Needs Assessment Document

Needs Assessment Document

Introduction

The program is meant to help women and children overcome domestic violence. These two groups are the ones that are mostly affected by domestic violence. The program was began in 1984 by the Fayette County’s Human Services Council (Stanley et al., 2013). This was after the rise in the cases of domestic violence in the county. Data will be collected from various families to make informed decisions. The interventions will include psychological counseling to enable the victims to have mental stability. Besides, there are those victims who have offered to house them so that they can have a safe place to stay. People who have gone through domestic violence can have difficulties living with others if not helped.

It is an experience that is traumatizing and has severe consequences on their mental status. Being extremely stressed is a major cause of concentrating on work. Thus, those adults who are undergoing domestic violence cannot be productive as they used to be there before. It means that they can get dismissed due to poor performance. Thus, the best thing is to seek psychological counseling first to perform well at work (Bartels, 2012). As for children, they do poorly when stressed due to fights at home. They cannot have peace of mind, and also, they do not get enough sleep. It is why they sleep in class when the teacher is teaching. Domestic violence affects children significantly since their brains are not mature to go through such situations.

Program Participants

The direct participants in the program will include the victims, the counselors, and the people offering material support. The victims are expected to be open and give real information regarding g what they have been going through. They will cooperate with the ones helping them to get helped. The counselors are expected to listen to the victims and help them accept themselves. The counselors are supposed to be empathic to assist the victims in overcoming the stress. As for the well-wishers, they provide help, usually in the form of money or other items. For example, they can offer shelter for those who have been left homeless due to domestic violence. Others can offer to employ victims of domestic violence or start businesses for them. Hence, they will have a source of income to cater to their needs.

Program Outcomes

Needs that the Program was created to Address

The program was created to address the psychological needs of domestic violence victims. These victims need to be helped to bounce back from stressful situations. The counselors will be non-judgmental when talking with these victims, for them to say all that has been affecting them. There is no way the victims can be helped if they do not talk about the whole problem (Royse et al., 2013). The counselors will utilize the rights skills to be of help to the victims. Proper listening and maintaining eye contact will help show a high level of seriousness. It makes the victim trust the counselor more. No person feels confident to disclose all their information to a counselor who does not seem to be listening keenly (Stanley et al., 2013). Moreover, sitting posture says a lot about the seriousness of the counselor. Those victims who ran away from abusers and had nowhere to stay are helped to get a place to stay.

Desired Benefits for each Program Participant

The benefits of the victims include psychological support. Besides, they expect to get some material support from some well-wishers who might be willing to help. The counselors expect to help the victims to undergo the situation. The well-wishers expect to feel good after helping the victims with their problems. The program is also expected to create awareness in society regarding domestic violence. Some people who experience domestic violence are not aware that what they are going through is bad until someone rescues them (Bartels, 2012). Others are afraid to leave because they have nowhere else to go. Therefore, they continue being abused, and their life gets more miserable. After being offered this education, they can respond well to such occurrences. 

How to Measure each of these Outcomes

The mental stability and happiness of the victims will indicate a positive outcome. By observing the victims’ behavior, one will tell if they are feeling happier and comfortable. The rate at which the victims will have resumed their daily activities will also indicate whether the victims have started living normally or not. Those who will have started to overcome the experience will begin to go back to their jobs. Furthermore, they will look less stressed due to the stability they will have achieved. The children of these victims also live better lives when they bounce back since they can take care of them (Stanley et al., 2013). Children are innocent beings who rarely understand what is going on in the house. It is bad when they suffer because of their parents’ mistakes.

Risks of Unfavorable Outcomes that might Result from the Program

Risks of unfavorable outcomes from the program include the failure to obtain the desired results. Thus, the victims will not be assisted in how they were supposed to be helped. All the resources and time invested in the program will have gone to waste. In such a program, there is a lot of money invested, and thus, it should be prevented from being wasted. That will occur if there will be proper planning and implementation. All the activities that will be included will be assigned to various people and have deadlines. Having deadlines is essential since it will help manage the limited time well. 

How the Importance or Likelihood of these can be assessed

Assessment of the importance or likelihood of these can be assessed by asking the victims questions. The responses will help conclude. All the victims’ responses will be paid attention to so that the necessary changes can be made. 

Program Procedures

The procedure required in running this program will involve coming up with a hierarchical structure. The structure will have all th