The Sojourner Center
Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every four days a woman is murdered by her husband or boyfriend in Arizona. The Sojourner Center is the largest shelter in the state and works to prevent this statistic from growing by providing a safe haven from violence while empowering women to break the cycle of abuse.

In 1977, a group of twelve concerned individuals created Sojourner Center in response to the need they saw in the population of women leaving prison. After four years of helping these women avoid recidivism, they began to see a pattern of domestic abuse in the women’s lives, often leading to homelessness or incarceration. Due to the prevalence of domestic violence, the mission of the Sojourner Center changed in order to serve survivors of this pervasive issue.

Since then, Sojourner has grown from a run-down 28-bed facility to be the largest shelter for sufferers of domestic abuse in Arizona and one of the largest in the country. The main campus consists of 124 beds, complete with a dining facility, community area and child care center; a new campus adds 100 more beds to the total. Sojourner also maintains 15 transitional apartments as an additional step between the shelter and complete reintegration into society.

Sojourner offers four areas of service: residential programs, including a 24-hour crisis hotline, healthcare and emergency and transitional housing; advocacy and employment assistance; lay legal advocacy to assist in the Maricopa Country superior court; and family enrichment, including prevention groups, childcare and parenting classes.

Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) works with the Sojourner Center as an extended site for service, committed to providing free, natural healthcare to individuals who have sought help at Sojourner. By sending physicians and clinical students to Sojourner, the facility’s residents benefit from the assistance of Naturopathic care and the clinical students gain invaluable learning opportunities. Dr. Patricia Gaines has supervised SCNM’s involvement at Sojourner since 2003 and sees first-hand the impact Naturopathic care has on the patient population. For instance, “Because of the nature of the population there tends to be a lot of emotional issues such as depression and anxiety,” said Dr. Gaines. She has been effective treating these types of conditions using homeopathy.

Dr. Gaines explains that the care she provides during her weekly shift includes only homeopathy, nutritional supplementation and botanical medicine, but she is pleased with the results she sees. SCNM clinical student Brandie Gowey has observed the impact of Naturopathic Medicine on patients at Sojourner and plans on opening a shelter herself in a few years. “I see how this medicine can impact women and children in such a positive way…. I have seen homeopathy, acupuncture, etc do so much for them...it is amazing in a way I can't describe,” she said.
But perhaps the most important aspect of the care to the patients is the fact that the care is free. “When they hear about that they get very excited,” said Dr. Gaines. “Many have nowhere else to go, little funds and no support system. They have lived a life of abuse and come to Sojourner fearful and hopeful for a new life,” said SCNM clinical student Shana Spector, whose background in social work gives her a unique perspective on how to face the issues at Sojourner.
Since Sojourner Center is a shelter, one of its functions is to ensure that the individuals who stay do not become dependent on the space. However, Dr. Gaines acknowledged, the transience of the population creates one of the greatest challenges in providing quality care. Gowey has noticed the same challenge. “You have to live in the moment, and do they best you can, prescribe the best remedy or the best supplement, or give the best acupuncture treatment you can, and hope it has made an impact because you may never see them again,” she said.

Despite the challenges, Dr. Gaines and her clinical students continue to provide quality care and are encouraged by the appreciative women. “They are surprised at the level of care we give, of how in depth our intakes are, of how much we try to pool our limited resources to help them out,” said Gowey. MaryK Martin, a recent SCNM graduate, recognizes the need for Naturopathic Medicine at Sojourner from her clinical rotation experience. “The brave families who are escaping domestic abuse at Sojourner really need compassionate, ‘whole-istic’ care. They need to be empowered in their own mind, body, and spiritual healing.” And through the outstanding programs offered by Sojourner and the excellent care given by Dr. Gaines and the clinical students, the survivors of domestic violence served at Sojourner become equipped to break the cycle of abuse and heal.