About New Beginnings
Our story starts in 1991…
And since then, we’ve served thousands of individuals who have experienced domestic violence and sexual assault throughout Belknap County. New Beginnings - Without Violence and Abuse was born to meet the unaddressed needs of our community and we remain committed to empowering survivors.
Our Mission
New Beginnings – Without Violence & Abuse is dedicated to ending sexual, domestic, and stalking violence through the provision of safe and effective services, including emergency refuge and support; and works toward social change by promoting an effective community response to violence.
Who Do We Serve
We are here to support and empower all survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault throughout Belknap County, New Hampshire.
Guiding Principles
We are committed to confronting domestic, sexual, and stalking violence by:
Providing direct services and support to survivors of violence.
Educating survivors about the choices they have.
Educating the community about the history, causes, and methods of confronting domestic and sexual violence.
We acknowledge and support the right of each survivor to make their own decisions in their own time and in their own way.
We value and respect each survivor for their own lived experiences.
Our History
In 1991, a group of concerned citizens came together with the belief that it was important for survivors of domestic and sexual violence to have a voice. The speed with which New Beginnings came into being was nothing short of phenomenal. Within six months of the decision to start a new agency, New Beginnings had filed incorporation papers with the Federal Government to gain non-profit status, offered a 30-hour training for new volunteers, began offering services through a 24-hour crisis line, and had received the endorsements of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, the Division of Mental Health, and the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Since those early days, New Beginnings has continued to grow stronger and has reached multiple milestones, including opening the first open shelter in the state.
Our work at New Beginnings continues to evolve as we explore the next frontiers of this work. Very much in line with the anti-violence movement as a whole, our recent development has focused on children, prevention, and serving our diverse communities. Our focus has moved from being solely on the survivor as an individual to also working with their children. We offer an array of services for children and teens who have been affected by domestic and sexual violence, especially those who witness domestic violence. We encourage our community partners to become engaged in prevention as well, and have presented to local groups about prevention and its importance. We have a presence in school districts across Belknap County and are consistently furthering our involvement by expanding our programming in more schools.
Our Commitment to Anti-Oppression Work
New Beginnings acknowledges that domestic and sexual violence are systemically connected to other forms of oppression based on race, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, class, ability, age, ethnicity, immigration status, or religion.
Survivors may be simultaneously disenfranchised by multiple systems of oppression, and we are committed to providing services and education that meet their unique needs. We value the lived experience of each individual and the power that each person and community possesses to create change. We believe it is important to listen and learn from those with lived experiences so we can be more aware of our actions and educate ourselves so we can better support those in our community who share similar experiences.
We are committed to training our staff, board, and volunteers not only on issues of cultural competency in services but also on issues of self-awareness, privilege, and social group identification to recognize their own experience or collusion in oppression and thus, build better communities from the individual outward.
As long as racism, ageism, homophobia, and the like exist, gender-based oppression will also exist. To accomplish our mission to eradicate domestic and sexual violence and stalking, we must work to eradicate all forms of oppression.
Statement of Philosophy
No one deserves to experience violence and abuse. Domestic violence, including emotional, physical, and verbal abuse, as well as sexual assault, is intolerable and must be abolished from our society.
We also acknowledge and support a survivor’s right to make their own choices in their own time and in their own way.
Lastly, we come to this work offering our strength to all survivors seeking assistance. Domestic and sexual violence is not a woman’s issue but is ultimately a human rights issue. We build on our experiences to help and empower each other to make a difference for us all.
Non-Discrimination Policy
New Beginnings does not discriminate based on gender, age, health status (including HIV-positive), physical, mental or emotional ability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, socio-economic class, race, national origin, immigration status, or religious or political affiliation.