THE CENTER'S REVERED
Violence Program TURNS
25
by Greg Hernandez
W
VANGUARD | FALL / WINTER 2021
hen psychology student Susan Holt began a mental health internship in 1987 at the Center, then known as the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, she had no idea she had found her life’s work.
Holt’s internship occurred at the same time the Center was collaborating with the California School of Professional Psychology on a groundbreaking survey focused on domestic violence within the gay and lesbian community. Within a year, she found herself managing and co-facilitating the Center’s first groups for domestic abuse and violence and abandoning any plans to become a general practitioner. In 1996 the Center launched the STOP Violence Program with Holt at the helm. STOP (Support, Treatment/Intervention, Outreach/Education, and Prevention) marks its 25th anniversary this year as the largest and most comprehensive LGBTQ-specific domestic violence program in the nation.
“This is truly a specialty,” said Holt. “LGBTQ domestic violence is not the same as domestic violence in the heterosexual community. There are really significant differences. If you don’t understand those differences, then you’re not going to be helpful, or even safe, as a service provider for those who need help.” As common among same-sex couples as it is among heterosexual couples, domestic violence is a pattern of behavior in which an intimate partner or former partner attempts to control the thoughts, beliefs, and/or actions of the other. It may include physical, sexual, psychological, and/or financial abuse. The STOP Violence Program helps an average of 300 people per month by offering a wide variety of services including crisis intervention, counseling, therapy groups and safe housing. It also offers basic necessities such as food, clothing, and transportation for members of the
LGBTQ community who are affected by domestic violence and other crimes. “It’s help that’s specialized for the LGBTQ community,” said Holt. “Not for their non-LGBTQ neighbors, not for their non-LGBTQ friends—but for themselves—because that’s the way it’s been developed. We’re able to assess everyone who comes in for any mental health issue for risk of domestic violence—and that goes a long way. Other providers generally don’t do that.” Giving a Name to the Problem There had been a lack of visibility around LGBTQ domestic violence. People in the community didn’t even realize that’s what they actually were experiencing. “Clients kept coming in with those experiences, but it was not getting named and certainly not being addressed,”
