About HAVEN

History

In January of 1997 the HAVEN Program (Hospitals Helping Abuse and Violence End Now) officially launched. The three HAVEN advocates worked at the main campus in Boston and at the health centers in Revere, Chelsea, and Charlestown.

The program had great success and much interest and in 1998 HAVEN received a grant from the MGH Ladies Visiting Committee funding a full time position in the MGH Chelsea Health Center. In 2001 HAVEN received a grant from the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance to fund a full time position at the MGH Revere Health Center. This brought the total number of Advocates to 5. Currently, HAVEN offers multi-lingual, full time coverage at MGH Boston, MGH Chelsea and MGH Revere.

HAVEN gratefully acknowledges the leadership of our previous directors, Bonnie Zimmer, LICSW who left in November, 2008 and Liz Speakman who led the program until September, 2014. The current director, Debra Drumm, LICSW came on board in December, 2014.

Mission Statement

HAVEN at MGH works as part of the broader movement to end intimate partner abuse by improving and enhancing our health care response to patients, employees, and community members who have been impacted by abuse.

To achieve its mission, HAVEN:

• Provides welcoming, affirming advocacy services to all survivors, both in the early dating years through later life, including members of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and queer community
• Is committed to maintaining a culturally diverse and linguistically supportive program
• Provides training, education and consultation to Mass General and its surrounding communities
• Fosters and maintains collaborations with community partners
• Tracks and evaluates our program’s progress to identify new needs and strategies