Believing in a holistic approach

Sometimes labels can identify a group but make an individual disappear.

This time of year, we hear a lot about the homeless or the hungry, or some other category of persons simplified to one essential need.

We're all more than that, of course, and I like to see people take that into account when they are trying to help.

It's true in social services, but it also ought to be a consideration in health care, education or any endeavor that involves people.

Dee Hillis set out to be a schoolteacher, but now she runs Solid Ground's Broadview Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing in Seattle.

A few years ago, she was tutoring students who attended Wing Luke and Van Asselt elementary schools, many of them from families poor enough to be living in subsidized housing.

Hillis said that visiting students' homes made it clear that "some of the problems the kids were having had to do with the family."

She decided that as much as she enjoyed working with children in the classroom, she could do more for them by dealing with the whole family.

She's been doing that at Broadview for three years now.

Women and children come to the agency because they need housing, but what they get is a wide spectrum of services intended to help them build better lives, and a relationship with staff in which they are treated as unique and valuable people.

Hillis said Broadview serves people who are "fleeing domestic abuse, or who have a family crisis that is preventing them from maintaining their housing."

The program gets at the roots of those problems.

When a woman or family arrives, "we do a family assessment, figure out how to get the family on its feet in a relatively short time. Do they need legal advocacy, a protection order or a protection plan?"

Families can stay in the shelter for up to two months, or in transitional housing for a year if they need more intensive support services.

Some women are encouraged to improve their education level, or helped to meet their medical and psychological needs, or to improve their financial skills.

Broadview works with the children, too, so they won't follow their parents' worst behaviors.

There is a boys-to-men group that exposes boys to college and other opportunities and helps them learn how to treat women.

With girls, "we help them realize they are a person of value."

Sometimes that recognition and emotional support are what a person needs most.

I heard that from Anita Perez, who got on a plane with her two youngest children and headed for Seattle because it was on the opposite side of the country from her violent husband.

She and the kids arrived here in June 2008 and stayed briefly at Union Gospel Mission before moving into transitional housing at Broadview.

Perez had a good job back home as an administrative secretary and found a new job soon after getting here. But the shelter gave her time to get situated, provided programs for the children, including homework help. She praised Broadview's domestic-violence program and said it is still helping her with the process of getting a divorce.

Perez got a place of her own in January, but Broadview keeps supporting families for a year after they leave transitional housing.

All that matters, but the most important thing, she said was having someone to talk to.

"I was crying all the time about the abuse," she said. Laura Wood, her Broadview domestic-violence advocate, "helped me to stay focused, to stay on track." Wood "helped me to keep my job by looking forward not thinking about the negative."

They had regular lunches and she still calls to chat with Wood often.

Having a place to stay was nice, she said, but it was the emotional support that made it possible for her to succeed on her own.

About 100 people are staying at Broadview now, 31 families, which is its capacity.

They share some issues, but the surest start toward helping them to a better life is treating each one as a whole and unique person.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.