The Battered Woman's Shelter of the Houston Area Women's Center

 The home is the most violent place in America. Domestic violence plays a central role in the maltreatment of children. Witnessing the abuse of a parent may be as traumatizing as being the direct victim of the assault. A "vortex of violence" is seen in domestic abuse situations. Violence flows down the power differential from most powerful to most helpless. The impulsive, frustrated and humiliated man abuses his wife, the humiliation and violence is absorbed and, in part, passed on to the children in the home. Being in the center of the vortex of violence, changes children.

In order to learn more about the relationships between intra-familial violence, child maltreatment and development, the ChildTrauma Academy has worked more closely with children living with domestic violence. In collaboration with the staff and volunteers of the Battered Women's Shelter, ChildTrauma clinicians conducted two weekly assessment/treatment groups for children exposed to domestic violence who were living in the shelter. The primary goal of the groups was to provide children traumatized by domestic violence with a structured, predictable and nurturing set of experiences. Over time, elements of our assessment and intervention approaches were developed.