Dr. Jean on the work of the Elizabeth Freeman Center

Along with her extensive clinical practice and advocacy in the DSV (Domestic Sexual Violence) movement, Dr. Jean Clarke-Mitchell draws on her lived experiences in her work. 

She broke new ground, she says, as a woman who came to the Elizabeth Freeman Center in a hard time in her own life — and founded a commitment to help people who have survived abuse, and pursued her education and work with the Elizabeth Freeman Center, until she became director of clinical services, finally ending her services there to become a university professor. 

She reflects on the challenges of the work, and on her own path.

Kate: (Looking toward Dr. Jean.) So what kinds of things did that work involve? when you were having conversations, when you were running the center? (Indicating the hotline and the work of helping people who come in or call.)

Dr. Jean: When I was at Elizabeth Freeman Center, like I said, I started as a hotline volunteer. We had beepers then (and you’ll be thinking, oh please don't let the phone ring at two o'clock in the morning, but it would). 

And you would be trained to answer it. So you would do that work. So I was on the hotline. And then — that's 1994, and I did my training in October. I'm class of 1994. And then I got the position at the shelter to do the two hours. And then I got 12 hours, working at the shelter Saturdays into Sunday as well. 

I did that for quite a few years. And then I was able to become an advocate. So I would be what they call on call, so I would be there, and anybody comes in who needed help with anything, we would be there. 

And then I become an advocate where you would have a special space where you work with people like a counselor and that sort of stuff. 

She pauses and goes on with a sense of irony.

And so I remember a funny story about becoming an advocate … because I was a battered woman, right? Everyone at the agency knows me as a battered woman. Then I become a volunteer, and now I'm actually working with them. 

And so when I’m working with them, I asked the bookkeeper at the time, she was the one who ordered the cards. And I said to her, I'd like to have a card. And she goes like, I can't make you a card. She says, you're not a counselor, you're just an advocate. You don't have any letters behind your name. So. 

Kate: Oh God.

Dr. Jean: Yeah. How many letters behind my name now? They can't even count all of them. I leave some of them off. I didn't even put the letters behind my name. 

But the point was, that sort of thing motivated you. And I was just highly motivated in helping women and children to safety. 

As the years went on, we were able to also work with men at the shelter too. So I went from that to being an advocate, to working at the shelter. And even when I went back to school, I was still working at the shelter, doing weekends and that sort of stuff. 

And eventually I became the shelter director. I did that only for about a year. I did that, and then I, because I was finishing up school, my masters, I passed my license, so I was able to become a supervisor, a clinical supervisor. 

I had spent some time, I was at Bard, here in Simon's Rock, consulting though, and then this job came up where I could go back to the Elizabeth Freeman Center.

And I had one woman ask me one day, she said, — I met her in 1994, and we were in the same class in 1994 — and she said, ‘I want the old Jean back.’ This is after I completed Smith, after — I'm like, the old Jean is gone. That person left. 

And intertwined here, a lot of stuff you're going to hear, it's about racism. (22:00) It's about ‘who do you think you are,’ or ‘you're not good enough,’ and all those things. 
Now all advocates have cards. They don't need letters behind your name. You need lived experience of how to be and treat each other. 

Degrees are nice, they're wonderful, don't get me wrong. But you need — it's better to be equipped with how to treat each other, I think, and have that lived experience so you can really get someone. (22:30) They don't have to tell you every little, rigid detail for you to be able to help them. You have that understanding. 

Because when you don't have that lived experience — there are a lot of people coming to the field who just really want to help, and they don't have that lived experience. 

So some of the other things I've done — I was a clinical supervisor, and then I became the director of clinical services, and I did that until I left to become a professor. 

So many rich experiences, so many women and children helped, my children included. 
Even today. My 41 year old said something to me, we were talking about LGBTQ, and I said, ‘You know, I've always wanted to know why at Deerfield you joined the GLAAD group, because you've never revealed to me that you're anything other than cis.’

And she said ‘no, but I saw how people were treated at Deerville that were different. And I know them as nice people. I have nothing — why do people treat people so badly?’ 

Her daughter recalled people who helped their family 30 years ago. She spoke warmly of a woman who married one of the women who had come to shelter. "And they were married forever," Dr. Jean says. "And she said, 'that kindness that she showed us — I never forgot it.’" 

Dr. Jean: That's what I'm saying, it's not about the degrees — it's about how you treat each other, in positive ways. There's lots of experiences there with the children. 

We were trying to put children's programs and programs for adults, trying to make the shelter a place where, when you're different and you get there, you can still feel like, ‘okay, I'm in a place that I don't know anyone, I feel insecure about where I am, but I'm among people who treat me as a human being.’ 

That was very big for me. So (I’d ask) where can we get something (that will feel familiar, that will help someone to feel at home), if somebody's African, if somebody's Indian … Do we need to go Albany, or do we need to go to Springfield? 

Where can we go? (24:30) Just, maybe it's one item, one item that we could bring them, to say, oh, they're thinking about me. And that was always important. 

Kate: I would think that if somebody's calling you on the phone because they're in trouble and they need someone to talk to, then being able to talk to someone who's been there, and has that kind of intuitive understanding of what they might need, what might help them — (indicating in gesture how powerful that connection could be?)

Dr. Jean: It’s very important. It's just like when we talk about differences, if we can connect with somebody who we feel we don't have to explain everything to, whether sex, gender, whether it's experiences, whether it's … whatever it may be. 

But again, when you don't even speak the language, when you're kind to somebody, that's an energy. So you're going to feel that anyway. You know, we don't have to be the same color, we don't have to be the same income. We don't have to be anything in common other than human beings. And I'm treating you and recognizing you. 

That's when we talk about trauma-informed care, that when we bring that person in, we're very, very conscious of how they're treated. We give them time, slow things down. Not just rushing them. You know, the normal way, the old way I should say, the normal way. 

I’m saying, okay, what has happened to this person? What happened to you? Not ‘what's wrong with you, and I don't know you, and you're different from me, and I can't understand you ‘ — no. How am I going lean in and make you understand, I see you, and I care. I'm going to fix it. 

Even though your past experience is not to trust anybody who looks like me, that energy is going to say, I think this person is real. This person cares. That's a value that I have in life, is to bring my humanity to whenever I can. 

Even though — a lot of people see me, they say I'm serious, and they wouldn't expect me to behave a certain way. (26:30) But I just always come with purity. I always come with love. I always come with, that's how I go to life. And then if you show me differently, I just run away. I don't even try to change you. I just leave. I'm just out of there, you know. (26:30) (She comes to a gentle pause.)

Kate turns to Rosa to check in on whether she and Rosi and Gabriela
would like time for translation. (27:00) Gwendolyn asks them in Spanish.

Kate: Should we pause every so often? 

Gwendolyn: They said they’re all right.

Kate: Okay. I just wanted to make sure. 

Gwendolyn: Thank you.

Dr. Jean: That’s what we mean, trauma-informed care — we’re always checking in to see, what are your options, these are your options, what are your preferences, right? Instead of just ‘euh’ (a sound and gesture of uncertainty and withdrawal) … We don't want to do that anymore. 

Kate: And what kinds of things — there are probably many answers to this, but what kinds of things would someone need? (27:30) Someone who comes to the shelter, and they've just left home. They may not know where they're going to be able to find another place to live. They may or may not have a job or a way to support themselves. They may have children. 

Dr. Jean: Basic needs. A lot of times we get people coming all the way from Boston, or sometimes another state. They kept saying, "We left Springfield, and we just kept driving and driving and driving." So they're like, "Oh my gosh, what's gonna happen?" (28:00)

Especially if you don't speak the language, or if you don't have financial — economics is an issue — if you don't have that financial support, you don't know where you're going. You come to this place and you have nothing. Because I've been on shifts where people come in with garbage bags. That’s all they have. Or a suitcase, or very few things. 

Some of them are fortunate enough to come with a car. They brought their TV, they have kids, they brought their games and stuff like that. 

But most people come … the idea of being in the house is that you're homeless. It's not said that you're homeless, because it's not a homeless shelter, it's a batterd women’s shelter, but technically you're homeless. So you come there. 

And most people, their case manager's there, so they begin to work with you immediately to assess what your needs are, what your preferences are. Immediate needs are shelter — and you can stay in the shelter — at the time I went to the shelter is 12 weeks I've known people there for three years. (29:00).

You know it's evolved. You can’t just push people out and make them more homeless. That used to happen in the past. You’ve got to make space, (and people would say) well you're not in so much danger anymore, so we're going to bring somebody else in who's in more danger. 

So those needs are assessed, and that plan begins to consider, what are the needs? Is it medication? You know, is it school for the children? Where are they gonna be picked up? Where schools can take them? You yourself, do you need a job? 

Or are you’(in a place where you’re saying) I just wanto rest right now. I'm going to apply for TNF, or I'm gonna apply for food stamps, or I'm just gonna be quiet right now. Or I want to go back to school. But those are not immediate needs — food, shelter.
 
So there's always food there, but then you can begin to apply for your food stamps, if you don't have those already, and stuff like that. So all the needs are taken care of. They're assessed and then addressed. 

Kate: There’s the immediate set of needs, that's just that somebody needs some stability and somewhere to be. (30:00) And then there’s (the point where) … now that I'm in a place where I'm not in immediate danger, and I'm not running on adrenaline all the time — but now all of the reasons that they're here, all of the trauma, all of the pain — how then do you step in and help them? 

Dr. Jean: There’s counseling. So the counseling doesn't happen in the shelter. The counseling is, we have an offsite office for that. 

So as soon as you come in, you're assigned a counselor. But the staff begins to work with you. There are certain things that — we have a domestic violence wheel, and a lot of times when people come, they want to talk to the person who's there about everything that's happened to them, so that person is already hotline trained. Every person that works there is rape crisis trained. 

So you begin to maybe answer those questions or defer some of those questions. But it's all done in a gentle way that is targeted to whatever the person may be experiencing. Because the staff, the one thing about the Elizabeth Freeman Center, the staff's been there forever. There are a lot of people who immediately know, because they've been there for so long. 

So if you come on a Sunday or a Saturday, then you’ll hear them say, ‘don't worry. Monday you'll go over to the office and all this will be explained to you. We’ll just go over the rules of the house, that sort of stuff, show you where everything is, the supplies that you may need and everything like that.’ It's taken care of then. 

And then the other things, if doctor's appointment needs to be set up for the children, a counseling appointment, anything that needs to be done outside of referrals, they’re taken care of in the main office, that's the term. (32:00)