By Emma Koehn, CVPost
Domestic violence, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking. . . the Bolton Refuge House (BRH) has been providing free services to people victimized by these since 1976.
Its services are open to anyone in the community, including University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students. BRH offers services to students who need them, and opportunities to students who seek them.
Bolton Refuge House is a safe place for victims, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, economic status or religion. It focuses on providing “quality, safe, and empowering services,” according to the BRH website.
While there are on-campus services for domestic abuse and sexual assault victims, BRH offers an option to seek help outside the university. BRH also offers many services beyond those available from the university.
It offers an emergency shelter that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. BRH also provides support groups and advocacy services.
In addition to these services for victims, BRH partners with UW-Eau Claire in many ways to educate students and get them involved. It offers for-credit internships in Social Work, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Women’s Studies, Organizational Communications, Marketing and Sociology, among other fields.
Other ways for students to get involved with BRH include the federal work study program and the service learning program (volunteer hours in the community which are a graduation requirement). These provide mutually beneficial opportunities for students to earn money or fulfill service learning requirements while helping BRH.
Specific classes at UW-Eau Claire have strong and active relationships with BRH. These include the Community Leadership class, Women’s Studies capstone classes, Human Rights and Global Justice and Small Group Communication.
Student organizations such as College Feminists and Association of Student Social Workers also partner with BRH on projects. In 2016, the College Feminists held a tampon drive for BRH, in which they collected tampons and pads to donate.
Staff at BRH talk several times a semester with classes or campus groups about intimate partner violence, sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, heathy relationships and child abuse.
Further information is available at http://www.boltonrefuge.com or by calling 715-834-0628.
Emma Koehn, a UW-EC Public Relations major and Political Science minor, is interning with the CVPost.