advocates can support victims in the process of obtaining a Protection from Abuse Order (PFA) from the Courts, they are not attorneys and cannot provide legal advice.  Our Legal Advocates work within the legal system to ensure victims are able to take advantage of legal protections that exist for them.  In addition to providing Legal Advocates, we were very excited to be able to provide our domestic violence victims with professional legal advice through our Transitions Legal Center (TLC).  We opened this Center in 2016 and provide an Attorney and a Legal Assistant to serve domestic violence victims who have received services from Transitions and need professional legal advice.  Elizabeth DeCastro is our new full-time Attorney and Jamie Grobes is our Legal Assistant who largely work on divorce and child custody cases.  We are proud to say that TLC served over 100 clients in the first year of having their doors open.  We are seeking funding for an additional attorney to be able to support victims of other crimes, including sexual assault, rape, stalking, and human trafficking.  That attorney also would represent victims in domestic violence-related cases, because of the waiting list that we always seem to have.

Our Medical Advocacy also has been enhanced greatly in the last year as we think about ways to provide emotional and medical support for victims.  We now offer the services of Darlene Garcia Johnson, a Trauma-Trained therapist, who soon will receive her certification as a Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapist (TF-CBT), specializing in therapy for child victims.  In addition, we have a full-time Medical Advocate improving our training and services for medical providers and finding ways to improve Transitions’ relationship with the entire medical community.

The Medical Advocate is a member of our Prevention Education staff.  We have two Prevention Educators, Heather Shnyder and Eckie Friar, tirelessly working with the schools and the community to prevent bullying, domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking.

As the community and the nation increase their focus on victim’s rights, we see many new opportunities to enrich the lives of people in the Susquehanna Valley.  We have begun to receive funding from the Federal Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to provide housing assistance beyond the approximately 30 days of emergency housing that we currently offer.  This funding is termed “Rapid Re-Housing” that embraces HUD’s “Housing First” model. This reflects the growing understanding that one of the best ways to end homelessness for women and children is to help victims of domestic violence.  The largest cause of homelessness for women in the United States is domestic violence.

We at Transitions are proud of over 42 years of service to the Community, collaborating with our many partners to make it safer and healthier.  We want to tell the Community, we feel we are getting somewhere!

Written by Susan K. Mathias, CEO