Domestic Abuse Agency Relocates

Jewish Family Service’s Family Violence Project, which for 15 years has provided counseling, education and legal advocacy for victims of domestic abuse, has relocated to a Panorama City facility that will enable it to offer expanded services, officials said.

The project, which serves up to 500 women and their children a year, operates two emergency shelters in addition to counseling and advocacy services, according to its director, Lynn Moriarty.

“There is just an incredible need for these types of services, particularly in the northeast Valley,” Moriarty said. But we want people to know that there is help available. Nobody has to be a victim of domestic violence.”

Det. Tim Williams, who oversees the Los Angeles Police Department’s domestic violence enforcement efforts, said organizations like this one provide crucial services for women and children whose lives have been shattered by abuse.

“Each intervention tool helps break the cycle of violence,” he said. “Law enforcement can’t do it on their own and neither can the shelters. We need a cooperative effort to make a difference.”

Moriarty said the agency’s new offices will allow the organization to expand group counseling, a key component of the overall recovery program.

Women who are referred to the agency, or, less frequently, those who come on their own, are enrolled in an individual therapy program for as long as 12 weeks. Afterward, they are encouraged to join group sessions, which many attend for years, Moriarty said.

Children receive individual counseling for longer periods and present even more difficult and heartbreaking cases, Moriarty said.

“Children who witness violence are victims of that violence as well. They are severely traumatized by what they see,” she said.

“We see these little boys who are mini-batterers and little girls who think that getting hit is part of a loving relationship. That’s what we are trying to change.”