Coalition for Family Harmony tackles
domestic violence, sexual assault
July 31, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
It’s gone through a few name changes but the mission is the same for the Coalition for Family Harmony (CFFH) whose wide array of services was the focus of a recent luncheon outreach in Santa Paula.
The mission of the coalition, founded in 1976 as the Coalition Against Household Violence, is to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault; to educate the community regarding violence against women, children and men; and to prevent the cycle of violence.
The coalition provides victims of family violence with the means to help them escape their life of abuse and operates a 24-hour bilingual crisis hotline to enable the abused their first step toward a better life.
Mayor John Procter and Police Chief Steve McLean as well as Chamber of Commerce CEO Fred Robinson attended the luncheon where a variety of speakers addressed the coalition’s growth, services and their own experiences with abuse.
The coalition noted CFFH Executive Director Caroline Prijatel-Sutton, takes a “holistic approach” to helping victims of domestic as well as sexual violence and offers the only rape crisis service in Ventura County.
It’s safe house, one of only two in the county, often welcomes those that arrive only with the clothes on their backs.
The coalition has provided services for 400 sexual assault victims and provided 2,000 “bed nights” for women and their children escaping abusive households.
Services also include intervention — about 60 percent of coalition programs working with the abused as well as the abusers — and prevention.
The latter features a program geared toward “teen based violence towards teens” who learn warning signs of potential abuse and how to escape from abusive relationships.
“Violence and sexual assault are on the rise,” and services noted Prijatel-Sutton must be available.
But it was due to the widening ranges of services offered that caused the organization to change its name in 2011 to better reflect its holistic approach to issues of violence that must include the whole family.
The coalition partners with the District Attorney’s Office on its Safe Harbor clinics that serve victims in comfortable interview centers, located in quiet residential neighborhoods in Ventura and Simi Valley. The clinics provide an array of victim-sensitive services to children or adults who have been sexually assaulted or physically abused and call upon the coalition for counseling, advocacy and other services.
Celia Laguna, the Family Harmony services coordinator said, “If we help the parent we help the children,” deal with the stress of abuse.
That includes abuse intervention that can include court or social worker ordered removal of the children from the home, “A very painful situation…”
Georgina Garcia of CFFH said the organization has strong partnerships, including with Santa Paula.
Locally, the coalition offers services through the Santa Paula Police Storefront at Las Piedras Park that ranges from batterer’s treatment and juvenile probation programs to child abuse intervention and Family Harmony, the latter a blending of various parenting programs.
Family Harmony is a unique 12-week curriculum that is applicable to virtually every parenting situation involving children of all ages; the goal is to create a more nurturing home environment that benefits all family members.
SPPD Cadet Luz Ocegueda was also representing Calla Dominguez, the coordinator of the SPPD Storefront, who helped organize the event.
The coalition, noted Ocegueda, “really provides a lot of services at the storefront,” and will help clients with separation and divorce paperwork as well as obtaining restraining orders.
“They feel comfortable going into the storefront to report incidents,” of violence or assault.
Ocegueda said, “I’m flagged down by a lot of families,” looking for help because of abuse issues and the storefront and the coalition services it offers is a valuable resource.
“I cannot,” said Mayor John Procter, “overstate the importance of Calla Dominguez to the storefront,” and the variety of services she helps coordinate for visitors.
Sylvia Godinez, of Coalition for Family Harmony, told of a Fillmore woman who went from being undocumented and abused to becoming a US citizen and “fully empowered” with the assistance of CFFH programs.
Several speakers noted a primary coalition focus is not only directly helping the victim but also eliminating violence in the home and building stronger families.
For more information about the Coalition for Family Harmony call 805-983-6014 or visit www.thecoalition.org
