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Domestic Violence Victims Get Full Spa Treatment

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Ashley Benham of SerenBe Day Spa gives a manicure to a domestic violence victim.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE - Four women, strangers to each other and united by the violence in their lives, moved easily this morning from one room at the spa to the next.

Cosseted by soothing muted music and the feel-good aroma of scented oils, the women were treated to a day of facials, massages, pedicures, manicures and hair styling. At the end of the day, they were treated to a session of guided image meditation.

For the four victims of domestic violence, the day was like a deep, cleansing breath after years of having to deal with abuse.

"It's really all about the women," said Kelly Seeley, who has owned the SerenBe Day Spa for eight years. "They have really touched my heart."

"We wished we could pick all of them," said her partner, Charlee Hall. "I'm excited to be doing this."

The four women were chosen by victim advocates from the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office. They represented resilience among victims and displayed a desire to move beyond being a victim.

Sharon Reynolds was attacked by an obsessive boyfriend in 2005. She talks about it now, as she's having her hair done, but it has taken years to get over the physical trauma and the emotional devastation.

She said the obsessed man she briefly dated broke into her house and attacked her. Her 13-year-old daughter escaped and called police. Tampa police officers surrounded the house.

That's when the enraged man dragged Reynolds to the front window and began stabbing her with an 11-inch kitchen knife. Nine times, he stabbed her.

The man now is serving a life prison sentence. Reynolds, 39, admits that she is also on a life sentence of sorts.

"I had my good and bad days," she said, but she's determined to move on. She's working as a freelance floral arranger and going to school. She got a large mixed-breed dog to make her feel safe.

Among the hardest things she has done to get over her ordeal was to attend every court hearing her attacker had, whether she was in a wheelchair or not.

"I wanted him to see me there," she said.

Fellow domestic battery victim, Isabel Guartantaga, 48, cried when she recalled what happened to her; not the years of physical abuse, but how she was treated when she went for help.

Speaking Spanish from a comfy chair and wrapped in a plush white robe between treatments, Guartantaga said she came here from Ecuador several years ago and had endured years of physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

"We came here full of hope with my daughter to have a life that was a little better than in my own country," she said through Manny Gonzalez, her victim advocate who translated this morning. "It was not like that. Bad things happened."

She scraped to save money as she planned her and her daughter's escape, she said.

"Finally, I said, 'no more, this is it,'" she said. She got encouragement from police, prosecutors and domestic violence victims' advocates, she said. They cared for her and her daughter, who is a special needs child.

"My daughter turned 1 in the shelter," she said.

"I started to meet a whole community," she said. "I could identify with them. The days I was there, it was very good. They helped me a lot with counseling and references. I really met some special people in the shelter."

The spa, located at 11103 N. 56th St., was closed for the day, just for the comfort of the women. Two other victims getting the treatment Monday declined to be interviewed or identified. Victims' advocates said they were a mother and daughter who had been victimized by the same man. He had been sentenced to two years in prison and was a month or two from being released. The victims feared for their safety.

Besides getting the spa services, several local businesses donated food and gifts.

Seeley and Hall are hoping to make the spa treatment, which was valued at about $300 each, an annual event, to honor victims of domestic violence.

"They are what this is all about," victims' advocate Becky Peterson said. "These women are survivors."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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