ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Lori Hensley has been one of the many faces helping clients at Liberal Area Rape Crisis/Domestic Violence Services (LARC/DVS) for many years and last week, she and others in the community celebrated her work as she prepares to retire.

Hensley’s journey with LARC/DVS began in 2013.

“I became a board member in 2013, and was on the board for several months, and then the director at that time announced her retirement,” Hensley said. “When she decided to retire, they asked if there was anybody on the board who was interested in the position, and I had talked a little bit about it with some friends and other colleagues. Ultimately, I applied, and they hired me, and I went to work Sept. 17, 2013. When I first started, we were at the First Christian Church, and I think there were three or four people – we had two or three people who worked up front and myself. Eventually, we got out in the community and began to talk about who we were, what we were doing, etc. We also started going more to the outer counties, and we realized we needed to do more for people in those outer counties in terms of providing services. We hired more staff, and we eventually ran out of room in the space at the church, and we needed more privacy to help the individuals who came in for services. January 1 of 2017, we moved to the location at 111 E. 2nd Street, and we’ve been there since.”

That move, Hensley said, ended up being very beneficial for clients and LARC/DVS staff.

“Moving into that new space gave us the privacy we needed, the confidentiality that we needed. It also gave us a foyer, so people could come in out of the rain while they waited for us to answer the door,” Hensley said. “And then we kept growing. We were a staff of 14 at one point, and we realized we had too many staff, and so we backed up and did some different things. We needed to have therapy for individuals for whom individual counseling just wasn’t enough for them, so we hired two part-time therapists and have them maintain that. There’s a full-time therapist and a part-time therapist now, and at some point, the full-time will go back to a part-time position. We have two therapists, four advocates, the executive director, a shelter manager, and the other employees at the shelter.”

Hensley said the most rewarding part of her work at LARC/DVS has been working with the clients who come in.

“I tell people my enjoyment came from going home at the end of the day every day, knowing I’d helped somebody,” Hensley said. “It was a great feeling knowing I was helping change lives and helping empower the clients to move on beyond the trauma they’d gone through. I think that’s the most enjoyable piece of the work. But I also enjoyed going and doing the work at the state level, making sure that we were making a difference. I also enjoyed going to all of our different service counties and working with individuals in those outer counties and community partners. It wasn’t just a job, it was my life. It’s a calling. I believe that and will always believe that. We were a $225,000 agency when I came to work there, and we’re at $1 million or more, so I would say funding was another big accomplishment, making sure we’ll be solid to move into the next generation.”

Hensley added it was not too long ago when she began seriously thinking about retirement, and she  plans to use the time to connect more with her family.

“I told them when they hired me, I was 52 years old, and I was going to work to 62, and I was going to retire,” Hensley said. “But then my husband, Gary, got sick, at that time, circumstances just didn’t allow the money for me to be able to retire. I was going to retire, and we were going to travel, but that didn’t happen. I lost him two years ago, and without work, I don’t know what I would have done.  Both of my sons live in the Tulsa, Okla. area, I have a new grandchild coming, and my other grandchildren are all but grown, so it’s time to it’s time to be grandma. I also have five siblings, and we go to what we call Sibs Week every other year, so I’m looking forward to doing that in October in Bandera, Texas. I’m also looking forward to doing some travel, the boys and I were talking about possibly going to Hawaii, maybe in a year or so. Working and taking care of Gary all those years and living out here by myself just didn’t afford me those opportunities, so it’ll be great getting closer to family.”

While she is looking forward to more family time, Hensley admitted she will miss her colleagues.

“I will absolutely miss my staff, they’re amazing ladies, and I will miss seeing them every day,” Hensley said. “The board is phenomenal, and I couldn’t ask for a better group to work with. I honestly couldn’t ask for a better place to work and I will miss all of them.”

Overall, Hensley said, she is retiring on a high note.

“I want to say ‘thank you’ to the communities I’ve worked in and how important it is to help end sexual assault and stalking, and that something I will carry with me the rest of my life,” Hensley said. “I will always be an active bystander. This job has taught me a lot, and if there’s a time when I can volunteer and help. I probably will. The biggest thing is the awareness piece. It is so, so important to talk about domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. There’s a lot that goes on in our school systems, there’s a lot that goes on in families, and it truly is the quietness that hurts the most. A lot of people ask ‘Why is there any domestic violence? Why is the person you’re supposed to love the most in life the person causing you the trauma?’ I always tell people that’s why it’s so hard to talk about domestic violence, because a lot of people think it can’t happen to them, but it absolutely can.”