PCVC >> What We Do >> PCVC Programs

Crisis Intervention Centre
Direct services include a 24 hour Crisis Line that provides information, phone counseling and referrals, emergency shelter, legal advocacy and assistance in finding housing, relocating, and planning for safety. Crisis counseling is offered for those who are unsure of their rights, options and plans at that time.

ASTITVA: Emergency Shelter for Women and Children
A confidential emergency shelter, Astitva, offers women and child victims a safe temporary place to stay. During their stay here they are assisted in identifying needs, exploring options, setting goals, following through with the steps needed to obtain their goals, and domestic violence counseling. This could include legal assistance, housing, employment, financial assistance, education, childcare, etc.

UDHAYAM: A PCVC Community Support Unit
This project operates in collaboration with W7- All Women Police Station (Annanagar). The project connects women survivors approaching the police station to available crisis and support services. Crisis counseling is offered at the police station and the victim is also educated on victim rights, legal process and given assistance through the actual process if necessary.

NAM KUDUMBAM (OUR FAMILY)
A community-based program, Nam Kudumbam, located at an urban slum in Chennai. The slum is notorious for its high rates of alcoholism and drug use and peddling. The project aims at strengthening the community by providing opportunities for economic empowerment, education and healthy relationships. While aiming at awareness of one's rights and development of the community as a whole, the focus of the project is to bring in independence in the lives of women so as to support their children's future.

VIDIYAL: A Project for Burn Survivors of Domestic Violence
This project was initiated in the year 2003 at the Kilpauk Burns Ward for Women and Children. Many of the patients are survivors of acid or fire attacks from their partners, in-laws or attempted suicide. Counseling, emergency medicines and care including providing attendants or food forms part of the project. After the person is discharged, the project looks at rehabilitation of the survivor (psychological and physiological therapies), legal assistance, providing surgeries and medicines and transport to the hospital for follow ups.

DV free: A Corporate management initiative to address domestic violence
DV free is a comprehensive and compassionate workplace initiative that combines international best practices with local inputs to tackle domestic violence so as to have a productive and socially responsible workplace. The project includes developing policies and procedures, awareness training, response team development and training and intervention services.

Healthy Relationships Program
This program, offered in schools and colleges, informs and enables students on how to prevent abuse and have a healthy violence-free relationship. Topics addressed include dynamics of abuse, conflict resolution, prevention skills, related laws and resources available to them.

Domestic Violence Intervention and Education Program
This is a certified program that is designed to help men understand abusive behaviour and take proactive steps to re-examine their own attitudes and relationships. It also aims at stopping violence and preventing reoccurrence of future violence, while ensuring victim safety. This is a voluntary program run with the understanding that the individual will attend all sessions. The program is comprehensive in its content however it cannot guarantee a behaviour change.

Domestic Violence Trainings for Volunteers
This program is mainly designed to increase community awareness and public involvement in various efforts of the Crisis Intervention Center. The volunteer training is typically 4 hours long. We do require prospective volunteers to attend the entire training. Attending all of the scheduled training sessions helps to ensure that new volunteers have a good foundational understanding of domestic violence, the criminal and civil justice systems and also helps to build cohesion among the new volunteers.

Oxfam's We Can End Violence Against Women (WE CAN) Campaign
PCVC is the state co-ordinator for the We Can End Violence Against Women ("We Can Tamil Nadu") South Asian Campaign. The "We Can" campaign is a consciousness-raising initiative to spread awareness about domestic violence, gender (in)equality, and healthy decision making throughout India with rallies, conferences, workshops, and everyday conversations. PCVC's role as official state coordinator involves building alliances with other organizations in Tamilnadu and having them lead the initiative in their own areas, as well as conducting workshops and awareness campaigns in Tamilnadu. Alliances include schools, colleges, law enforcement agencies, non-profit organizations and self-help groups, media including television radio and newspapers, local shops, and corporate entities.

View some important photographs of alliance meeting of We Can Tamilnadu Campaign

We Can Tamilnadu book click here to download (1,505 KB)

Training and Technical Assistance
Training and technical assistance is available to NGOs as well as to any individual, agency or community interested in developing comprehensive service delivery systems to prevent and reduce the impact of domestic violence.