The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Reporter

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Crisis Centre has relocated to a new home that will enable the non-profit organisation to offer greater assistance and serve victims of violence.

For the first 30 years of its existence, the Crisis Centre operated from the Princess Margaret Hospital, in the Community Mental Health Centre (Knowles House).

The Crisis Centre’s clientele rapidly grew and more space was required to fully operate and hold clinics. In 1996, the Lyford Cay Foundation funded the completion and renovation of additional rooms in Knowles House. After the demolition of Knowles House in 2010, due to the hospital’s expansion, the centre moved to the hospital itself.
The centre has since expanded and now operates from a building with additional space donated by the Bahamas government.

“We were very grateful to the Princess Margaret Hospital for housing us first in Knowles House. We also had two rooms in out-patient. The two rooms in outpatient was of course very limited in space, and the Ministry of National Security has recognised the importance of combating gender based violence as part of its crime fighting strategies, and they offered us a location,” said Dr Sandra Dean Patterson, founder of the Crisis Centre.

Dr Patterson said she did not want to publicise the location in consideration of creating a safe environment for clients and workers and ensuring privacy.

From its inception, the centre has played a pivotal role in responding to the needs of victims of sexual, physical and psychological violence. It also advocates for legislative and societal protection of survivors and raises public awareness of these issues through education and public information. 
The centre also networks with other agencies including Social Services, the Community Counselling and Assessment Centre, the police, and the Princess Margaret Hospital.

Dr Patterson said the new space will help the organisation to carry out these duties more effectively.
“We are very happy about that because now we can offer a lot more programs and services and do so much more both in terms of services, programs and preventions. Like I always say instead of continuing with the ambulance at the bottom of a hill, taking people back and forward, you need to build a bridge on top of the hill and that is what the centre is all about, intervening early in people’s lives and making a difference for them,” she said.

The centre is now able to accommodate more patients, and offers support groups for women who are in abusive relationships, teens and children who have been violated.

“We are hoping to get an advocacy centre going on in there. For a long time we wanted to do a campaign and establish beauty and barber shops. Very often women and children open up when they go to get their hair done, or get their hair cut, and we want them to have the information as to how they can help if a client comes to them and talk about an issue that has been troubling them.’

Dr Patterson said, the centre will continue with its ongoing campaign targeted to teens and high school students. Regularly volunteers go out to high schools and offer information for young people on unhealthy relationships. They hope to expand these efforts throughout the island.

“It will really enable us to do a lot more reaching out to people that are hurting. And also get the information out to people to prevent as many of the problems as we can,” she said.

The Crisis Centre was opened in 1982 to provide counselling to individuals and couples, as well as family, and group therapeutic services to victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

A team of professional psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, attorneys, and counsellors volunteer their time and expertise in delivering the free services the Crisis Centre offers.

Volunteers answer the 24-hour Hotline at 328-0922 everyday including holidays and weekends. For additional information, also contact 322-4999.