Casa Myrna

Casa Myrna's comprehensive supportive services are provided in English and Spanish to clients in our three shelters and those living in the community. Services include: 1) Housing Advocacy helps survivors and their children remain in their own homes and/or secure permanent, affordable housing; 2) Economic Stability Program provides financial literacy education and academic and employment readiness training; 3) the Legal Advocacy Program provides legal advocacy and representation for survivors. It also includes a Medical-Legal Partnership with MA General and Beth Israel Hospital to provide onsite legal support to patients at the main campus; 4) Counseling Services provide individual and group therapy for adults and teens; 5) Children's Services support and refer survivors' children to needed services; 6) Community-Based Advocacy places full
time, bilingual Community Services Specialists at community sites to engage survivors and link them to services.

Casa Myrna is at the center of a coalition throughout the Commonwealth that work together to educate the public, providers and policy makers about dating and domestic violence prevention and response. Casa Myrna offers workshops on survivor’s legal rights, risk assessment and safety planning and identifying and responding to abuse for law enforcement, health care, schools, businesses, service providers, and the community. In FY18, 2,274 participated in Casa Myrna trainings. In addition, our growing, peer-led Youth Engagement and Awareness initiatives provide intervention and prevention education for at-risk teens by: (1) expanding evidence-informed peer-led teen dating violence prevention program (“Start Strong”) in schools; (2) conducting peer-driven social marketing campaigns; (3) and enhancing our bilingual hotline, SafeLink with chat line technology, to increase usage and tailor services to better serve at-risk youth.

Casa Myrna provides three residential shelters for survivors and their children. The Mary L. Foreman House emergency shelter, our original shelter based in the South End, supports ten women and thirteen children. The program is named for the late Mary Lawson Foreman, a mother and activist who was a victim of violence. Founded in 1993, the Teen Parenting Program (TPP) houses pregnant and/or parenting teens and their children. TPP is the only program of its kind in the state to shelter and support teen families who are homeless because of domestic violence. The program serves eight teen parents and thirteen children. Families live at the program for up to 24 months. Our new EVA Center Housing Program provides shelter and support for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and their children, serving up to nine adults and five children. All families receive intensive support around their immediate trauma and supportive services that provide the skills to establish economic stability.