Rose DeBerry looking to rebuild Victims Services at HRDC

District 4 Human Resources Development Council has a new director of Victims Services in Rose DeBerry, who is looking to build the program back up amid ongoing staffing shortages.

The Victims Services program's goal is to empower victims of domestic abuse to live violence-free lives by providing services like crisis intervention, safety planning, emergency services, legal accompaniment and general advocacy, but, like many organizations locally and countrywide, HRDC is faced with staffing shortages that have made many of these services difficult to provide.

DeBerry has been director of the program, and its only employee, since November of last year and is trying to get it back to where it used to be.

Thankfully, she said, she's already had some success reinitiating vital services for victims, a trend she hopes to continue.

"We're trying to build that back up to be fully staffed," DeBerry said.

She said their crisis line is up and running, staffed by volunteers and an on-call advocate. The line can direct people to services in the area and help victims of violence through their advocate, she said.

The program offers a number of services, but with only one of its four positions filled, many of them have had to be scaled back.

DeBerry, who worked at the Rocky Boy Office of Victims Services for five years before coming to Havre, said she and HRDC are trying to get fully staffed again, but until then they are doing the best they can to address the community's issues.

While many of the programs' services have been reinitiated, two she's still working on getting back are assisting victims with offender accountability and support groups.

Unfortunately, HRDC as a whole is facing issues not just with staffing, but with funding.

DeBerry said that because they have been so short-staffed they missed the deadline for one of the big grants that helps HRDC function, and, though they're making efforts to secure that funding its absence has had serious repercussions.

She said COVID-19 hasn't been a cause of their staffing or funding issues, but it has forced them to re-adjust the ways they provide services.

Despite these issues, DeBerry remains enthusiastic about the position, which she said was a perfect fit for her after moving to Havre.

"I knew that this is where I wanted to continue to do the work," she said.

She said she's lived in the area for almost her entire life, and the staff of HRDC has been extremely helpful to her as she's acclimated to the new job.

She said it's taken time to get acquainted with the local judicial and law enforcement systems, but both were very helpful, particularly the latter. She said people in law enforcement have expressed relief at having a new Victims Services director, as the program had always been a great partner.

DeBerry said she's hoping to get her program back to visible advocacy in the area and they're planning a number of events to do that.

"We want to get back out into the community," she said.

She said the program will be holding fundraising events in the community including a vendor fair later this month in the HRDC Fireside Room.

She said the event is still open to new vendors and asked that anyone interested signup by calling HRDC so they can get a booth for the Feb. 26 event.

DeBerry said the community has already been very gracious, providing supplies to the haven and being very supportive generally, but she's looking to partner with local businesses for more fundraising opportunities as well.

She said hopefully this, along with a mail campaign, will help solve their funding and staffing issues.

Another thing she's working on is setting up events in February for teen dating awareness month. DeBerry said it's a very serious issue, and she's hoping to share some of her and the program's knowledge on the subject.