• What is Domestic Violence?
• Our Programs and Services
• Education Program
• Domestic Violence and Technology
• Other Resources

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Education Program

The Education Program at Raphael House works to enact social change and prevent domestic violence by engaging our entire community in conversation and by encouraging people of all genders, ages and backgrounds to speak out against violence.

The primary activity of the Education Program is offering free trainings throughout our community. We present in local middle and high schools, to healthcare providers, business leaders and community organizations, to DHS employees, to parent groups and to anyone else who is interested in joining the conversation and ending domestic and sexual violence. Topics covered include teen dating violence, media influence, types of abuse, healthy relationships, sexual assault, consent, warning signs of abuse, vicarious trauma, oppression, barriers to leaving, and being a support person.

Many thanks to Spirit Mountain Community Fund and Verizon Foundation for funding our Education program in 2011/2012!

We currently offer all the following presentations and trainings. Click to download full descriptions of each option.

Addressing Domestic Violence as a Community
School-based Presentations: Healthy Relationships for Teens
Healthier Relationships for Your Teen
Domestic Violence Hurts All of Us: Make Your Workplace a Safe Place
The Importance of Screening for Domestic Violence in the Medical Community
In Her Shoes
Anti-Oppression
Effects of Oppression and Interpersonal Violence on the LGBTQ Community
Customize Your Own Presentation

If you’re interested in scheduling a presentation, please contact Megan at (503) 222.6507 x317 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Our Programs and Services

Raphael House of Portland is a multi-faceted domestic violence agency dedicated to fighting the causes and effects of intimate partner violence in a variety of ways. We offer emergency shelter in a confidential location, safety planning and advocacy on a 24-hour in-house crisis line, non-residential advocacy in cooperation with the Portland Police Domestic Violence Response Unit, and transitional housing and advocacy services to survivors of domestic violence enrolled in the Transitional Housing Program. Nearly 100 families are served in the emergency shelter each year, and more than 5,000 callers are offered safety planning and advocacy on our in-house crisis line. An additional 400 survivors receive non-residential advocacy services each year.

The mission of Raphael House is to provide a foundation of hope for a life free from family violence, and we have been working in this community—offering domestic violence survivors the tools they need to build violence-free lives—for more than 30 years. Raphael House serves a diverse community of women and children escaping domestic violence, and also works to eliminate the causes of family and intimate partner violence through community education and outreach.

Emergency Shelter

Raphael House’s emergency shelter serves families fleeing domestic violence. Our shelter has eleven rooms: ten for families of up to five people and one that can house two adult women. This comprises 30% of the total bed space for victims of domestic violence in Multnomah County.

Every survivor entering Raphael House is offered individualized safety planning and advocacy. Many families enter our shelter with substantial barriers to building violence-free lives for themselves, and navigating the complex social service system is often challenging and limiting. We work tirelessly to help survivors surmount their barriers and achieve self-sufficiency.

All our advocacy services and many of our group activities are offered in both English and Spanish. Spanish-language advocacy is available seven days a week from 8am – 8pm. In the case of other language needs, Raphael House of Portland accesses interpretation services through a language bank. Every family living at Raphael House is provided with basic necessities such as food, clothing, household supplies and toiletries. In addition to advocacy, support and basic needs, clients are offered regular self-care and life-skills programming. 

Advocacy Center

Raphael House’s newest program! The Advocacy Center is a new addition to our services, designed to allow us to maintain and build our relationships with program participants who are not living in our shelter. During their stay at Raphael House, women work with our advocates to create a set of individualized goals designed to help them on their journey to permanent housing, employment and self sufficiency. In the Advocacy Center, these women can continue working with advocates as they work towards meeting goals necessary to stabilize and grow in their new homes. In addition, families served by our Transitional Housing Program and Response Advocacy Programs can access a wide variety of services and resources inside the Advocacy Center.

In the Advocacy Center, we provide space for our program participants to participate in support groups and other activities such as youth programming, self care classes and meetings with community partners. Participants can access computer and phone workstations, staff support and advocacy, and an emergency food pantry and clothing closet. In addition, the Advocacy Center is designed to empower women to initiate and lead their own programs, and to receive mentoring if they’re interested in learning to lead their own support groups.

Youth Program

The Raphael House Youth Program works to meet the needs of youth living in our emergency shelter in a variety of ways. We provide individualized safety planning to every child over the age of 4. Staff and volunteers also offer homework support, creative activities, teen- and youth-specific support groups, gardening, fieldtrips and other programming. Raphael House Youth Advocates work closely with community partner organizations to make referrals for specific needs in the areas of mental health, education or basic child development.

Transitional Housing Program

The Transitional Housing Program provides transitional housing and rental assistance to women and families after they move out of our emergency shelter. Along with rental assistance, the transitional housing program provides on-going case management and advocacy, helping participants navigate the complex social service system on their journey toward self-sufficiency. In 2008, 100% of the families exiting the Transitional Housing Program were successful in finding and maintaining permanent housing for at least 6 months. Our transitional program currently serves fourteen families.

Response Advocacy Programs

The Multnomah County Domestic Violence Response Team (DVERT) utilizes a nationally recognized model of intervention that places an emphasis on providing coordinated, multi-disciplinary responses to high-priority/high-risk domestic violence cases. Raphael House of Portland currently employs two advocates, one of whom is fully bilingual, that are a part of the Multnomah County Domestic Violence Response Team.

The Domestic Violence Reduction Unit (DVRU), located at the Portland Police Bureau, works to decrease the level of domestic violence in Portland by investigating domestic violence cases with a high level of risk for recidivism. The DVRU is also responsible for local and regional training and coordination of all Portland Police Officers going through the advanced academy. Raphael House of Portland employs one advocate—stationed at the Portland Police Bureau—to work with victims in cases involving the DVRU.

Community Education and Outreach

The Community Outreach Program at Raphael House works to enact social change and prevent domestic violence by engaging our entire community in conversation and by encouraging people of all genders, ages and backgrounds to speak out against violence.

The primary activity of the Outreach program is offering free trainings throughout our community. We present in local middle and high schools, to healthcare providers, business leaders and community organizations, to DHS employees, to parent groups and to anyone else who is interested in joining the conversation and ending domestic and sexual violence. Topics covered include teen dating violence, media influence, types of abuse, healthy relationships, sexual assault, consent, warning signs of abuse, vicarious trauma, oppression, barriers to leaving, and being a support person. If you’re interested in scheduling a presentation or training, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Technology Safety

Internet and Computer Safety

If you are in danger, please try to use a safer computer that your abuser cannot access directly or remotely (by hacking). Safer computers include those at public libraries, Community Technology Centers, coffee shops and other public locations.

If you are in immediate danger, please:

• Call 911,
• Call our crisis line at (503) 222-6222, or
• Call the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY at 1-800-787-3224.

* If you think your activities are being monitored, they probably are. Use a safer public computer to access resources and information about domestic violence.

* It’s never possible to delete or clear all the evidence of your computer or online activities. Using the internet always leaves a trail that can be followed by someone with the tools to follow it. If you are being monitored, it may be dangerous to suddenly change computer behaviors by deleting your entire internet browsing history if that isn’t your regular habit. Instead, try deleting only the specific history items you want to keep private.

* If you are being monitored, email and instant messaging (IM) are not safe or confidential ways to talk to someone about domestic violence. It is always safer to call a hotline than to seek resources through email. If you do use email or IM, please use a safer computer and email from an internet-based email account (such as Gmail or Hotmail) that your abuser does not know about.

For more information we recommend the article Stalking in the Age of Technology by Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Mary Lou Leary, Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime.

Local and National Domestic Violence Resources

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Comprehensive list of fact sheets on a wide variety of domestic violence-related topics, utilizing both national and state-based statistics.

Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Access resources throughout Oregon and learn how you can get involved in the movement to end violence in our community.

Love is Respect: National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline
National source for news and resources on healthy relationships and teen dating violence, with access to hotlines and a live Peer Advocate chat service.

What is Domestic Violence?

What is domestic violence?

Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive tactics that can include physical, psychological, sexual, economic, and emotional abuse, perpetrated by one person against an intimate partner, with the goal of establishing and maintaining power and control.

Domestic violence is a crime, and it occurs every 15 to 18 seconds in the United States. Seventy five percent of women who are murdered in this country are murdered by an intimate partner.

How does domestic violence affect children?

Children are just as vulnerable to domestic violence as parents are. Our experience working with thousands of children suggests that they are emotionally affected by abusive behavior in the home, and are also frequently at risk of physical harm. Witnessing domestic violence often results in sleeplessness, poor concentration, inability to perform in school, and emotional and mental health problems, amongst other problems.

Children in homes where violence occurs are 1,500 times more likely to be seriously abused or neglected than the rate for the general population.

How do we end domestic violence?

Ending domestic violence begins with a commitment to stopping abuse in your life and the lives of people around you. Support domestic violence programs, be an advocate for survivors, educate yourself about the effects of domestic violence, and report abuse when you see it - together, we can end domestic violence for good.