Lydia's House

For 29 years, Lydia's House has been providing safe, confidentially located, Transitional Housing for abused adults and their children who are victims of domestic violence for a stay of up to two years. Lydia's House continues to be the only stand-alone/confidentially located Transitional Housing Program in Missouri and is one of the largest in the country. Since inception in 1995, over 1,330 adults and their children and pets have come into Lydia's House for safety and resources. Lydia's House serves 50 adults and up to 85 children at one time for up to 24 months. In 2023 the average stay was 19 months. In this fiscal year, Lydia's House Transitional Housing Program provided 29,114 nights of safe housing and supportive services to a total of 118 survivors(55 adults and 63 children) as they made the transition from emergency shelter to safe independent living into homes of their own after receiving all the resources that they needed to overcome domestic violence. The program held 13,496 individual Case Management Sessions to help adults and their children heal and to provide resources to achieve their educational, health, employment, permanent housing, and other related goals. In addition, Lydia's House provided 260 sessions of Individual Advocacy related to legal issues such as Orders of Protection and additional Civil/Criminal Advocacy. Thirty-one (31) adult Support Groups and thirty-six (36) children's support groups were conducted to provide the opportunity to share experiences, knowledge, and strength related to the violence they experienced. Advocates also provided 1,953 Follow-Up sessions to former residents of Lydia's House. Periodic satisfaction surveys show that 96% of adult domestic violence victims reported having an increased knowledge of resources and 100% reported an increased sense of safety as a result of Individual Advocacy and attending Support Groups. Lydia's House relies on the generosity of friends and supporters to meet the enormous cost of providing programs and services year-round to adults and children escaping domestic violence. Abusive behavior and violence are never acceptable. Everyone deserves to feel valued, respected, and to live in a safe place they can call home. In 2023, Lydia's House prepared for CARF International certification. This process involved enhancing existing policies and introducing new policies and procedures. The site visit for accreditation was held in December of 2023.