Apna Ghar provides individual and group counseling, legal advocacy, and case management for immigrant women in domestic violence situations. The abuse may be physical, verbal, or emotional. In addition, residents participate in art therapy and counseling to build skills in communication, assertiveness, and conflict resolution. Counseling is provided to residents of the emergency shelter, as well as to survivors of gender violence living in the community.

The counseling program works to end the cycle of violence by:

• teaching women to recognize the stages in this cycle
• critically examining cultural beliefs that condone violence against women,
• increasing women’s self-esteem and assertiveness so that they will not accept further abuse, and
• counseling children to decrease the chances that they will become abusers or victims of abuse as adults.

Legal advocacy helps survivors understand and navigate legal systems, obtain orders of protection, press criminal charges as well as connect to legal representation for family law and immigration issues.

Case management helps survivors identify personal goals and connect to community resources to meet health care, educational, employment, permanent housing, and other critical needs, to ensure long term stability and self-sufficiency.