Sound Mental Health, a Seattle-based comprehensive behavioral health services provider, announced July 12 that it has assumed management and operation of the Safe Havens visitation center in downtown Kent that serves children and their parents impacted by domestic violence.
The Kent facility, renamed Safe & Sound Visitation, has served more than 350 families impacted by domestic violence, according to a Sound Mental Health media release.
Launched by the city of Kent in 2005, the facility is recognized nationally as a model program that ensures safety for families impacted by domestic violence – where the abusive parent is court-ordered to have supervised visitations with their children.
In late 2010, however, the program lost federal funding and was set to close its doors. Safe Havens reopened in February under Sound Mental Health’s oversight.
Now called Safe & Sound Visitation, the program expands Sound Mental Health’s children’s behavioral health programming, which includes the Children’s Domestic Violence Response Team, therapeutic foster care and youth mental health programs. By wrapping Safe & Sound Visitation into its domestic violence service array, Sound Mental Health will realize considerable opportunities to better serve children and families trying to recover from domestic violence.
The Children’s Domestic Violence Response Team is a pioneering program in which Sound Mental Health collaborates with domestic violence advocacy agencies countywide to provide integrated mental health treatment and domestic violence advocacy services. Additionally, Sound Mental Health offers batterers intervention treatment through its Behavioral Responsibility Program.
Domestic violence affects more than 60,000 children in King County each year. Recent studies conducted by Kaiser Permanente found that domestic violence in the home is a primary indicator of increased drop-out rates in school, a lifetime of mental health and chemical dependency issues and increased criminal activity. Recognizing the unique opportunity to strengthen its preventive specialized care to better meet the needs of children affected by domestic violence, Sound Mental Health believed it was a logical move.
“Sound Mental Health is dedicated to addressing the complex needs of our community’s most vulnerable people,” said David Stone, Sound Mental Health chief executive officer, in a media release. “Pairing with Safe Havens enables SMH to expand our commitment to preventive services to youth and children, whose health and well being reflect the future of our community in so many ways.”
According to Safe & Sound Visitation director Tracee Parker, a lack of domestic violence visitation standards in the state leaves survivors of domestic violence – overwhelmingly women and children – at significant risk of continued abuse, injury, or even death.
“The union between Sound Mental Health and Safe Havens made strategic sense for both organizations and ensures that this unique and worthwhile program continues to exist,” Parker said. “But what I find most promising is the fact that SMH has a stellar track record of innovation, which offers extraordinary possibilities to implement and replicate the program well beyond our current location.”
Sound Mental Health is a private, non-profit organization that has provided a comprehensive array of mental health and related services to the King County community since 1966. The company’s goal is to help individuals and families achieve the highest level of independence and (mental) health possible. Services are tailored to meet the unique needs of different age, disability and cultural/ethnic groups.
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