How we can help
We are here for you 24-hours a day, every day of the year. When you call we will not ask your name, but we will offer you the help you need at no cost. Depending on your personal situation, the trained staff at the Domestic Violence Service Center can support you in many ways. Our services are free and confidential.
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For those who are being physically or emotionally abused, we are able to provide you with a safe and comfortable place where you can go immediately. Our confidential and secure shelter will allow you to escape and protect yourself and your children from further abuse.
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DVSC can also help by providing 24-hour hotlines, safety planning, options counseling that provides information and support to help you decide what you want to do, support groups, and assistance in filing Protection from Abuse Orders. DVSC offers victims and their children a place where they can be safe, a respite from abuse, a place where they can heal, a place where they can put their lives back in order and plan for a brighter and violence-free future. We want victims of domestic violence to know they are not alone. At DVSC, there is always someone you can talk to.
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We serve the counties of Luzerne and Carbon without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, handicap, mental health/intellectual disability or religion. Our mission is to work toward the elimination of domestic violence.
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DVSC is your path to safety and a shelter from abuse.
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About us
In 1976, a group of volunteers came together with a vision that would give battered women and their children hope of a violence-free future. The passionate and dedicated group established a task force which resulted in the founding of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The actions of the volunteers made Pennsylvania the first state in the U.S. to have such a coalition. In 1978, the same task force established the first shelter in Northeast Pennsylvania for battered women and their children. Within a week, the shelter was filled to capacity.
Celebrating 40 years of service, DVSC now serves Luzerne and Carbon Counties. DVSC offers emergency shelter and direct services to battered women and their children. DVSC’s Bridge Housing Program provides transitional housing for battered and homeless women and their children.
In addition to emergency shelter and transitional housing, DVSC offers a wide range of free and confidential services including a 24-hour hotline for information and referral, crisis intervention, supportive counseling, or a sympathetic shoulder to cry on. Other free services include supportive options counseling, individual and group counseling for residents and non-residents, advocacy, court advocacy and accompaniment related to Protection From Abuse Orders, community outreach and education, life skills and parenting training, medical and mental health advocacy and trainings for professionals.
The mission of DVSC is to work toward the elimination of domestic violence. As we carry on our mission for a violence-free tomorrow, DVSC strives to continue to provide safety, empowerment and self-sufficiency to the victims whose lives have been so tragically altered by violence.
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