Newhouse KC is an ‘innovative, empathetic disrupter’ combatting local domestic violence

Photo Courtesy of Newhouse KC’s Website

The building that holds Newhouse KC—the area’s longest-serving domestic violence shelter—is ordinary. It’s brown, square, and melts into the background. Its nondescript features turn no heads. The building doesn’t even show up on Google Maps, so most of the public wouldn’t be able to find it. This is how you know that the people of Newhouse know what they are doing. For eight years, I investigated adult abuse, and it’s refreshing to see the skill and the commitment of an institution like Newhouse. 

Founded in 1971 by Rev. Sharon Garfield and Dortha Mae Olsen, Newhouse began as a food pantry. As the years went by, they saw a greater need in the Kansas City area so they expanded to clothing assistance and outreach. But it was clear that, as time went on, Kansas City needed more. Their services, and their mission, have been expanding ever since. 

Typically, abuse is categorized based on age and gender. Abuse with an intimate partner is domestic violence. Elder abuse is for people over the age of sixty-five. Then, of course, there is child abuse. Definitions and regulations often dictate who gets help, when, and how. As an investigator, I would spend hours trying to plug my clients into the social service system. A dad with kids was often the most difficult to place. An elderly person with a cat would require them to be split up. Battered women would be given resources and “good luck” when it came to rebuilding their lives. This is the systemic issue that Newhouse saw and decided to fix.

“Where do people go if they don’t fit a definition?” Newhouse President and CEO Courtney Thomas says. “We believe that violence of any kind needs to be interrupted and that no one has to settle for a life where violence is present. We’re here to break that cycle.” How they do that is what truly makes them unique. 

For starters, Newhouse considers all violence connected and at the root of many of the issues that Kansas City faces. Men, women, and their children are all welcome at Newhouse. Even a client’s pet is included. In the social service world, age limits, gender distinctions, and forms that need to be completed in triplicate are the norm. They create barriers that are watched over by well-meaning gatekeepers. But, when you’re in an emergency, that also serves as a deterrent to getting help. Newhouse aims to take away all those barriers. 

They do that by becoming what Thomas calls an “innovative, empathetic disrupter.” She explains that the old processes of treating and intervening in abuse situations felt institutionalized. Temporary emergency assistance helped in the short term, but there were longer-term goals that needed to be addressed. And if they truly wanted to break that cycle of violence, they would have to go beyond what has been done in the past. So, they reinvented their approach. 

“We simply asked, ‘What do you need to be successful?'” Thomas says. That easy question led to a holistic and multi-tier approach to how violence is treated in Kansas City. 

“Food is medicine,” states Thomas. Many abuse victims face food insecurity—this constant anxiety that there won’t be enough to eat tomorrow. As soon as a client walks through the door, they take away this fear. Newhouse makes many dishes from scratch and offers immediate comfort. They employ a Chicago-trained chef to make sure the meals their clients get begin the healing process. 

Each client that is accepted into their shelter also gets a private room that has space for their children. Women and men no longer have to choose to leave behind their kids to save themselves. Here is where Newhouse begins to disrupt the cycle of violence. 

A bus takes children to their schools to ensure continuity of education, and they have also partnered with the Kansas City, MO school district to open the Sharon Garfield on-site school. Combined with daycare, after-school care, therapy, and other early childhood intervention services, the lives of these children can begin to be free from any violence. 

This is how they intend the program to be an innovative, empathetic disrupter. 

For adults, Newhouse focuses on a client’s healing and their future, considering each essential to the other. They do this by addressing the root causes of violence. Group therapy or individual counseling tops the list of their services but also includes continuing education, job training, mentorship, court advocacy, and a host of other services that provide a holistic approach to an individual. It can also be as simple as giving out a gas card and proper clothing for interviews to a past client to make sure they don’t fall back into an abusive situation. 

Another way that the organization assists locals is by offering case management—Those who have suffered from violence of just about any kind know that often it begins slowly and then escalates. Victims are isolated and controlled, and a push becomes a shove, becomes a punch. Case management allows Newhouse to almost reverse this process through a series of small, goal-focused steps that not only help clients heal but thrive in the life they deserve. 

And having partners in the community helps Newhouse reach their client’s long-term goals. Places like Swope Health, University Health, and Halo Art Therapy provide medical, dental, and mental health assistance to their clients. 

So, where does Newhouse go in the future? How do they continue to be an innovative, empathetic disrupter? 

“We want to create an ecosystem model in Kansas City,” Thomas says. “To create a place where a client can come to one place and be connected and referred through all the social services that Kanas City has to offer.” 

It’s a grand and ambitious vision, but one that can be accomplished. As one who has had victims in my car while I worked my cell phone for solutions, such a system would have been magnificent. The idea to take a holistic approach to a person, not a victim, and then to connect them to services quickly and with empathy is a game changer.