Uniting services for abuse victims

Interact soon will open its new Oberlin Road center to survivors of sexual and domestic violence

RALEIGH -- When Jennifer decided to end her marriage after her husband of several years raped her one night, it wasn't a matter of simply telling him to leave.

She had to seek protective orders, contact the police and find friends to help care for her two young children while she crisscrossed the county.

She did all of that, she said, while still in shock from the recent rape and the trauma of years of what she now recognizes as a controlling and abusive relationship.

"When you're dealing with emotional and physical trauma, you're in a maze," she said.

[The News & Observer generally does not identify people who allege sexual assault. In this case, Jennifer agreed to disclose her real first name.]

Jennifer isn't alone. Many women face similar struggles -- and some women face even more, if they're not able to support themselves financially, as Jennifer was.

Offering a variety of services in one place is what the staff at Interact, Wake County's domestic and sexual violence crisis center, hope to do in their new space off Raleigh's Oberlin Road. The facility is in an old YWCA building north of Cameron Village. It's in the midst of extensive renovations.

On Oct. 1, Interact staffers hope to open their doors at a facility that is doing something unusual: partnering with other nonprofit groups to ensure that victims get all the help they need in one spot.

"It's rare that someone comes to us and their only issue is domestic violence," said Adam Hartzell, Interact's executive director.

Some people need substance-abuse help. Others need medical help, or legal help to start the marital separation process.

So to meet those demands, Interact is leasing space to seven non-profit groups and the Raleigh Police Department, which will move its domestic violence unit to the facility on Oberlin Road.

The programs include the YWCA's Women in Transition program; the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle; Wake Health Services; Legal Aid; SouthLight substance abuse programs; a mental health program; Kiron, a program focusing on violence in South Asian families; and the YMCA, which will continue to run a much-loved community pool and after-school program.

The partners will operate their programs separately, Hartzell said, but the goal is to bring all the resources under one roof for a family instead of giving them a long checklist of places and people to visit.

Interact bought the building for $3.8 million, nearly 20 percent beneath its appraised value.

The 65,000-square-foot structure will dwarf Interact's current offices on Wade Avenue. There, space is at a premium and clients and visitors have to step over donated clothes to get inside.

Very few similar centers have taken Interact's sustained, unified approach, says UNC-CH social work professor Rebecca Macy.

"A lot of times for violence survivors, it may take several years to pick up the pieces of their lives," she said.

No matter how long, Interact hopes to help victims do that.