Elizabeth Freeman Center- Pittsfield

Elizabeth Freeman Center offers hope, help, and healing to all experiencing or affected by domestic and sexual violence through free, accessible, and confidential services in Berkshire County. We work to end the cycle of violence through community mobilization, advocacy, and education. Promoting social justice and working to end all forms of oppression are essential to our work. PHILOSOPHY (abbreviated) · We believe that everyone should be able to live in safety, with dignity and justice, free from fear and oppression. · We believe violent behavior is a choice…Abuse can happen to anyone – rich, poor, old, young, rural, urban, of any race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, and background – and is deserved by no one. · We believe violence cannot be separated from racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, and other systemic forms of oppression that support violence and are maintained by it. We believe anti-violence work must by necessity be engaged in promoting social justice and ending all forms of oppression. · We believe…violence should not be tolerated as a fact of life. These are patterns of behavior that could be prevented if there were a will in society to end them. · We believe that everyone has the right to receive exceptional, holistic, accessible, … services for domestic and sexual violence… · We are survivor-centered…We do not believe in telling survivors what to do, what to want, or how to proceed...We honor and respect each individual’s journey... · We rely on best practices and a continuous evaluation…to guide our growth and remain a leader in the movement to end domestic and sexual violence.