On March 16, when the Hartford region essentially shut down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the phones at Interval House became very quiet.
By early April, the number of calls to the Hartford police was so great that the department dedicated four officers to domestic violence incidents. The phones exploded, and in the next three months, the number of telephone contacts rose 58% over the same period in the previous year.
Victims needed to know whether to stay or go, how to stay safe in a dangerous home, how to protect their children, and how to survive. One family was forced to flee so rapidly that they arrived with nothing. Another mother arrived having escaped an attack with a machete, and still, another woman came after she had been beaten unconscious and left to die in an apartment her abuser had set on fire.
COVID-19 has increased the danger and severity of domestic and sexual violence. People are confined at home with their abusers, children are in harm’s way, many social services are shuttered or overwhelmed, and isolation in these circumstances can be a tool of psychological torture. Economic pressures and job loss exacerbate the danger and restrict options for fleeing or finding safety.
Even before COVID-19, the level of domestic violence in Connecticut was alarming. According to statistics, 14 people on average are murdered every year by their intimate partners. Intimate-partner violence homicides account for 13% of the state’s homicide rate. Nearly 90% of victims are women. Each year, Interval House helps thousands of people survive, flee or heal from abuse or assault.
As part of the broader community, businesses like Berkshire Bank can be instrumental in providing support to employees experiencing gender-based violence. The business community in Connecticut can be an innovator and leader in providing workplace solutions to help individuals at risk.
Berkshire Bank recently formed a partnership with the nonprofit FreeFrom, creating pathways to financial security and long-term safety for survivors. Berkshire Bank took proactive action and enhanced its existing protections to provide its approximately 1,500 employees with paid and protected leave to manage the consequences of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. Employees now have additional paid leave to seek medical and/or mental health care, secure victim services, locate housing, attend child custody and/or legal proceedings, as well as other related matters, all without having to forego a paycheck or use vacation/sick leave.
While expanding these benefits for its employees, businesses can leverage local organizations such as the Interval House, the domestic violence response center for 24 towns in Connecticut. Interval House has remained open throughout the pandemic and provides free and confidential help, including emergency shelter, counseling, court support, and other resources/classes.
How can your business improve the support of employees experiencing gender-based violence? Start by ensuring that your corporate policies and practices are in place and support survivors of gender-based violence, including fully paid and protected leave. You can also commit to educating your employees on the impacts of gender-based violence and how to identify it. Work to improve gender equity and diversity in the workplace, and lastly, provide financial and volunteer support to organizations that are working to address gender-based violence. They can’t do the work without support.
As a community, we must show up for one another. Our businesses must set a good example by showing up for intimate partner violence survivors and the organizations that provide help, hope and healing.
To learn more about how your company can better support its employees who have experienced gender-based violence, contact Amy Durrence, FreeFrom Director of Systems Change Initiatives (amy.durrence@freefrom.org).
Lori Kiely is the director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation and Mary Jane Foster is the CEO of Interval House in Hartford.
