Fort Smith Crisis Intervention Center adding more adult beds

FORT SMITH — The Donald W. Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center is adding adult beds to its emergency shelter to better accommodate victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.

The shelter is undergoing construction for new bedrooms and bathrooms to expand from 32 to 41 adult beds.

Center CEO Penni Burns said victims can be housed with their children, so the addition of cribs and toddler beds allows the center to serve up to 57 people at a time.

Burns said many centers only serve women, but they’re constructing a male suite for biological and transgender men in need.

“We don’t cross genders to share rooms,” Burns said. “So if we have one single adult male in the shelter, they have to go in a family room, so that takes up the other five beds and that bathroom and shrinks our capacity. So by adding a male suite, that will leave those family rooms open so that we don’t have to turn people away.”

Burns said construction is expected to be completed in early 2024. She said the center has remained fully operational by making staff areas into temporary rooms.

“One of the most difficult things for our hotline operators to do when someone reaches out for immediate shelter is for us to say, ‘We’re sorry, we’re full. I’ll have to route you to the next closest facility.’ That takes time; it takes energy. It’s very hard for a victim to tell their story on the phone to a hotline operator,” Burns said. “So we’re trying very hard to have the means to bring people here, even on a short-term basis, and then to help them relocate.”

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner on average in the United States, totaling more than 10 million people in a year. It states one in three women and one in four men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner, which includes a range of behaviors involving slapping, shoving or pushing.

Burns said the center is already seeing the demand for additional space. She noted the center is the only one in western Arkansas, with the closest ones being the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter in Fayetteville, Domestic Violence Prevention in Texarkana, the River Valley Shelter for Battered Women and Children in Russellville and Johnson County Helping Hands in Clarksville.

“With Fort Smith growing and with community needs

growing, we do want to be prepared for that,” she said. “I do feel like I could add 100 beds and I could serve 100 people. Sooner or later you have to say no, we don’t have the staff capacity to serve that many more people.”

Burns said in 2022, the center received 1,121 crisis calls and housed almost 400 people with an average stay of 47 days.

“We do not have a maximum on the length of stay. Some people might stay an hour; some people might stay a day,” Burns said. “They might just want a day of peace and quiet, a sleep cycle, a fresh shower, a food cycle, get their feet underneath them. Everyone’s needs are different, and they get to make those decisions.”

Shea Foldvary, president and CEO of the United Way of Fort Smith, said the center is a blessing to have in Fort Smith and always the first reference they give when someone calls needing safe shelter. The United Way of Fort Smith provides funding, advocacy and awareness for community resources in Crawford, Franklin, Logan, and Sebastian counties in Arkansas, and LeFlore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma.

“It really is a benefit to our community and even our region,” he said. “Their reach is so far. They have so many different counties that they serve locally for those individuals that might be going through domestic violence or some sort of assault, this is an opportunity for them to be able to seek safe shelter. So with them adding more beds and expanding their facility, it really does have a huge impact in our community.”

“It’s very important when that first phone call is made to make them feel comfortable and not ashamed, and to be a really good trauma-informed listener, because that’s their first voice of reason that they’re hearing, and it can be the difference in them saving their life,” Burns said.

Burns said some people call the shelter looking for crisis intervention and advocacy resources. She said the hotline operators and case-line navigation team are trained to handle crisis calls for domestic violence, family violence, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, human trafficking and suicide. They are also able to answer questions such as how the shelter works, how long someone can stay and what they can bring with them.

Burns encouraged anyone who feels like they’re in a crisis to call the center at (800) 359-0056 to receive help.