Comprehensive Recovery Centre for victims of gender violence “Constanza Alarcón” (Alicante)

The shelter Constanza Alarcón is considered a Comprehensive Recovery Centre for women victims of gender violence and the minors accompanying them, located in the province of Alicante.

This specialised centre offers longer temporary accommodation than an emergency resource, given the serious situation experienced as a result of violence, the lack of family support or the absence of personal resources, which mean that the women need a place of shelter for their comprehensive recovery and to safeguard their physical and/or psychological integrity.

The service users are women, with or without minor children, who need a place of shelter.

The objectives of the resource are:

• To offer protection and comprehensive care to women in order to facilitate their full recovery from the after-effects of the gender violence they have suffered.
• To provide comprehensive and interdisciplinary care to women and to the minor children in their care.
• To help women become aware of their abilities and potential and take responsibility for their actions.

In order to properly care for each service user, we need to adapt to a social reality that is undergoing profound change and recognise that the reality of the women who come to these services is plural and heterogeneous. Many of them also present other problems or characteristics, such as poverty, recent immigration, mental disorders, substance abuse, etc., whose interaction with violence must be taken into account.

Guidance and care for women require a complex, multifaceted, multidisciplinary, rapid and effective intervention that considers all aspects of the person and contributes to promoting their personal and social autonomy. Care is therefore provided from a global view of the person and their environment, as well as their problems, needs and possibilities, all from a gender perspective. For this reason, we have considered it appropriate to develop a Person-Centred Care methodology, that is, a personalised, motivating and comprehensive intervention with a biopsychosocial and intersectional approach.

To carry out this project, we have a specialised, multidisciplinary team made up of a social worker, a psychologist for the women, a child and adolescent psychologist, seven social educators, a social and labour inclusion specialist, a cook and a coordinator.