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Interpersonal Violence Services (IVS) of Greater New Haven

Provides FREE CONFIDENTIAL services to victims of domestic violence.
New Haven, CT and surrounding areas
24-Hour Hotline: (203) 789-8104       

• Emergency Shelter
  IVS provides temporary and safe emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children. Shelter services include individual and group counseling, advocacy, referrals to local providers, children's counseling/programs, safety education and planning, and other support services as needed. Emergency shelter is for women and children only, however separate arrangements are made for sheltering male victims of domestic violence who need to be in a safe place.
• Counseling & Support Groups
• Safety Planning for survivors & their children
• Family Violence Victims Advocates & Court-Based Advocacy
  IVS provides Family Violence Victims Advocates (FVVAs) and court-based advocacy to assist victims of domestic violence whose abusers have been arrested for family violence. The FVVA provides information regarding the court process, assistance in obtaining protective orders, safety planning, crime victim information, and domestic violence service referrals. The FVVA facilitates communication between the victim and the court to ensure victim input is considered in case disposition, and provides ongoing support throughout the core process pertaining to prosecution and related sanctions.
• Community Resources & Referral
  IVS staff have well established relationships with various resources in the Valley and Greater New Haven communities, and referrals are made on an as-needed basis.

Umbrella Program

Accommodates crisis walk-ins, as well as immediate appointments, advocacy, and sheltering on a crisis basis.  Services are FREE and CONFIDENTIAL.
Ansonia, CT
24-Hour Hotline: (203) 736-9944

• Emergency Shelter
  The Umbrella provides temporary and safe emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children. “Antoinette's House” serves as a point of entry into a solution-focused process designed to help families and individuals rebuild their lives. Shelter services include individual and group counseling, advocacy, referrals to local providers, children's counseling/programs, safety education and planning, and other support services as needed. Emergency shelter is for women and children only, however separate arrangements are made for sheltering male victims of domestic violence who need to be in a safe place.
• Counseling & Support Groups
• Safety Planning for survivors & their children
• Community Resources & Referral
  The Umbrella staff have well established relationships with various resources in the Valley and Greater New Haven communities, and referrals are made on an as-needed basis. In addition, The Umbrella provides a Post-Shelter Follow-up Worker to help individuals and/or families transition from sheltered to independent living. One important goal of this worker is to provide these individuals and/or families with referrals and resources that will help them more easily transition into the community.
• Beyond Shelter Program
  Funded by a partnership grant between The Umbrella, TEAM Inc., and A.C.T. (Area Congregations Together), the Beyond Shelter program provides coordinated services to newly housed families and their landlords in order to prevent a cycle of homelessness. The program focuses on preventing the recurrence of homelessness through early intervention, skill building, and follow-up services that foster housing stability and teach families the skills necessary to retain housing. Among other things, the Beyond Shelter program connects families with a Housing Stability Coordinator who helps to identify and resolve potential problems, provides information about landlord/tenant rights and responsibilities, assists the family with food, clothing, transportation, money management, and parenting issues, and assists with securing household items. For more information about the Beyond Shelter program, contact The Umbrella at (203) 736-2601.

Additional Domestic Violence Services

Domestic Violence Advocacy

National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) is a membership and advocacy organization focused on federal public policy. The NNEDV began in 1990 as a small working group of state domestic violence coalitions and national domestic violence advocates, and has grown into an effective national organization representing and assisting state coalitions and advocating for federal legislation to benefit victims of direct service organizations. www.nnedv.org/

National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence is an organization that helps a myriad of professionals who work with victims and perpetrators, law enforcement, criminal justice professionals such as prosecutors, judges and probation officers, health care professionals including emergency response teams, nurses and doctors, domestic violence and sexual assault advocates and service providers, and counselors and social workers. http://ncdsv.org/

Battered Women's Justice Project offers training, technical assistance, and consultation on the most promising practices of the criminal and civil justice systems in addressing domestic violence. www.bwjp.org/index.html

Futures Without Violence (formerly the Family Violence Prevention Fund) works to end domestic violence and help victims whose lives are devastated by abuse, because every person has the right to live in a home free of violence.  www.futureswithoutviolence.org/