The Refugee Family Strengthening Program (RFS)

The program was the product of two state refugee programs, the Refugee Family Strengthening and Mental Health. The Refugee Family Strengthening (RFS) program provided education, intervention, and prevention services for domestic abuse from 1995 through 2005 (federal fund) and 2006 transfer to Department of Children and Families (DCF). The Mental Health (MH) program goals included bilingual, bicultural clinical services, community education and outreach services to refugee communities, and providing consultation and in-service training to mental health staff.

In an effort to meet the needs of refugee abusers, a core group of 5-7 staff from both programs met to identify the barriers, went through a few mainstream abuser trainings (Duluth and the Bridge), and develop a culturally and linguistically curriculum for refugee abusers by modifying some of the existing resources and creating new resources. The Pilot program was implemented in Milwaukee, Appleton and Wausau.