“Bittersweet” was the word Jessica Honish used to describe being selected for a state honor, the Patricia J. Waschbisch Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award was presented Wednesday at the state Capitol in Madison by state Rep. John Nygren on behalf of the Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence.
Honish said receiving the award from Nygren held special meaning because his mother, Sue, is a former director of Rainbow House and helped start the agency 34 years ago. Rainbow House is a domestic abuse agency serving Marinette and Oconto counties and Menominee County in Michigan.
Honish was hired 15 years ago as the Rainbow House legal outreach advocate for Oconto County. While she continues her part-time work in Oconto County, she also stepped into the position of lead advocate at Rainbow House in 2013, after Waschbisch was killed in a domestic violence-related homicide. Her boyfriend at the time, Brent Kaempf, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Honish sat in on the interview when Waschbisch was hired 12 years ago and knew from the start that Waschbisch was special.
“From the minute she interviewed, I said, ‘Good God, this girl’s got tons of energy.’ She was a go-getter, just an amazing person,” Honish recalled. Together they worked on projects, made public speaking engagements, discussed cases and secured grants for the agency.
“Working with Trish for that long, I had some big shoes to fill,” Honish said.
Honish works half time at the Rainbow House outreach office, located at NEWCAP, 1201 Main St., Oconto, and half-time at Rainbow House in Marinette. As lead advocate she oversees the Rainbow House staff and the Marinette shelter named in Waschbisch’s honor, plus works with grant reporting and public relations. As legal advocate in Oconto County, she counsels victims and helps them through the legal system.
“I’m not ready to give up that one-on-one with clients at all. That is one of my favorite portions of the job,” she said.
Honish has a social work degree and a coaching minor, plus she is a trained expert witness in the court system to provide testimony in trials on behalf of the victims.
Courtney Olson, executive director of Rainbow House, said Honish is well-deserving of the award for her tireless dedication to survivors of domestic violence.
“Trish (Waschbisch) would be so proud of Jessica and the way she has carried our agency forward through such difficult times,” Olson said. “Jessica’s persistence and leadership are a strength to us all. She is an asset to our agency and community.”
The staff of Rainbow House nominated Honish for the award, presented during Domestic Awareness Violence Month. The application included letters from victims Honish has worked with and Honish’s colleagues.
Honish said more people are contacting Rainbow House, which is a good sign, she said, because people are reaching out for support before situations escalate. Overall, she said, the agency is seeing an increase in domestic violence.
“The shift is going from more of the physical abuse, which was so easy to prove with documentation, to more now of the verbal, mental and financial abuse, which is a littler tougher (to prove),” she said.
The message she tries to impart during speaking engagements is for individuals to listen to victims without judgment and refer them to a domestic abuse shelter for follow-up, rather than trying to advise the victims themselves.
“I think victims just need to be heard, and they need to be believed,” she said. “They’re not usually making it up. It’s hard enough for them to come forward and ask for help.”
She said Oconto County is “continually on the map, unfortunately” for domestic-related homicides, making prevention education and awareness efforts essential. From 2000 to 2014, Oconto County experienced eight domestic violence homicides; Marinette County had five.
During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Rainbow House placed tear-off forms in public places and put up displays to let people know about its work. The agency posts information on its website and Facebook page, and the youth advocate visits schools to talk with students.
“She starts in second grade and goes all through high school, talking about prevention, bullying, teen dating violence; so we’re out and about and our phones are ringing,” Honish said.
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