Open Haven– a charity that provides a safe and confidential place for women who are survivors of domestic violence abuse, has marked their first birthday at their new Logan Branch.
Open Haven coordinator for the Logan hub Rachael Whiteman said the young charity has overcome some tough hurdles, but they are keen to celebrate their achievements and continue their important work in the community.
One of the biggest hurdles, Ms Whiteman said, is that the majority of the team are volunteers.
“There are some hurdles that come with not having as much funding or as much resources available to us or not always necessarily being able to have paid staff.
“But I guess the strength is that we have a lot of devoted and wonderful skilled volunteers that give every week, and certainly support our community.”
“Some other challenges have been, like any service, when you’re new in the area, it is difficult establishing all those networks of familiarity and understanding what the community needs.”
Ms Whiteman said compared to Open Haven’s other branches, their Logan branch is situated in a unique community.
“There’s a very large multicultural population and community here in Logan, which we love–that’s brilliant,” she said.
“But some of the challenges we’ve noticed is maybe there are a lot more language barriers that we’re coming across and so certainly having to work ways around accessing and translating services whilst also supporting women.”
Ms Whiteman said Open Haven supports women and children who have experienced domestic violence by providing emotional and practical support, as well as helping women to understand, navigate, and access all available professional services.
These include driving lessons, conversational English classes, court support, and access to therapeutic support.
The charity also helps with resumes, job applications and linking in with services that provide job interview outfits.
“There’s a lot of services out there that are great at helping women in crisis, but there’s certainly a bit of a gap in terms of what long term support is offered,” Ms Whiteman said.
“We try to help the women re-establish themselves, so a lot of our work is about helping women get back on their feet, helping them find their confidence and a sense of empowerment.
“For example, we have a few women that English is a second or third language and they can read and write and communicate well enough but perhaps their confidence is lost because of domestic violence.”
But despite the challenges, Ms Whiteman said the team is looking ahead.
“A goal for us would have to be providing a home, and certainly all the possibilities that could come with having a premise that’s yours, like having other workshops that could be run outside of our harbour.
“If we were to have a bigger space, we could certainly look at things like some of the group therapeutic work that we would love to run that we’ve run in some of our other hubs with more space.”
Open Haven’s services are free and available for all women and children who live or work in the Logan, Beenleigh and Redlands regions.
In case of an after hours emergency, call 000 or DV Connect 1800 811 811.
