Five Questions With: Kelly Henry

Kelly Henry is the manager of residential advocacy at Sojourner House in Providence, a positon she has held for three years. She has been working in direct services for domestic violence and sexual assault for nearly 20 years, work she began after graduating from Illinois State University with degrees in English and women’s studies. Here, Henry describes the need for support services for men who are victims of domestic violence.

PBN: As of this month, Sojourner House is offering temporary emergency housing and support groups for male victims of domestic violence. Why is the program necessary?
HENRY:
Sojourner House has a long history of helping underserved populations, including the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer community. In the past few years, we have hosted trainings throughout the community about domestic violence in LGBTQ communities to social service agencies, police departments and other community partners. We have also done targeted outreach to the survivors, who are LGBTQ. This work has led us to offer support groups for the LGBTQ community, both for youth and adults.
We also began an HIV program because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states there is a strong link between the transmission of HIV and domestic violence. Sojourner House’s HIV program consists of multiple staff who are qualified HIV test counselors. We are able to provide rapid HIV tests confidentially and for free.
With all these different types of programming, we started to see an increasing number of men, mostly gay or bisexual, who needed to flee their house because of domestic violence. There are many challenges and cultural barriers from for men reaching out for domestic violence services. For example, men are often faced with disbelief or encounter unhelpful staff if they call a domestic violence hotline. If that man is gay or bisexual, there are even more challenges, like outing himself and his partner, or rejection or lack of belief from friends inside the LGBTQ community. Because of the gap for safe, emergency housing, Sojourner House staff became committed to creating a space for men and male-identified folks to have a safe space.

PBN: What is the connection between personal and public safety and safe housing?
HENRY:
There is a very strong link between personal and public safety and safe housing. We know that people often stay in abusive relationships because the abusive partner is in control of all the money. Often, the abusive partner has the better-paying job or the apartment is leased in their name. This makes it incredibly difficult for the person trying to leave. No one wants to go to a shelter, leave their home or potentially be financially unstable. People make difficult choices between staying in their home or fleeing and going to a safe house or shelter.
In Rhode Island, we have a lack of affordable housing. Many of our clients are underemployed or without formal postsecondary education. These two factors make many people unable to pay market-rate rent and so they are unable to leave abusive situations.
We have always worked with job training programs and housing authorities but recently we have started working with Roger Williams University and community development corporations to come up with more effective and creative solution to these problems.

PBN: According to the CDC, one in seven men aged 18+ in the U.S. has been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in his lifetime. What are the statistics in Rhode Island and how does your programming address it?
HENRY:
As a state, we have several different agencies collecting data like this. However, in Rhode Island, we don’t have a comprehensive collection system that can tell us how many men are victims. We know that victims often don’t report to the police or get restraining orders and we know because of the stigma male victims feel, that the numbers [reported] are low. One of the things we are doing to try and address this problem is to do more community outreach and education for men. We do lots of education work around the community, teaching about healthy relationships, men as bystanders and men as victims.

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PBN: How many men are taking advantage of the emergency housing, what is the capacity and how fast are you filling up?
HENRY:
Currently, the safe house for men provides between two to three beds. We have some coordinated outreach to other social service providers and community agencies. In the first week, we had two calls for shelter. Since we opened in February, we are receiving more and more calls for shelter every week.
We are still doing a great deal of outreach to the community to get the word out about this program and we have such a need that we are starting support groups. Also, we have transitional housing for survivors of domestic violence, including men. Our transitional housing is a program in which survivors of domestic violence can stay for up to 18 months in apartments or apartment-like settings, while they are able to get on their feet. We do have waiting lists.

PBN: The public doesn’t always think of men as being victims of domestic violence. Can you give an anonymous but real example of someone who has benefitted from your programming?
HENRY:
We served one man, who was a victim of domestic violence from his partner. His partner had been very emotionally and financially abusive and had started to become physically violent. The abusive partner threatened to “out” him to his family, who did not know he was gay. Our client didn’t know where to go to get help. He was trapped in a relationship where the violence was getting increasingly worse.
At that time, we did not have a space for men; however, meeting with a Sojourner House advocate on a weekly basis, he was able to find housing. He has finished a job training program and has a better job. He also has been able to have time and space to feel more comfortable about who he is and is doing great.

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