Laserfiche WebLink
received -aI 3 1M4 <br />April 24, 1994 <br />Alan Goodall-Holnas, Ph.D. <br />Licansad Psychologist <br />4820 Excalsior Blvd. <br />Suita 100 <br />Minnaapolis, MN 55416 <br />TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: <br />I ao writing this at tha raguast of Jin and Kathryn Walboum who <br />hava askad aa to forward ny opinion concaming tha astablishnant <br />of a donastic abuse shelter in thair ccaiaunity. <br />As a psychologist who has practiced for 19 years# I have worked <br />with many individuals who hava bean involved in relationships <br />characterized by victimization and perpetration. One of the <br />chief characteristics of such relationships is that the <br />victin/perpetrator pattern is not one which is easily or guickly <br />resolved. Sinply housing the victim in a shelter does not solve <br />tha problem. In tha best of situations# the person going to tha <br />shelter finds a safe haven and [hopefully] some information or <br />support which allows that person to begin to change tha <br />victim/perpetrator pattern. In tha worst of situations# tha <br />person who has been victimized simply returns to the destructive <br />environment from which he or she had fled. <br />While# at best# the domestic abuse shelter is viewed as being a <br />temporary haven# it is generally assumed that the person %rho has <br />been victimized will have no contact with his or her perpetrator <br />while housed within such a shelter. Unfortxinately# this is not <br />always the case. Perpetrators are generally both extremely <br />insecxire and extremely tenacioxis. Their fear of being alone and <br />their need to control those they depend upon leads to great <br />ingenuity and to great potential for further violence. <br />Perpetrators often find the location of the various shelters in <br />the communities and are able to locate their spouses or <br />significant others even «rhen in the supposed safety of these <br />shelters. This risk is only heightened when the location of the <br />shelter is in a residential area and when it is easily viewed by <br />even a casual passer-by. <br />Given the risk inherent in what I have outlined above# the <br />proposed location of the shelter in question is about as bad as <br />could be imagined. It is in a very public area# easily located <br />by perpetrators. It is also in a residential area bordering a <br />lake. The presence of the lake is bound to attract the residents <br />of the shelter# drawing potential contact between victim and <br />perpetrator away from the shelter itself and into the residential <br />community. <br />IS^7