SPONSORED CONTENT
The Missing Link for Domestic Abuse Survivors
by Stacey Coles
Imagine it’s late at night, you and your three children have fled your home seeking safety. Badly beaten and afraid, you find yourself at a shelter. However, you are only allowed a 45-day stay. You have no employment and only the clothes on your back. During your stay, you receive legal advice and the case manager has procured temporary cash assistance and helped you apply for food stamps and childcare vouchers. You’re grateful, but where will you go when your 45 days are up? The Bernie House (TBH) is the missing link, the step after the shelter. TBH is a transitional housing program that offers survivors a long-term housing solution and provides additional services to further those received in a domestic violence shelter. Anne Arundel County is the third highest county in the state reporting deaths due to domestic violence. TBH is dedicated to helping reduce that number. The organization has two properties, one in Montgomery County and another in Anne Arundel County, serving one family at a time for up to two years in each home. A large part of the support and resources they offer families are made possible by donations from community members like you. The longer period of housing offered provides the opportunity for individuals to secure a job, go to school, become economically stable, and achieve a safe and healthy return to their community. “Living at The Bernie House was one of the greatest things that has happened in my life,” said one survivor. “They helped and supported me with any and everything I needed. I was able to go to classes and earn my G.E.D.,
and find employment. I have happy, healthy kids, a job I love, and my own safe place to stay. I hope that The Bernie House will be around forever, to help women like me, who at one point had no hope left. They give you the hope back and the opportunity to achieve things you never thought were possible.” TBH Anne Arundel is a three-bedroom townhouse serving up to four children and a parent/caregiver. A case manager supports survivors in achieving goals, creating safety plans, budgeting, seeking permanent housing, utilizing community resources, etc. During their stay, moms pay “rent,” which is returned to them upon successful completion of the program to support permanent housing. TBH Founder Patricia Slaughter maintains a personal connection with her clients and uses donations to help fully equip and furnish the homes. “Patti was amazing the house was ready to go with everything I needed, all toiletries, beds for myself and children. Anything I ever needed for myself, or children, Patti was always a phone call away,” another mom said. “Even after I left the continuous support has honestly been one of the main contributing factors [to] my success now. The Bernie House was a great blessing in my life. I never thought I [would’ve] had this outcome. I can say, ‘We did it.’, and I say ‘we’ because I don’t believe I could have done it without The Bernie House.” To make a difference in the lives of domestic abuse victims in our community visit us at theberniehouse.org and donate today.
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