A Safe Place
CRISIS LINE: 1-800-600-SAFE OR (847) 249-4450
TTY: (847) 249-6557
BUSINESS OFFICE: (847) 731-7165
https://www.facebook.com/ASafePlaceLakeCo/
A Safe Place is the sole provider of services exclusively addressing domestic violence in Lake County, Illinois. Through multi-faceted programs, we assist victims in transforming their lives after domestic violence, prevent future abuse by addressing its root cause through abuser intervention programs, and educate the community about domestic violence and how we can all be involved in its end.
It is our goal that by learning more about domestic violence, its causes, and appropriate responses, we can encourage a whole-community response to the domestic violence in our midst, breaking the cycle of domestic violence and thus creating safe and healthy communities.
MISSION
A Safe Place is the leading advocate for eliminating domestic violence in northern Illinois.
VISION
We will lead the nation in breaking the cycle of violence, thus creating safe and healthy communities.
PHILOSOPHY
A Safe Place provides a 24-hour crisis line, case management, legal advocacy, emergency shelter, individual and group therapy, art therapy, affordable transitional and permanent housing, scattered site housing, outreach, and supportive services to survivors of domestic violence and their children, mentoring for adolescent boys, supervised custody exchanges, supervised family visitations, education for teens on healthy relationships, community and professional education, and intervention services for abusers to learn accountability for their choices and actions. Our mission-focused work is guided by our philosophy.
A SAFE PLACE OPERATES WITH THESE BELIEFS:
- Everyone has the right to a violence-free, safe, and healthy life.
- Domestic Violence is a crime defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act.
- Eliminating sex role stereotyping leads to a society that equally values each individual.
- Violence in intimate relationships is a chosen behavior to exert power and control over another.
- Violence can be a learned behavior. Through intervention and treatment, alternatives to abusive behavior also can be learned.
- Children from violent homes experience trauma and suffer psychologically, physically, emotionally, and socially. A Safe Place recognizes child witnesses as primary victims of domestic violence.
- Early intervention, prevention education, domestic violence education, and community awareness can interrupt the intergenerational cycle of violence and reduce the social acceptance of domestic violence.
- Survivors are traumatized, suffer from low self-esteem, and have limited access to resources; all of which keep them trapped in violent relationships. With safety, counseling, and supportive services, survivors of domestic violence experience healing and empowerment, and decide for themselves to live free of violence.
- A Safe Place must address domestic violence on a local, state, and national level. Legislative and institutional mandates and appropriate responses by police, prosecutors and judges are essential in eliminating domestic violence.
- Every individual in our community must become more aware of how to prevent, intervene and be less tolerant of domestic violence. Our society must hold individuals responsible for their abusive behavior. A Safe Place strives to create a community where violence is not tolerated or hidden.
