Book Lovers Study Club helps Safeplace

Safeplace provides safety, shelter and practical support to people experiencing domestic violence and education aimed at preventing abuse. The regional nonprofit serves families in Franklin, Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion and Winston counties.

Services include emergency safe housing, help with rent and utilities, relocation assistance, transportation, court advocacy, Spanish-language outreach and weekly support groups across northwest Alabama. Our January Book Lovers Study Club meeting focused on the work the organization does every day to help make it possible to safely escape from abusive situations.

Program Chairman Lynn Suddith introduced the Safeplace guest speaker, Jessica Wiley. Wiley described Safeplace’s mission and how the organization supports families facing domestic violence. She also explained why community donations impact the work they are able to do.

For three years, she has served as a Safeplace advocate. She holds a master’s degree in social work and previously worked with Bridges Behavioral Health, where she supported children with autism.

Her connection to Safeplace is personal. As a child, she and her family stayed at a Safeplace shelter, an experience that shaped her understanding of how critical these services can be for families in crisis.

The Safeplace mission is to promote healthy relationships by providing education, intervention and safe places. The organization centers its work on client selfdetermination and works toward a future without family and intimate partner violence.

Wiley walked the club through many of the services Safeplace offers.

Safe housing provides a secure place to sleep without fear, while affordable housing offers singlefamily homes with rental and utility assistance for up to 18 months, along with help for childcare and minor car repairs.

Safeplace can also help with security deposits and up to six months of rent in a home the client chooses. Relocation assistance helps families move within the community or to another area when safety requires it.

A community outreach specialist works with Spanish-speaking clients.

Transportation help may include passes that allow clients to ride free on transit operated by the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments, commonly known as NACOLG, along with taxicabs, mileage reimbursements, or rides from Safeplace staff and volunteers.

Safeplace can also help with noncontrolled prescription costs.

Weekly community support groups meet in Franklin, Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion and Winston counties.

Through court advocacy, a Safeplace advocate can accompany clients to court, help them understand the process, and explain how to request a Protection from Abuse order.

Sometimes the most important help in a crisis looks quiet and ordinary from the outside — a safe bed, a ride to court, a box of puzzles for a frightened child, a voice that answers the phone at 2 a.m.

Wiley emphasized that domestic violence is more than physical violence.

It includes any behavior meant to gain power and control over a spouse, partner, boyfriend, girlfriend or intimate family member.