un iqu e giving
Ann Marie Kennon
My Safe Space: A Room Makeover Project IT’S THE SMALL, SIMPLE THINGS THAT COUNT. AND IT TAKES ALL OF US TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. ~FIRST LADY OF TEXAS, CECILIA ABBOTT
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ou may already know the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) provides many invaluable services to assist and support child victims of abuse and neglect every day. Their caring and professional staff provide a welcoming, child-friendly, and protected place for victims and their families to share experiences, receive medical assessments, engage with law enforcement, and, ideally, be restored through therapy and counseling. The Center’s mission is to break the cycle of abuse, one child at a time, by working to reduce the emotional trauma for children and their non-offending family members. While clients receive services that always reflect best practices in the field, it is quite possible that a recent Texas grant program may be the most innovative and compassionate of them all.
COMPASSIONATE TRANSFORMATION I M A G I N E L I V I N G O R G O I N G TO S L E E P EVERY NIGHT IN A CRIME SCENE Nearly every child victim of sexual abuse (90%) knows his or her attacker, which means a great deal of abuse happens in a familiar environment. Having to live in a place that has become a crime scene is a desperate fact of life, and one that might be easily overlooked in light of pressing clinical and judicial needs. While children do need and find healing in counseling, in many cases, they go back to the home or bedroom where the abuse occurred. Challenges arise because the child’s personal space was violated by the perpetrator of their abuse, or furniture and belongings may have been removed as evidence in the
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criminal investigation. Being in this space again can trigger or renew the emotional response from the original trauma. But, through unique donations and grants, volunteers are able to provide some children with a truly new start by fully remodeling their bedrooms or other rooms in the home. New colors, furniture, toys, and personalized decór help return a sense that their personal space is an authentically safe haven.
THE IDEA Based on a 2015 Women of Courage grant, My Safe Space: A Room Makeover Project provides funding for CACs statewide to transform spaces in which children impacted by trauma can have greater consistency in the sense that they are moving forward from a bad experience. Funding from these grants is available to all 71 CACs in Texas. The program is implemented in a variety of ways across the state. The Williamson County CAC is proud to participate as well, and has expanded on the premise to provide support in any capacity that might help further the healing process. Kerrie Stannell, CEO, of the Williamson County Advocacy Center says the program is developing, and they are particularly sensitive to the need for the entire family to feel safe inside their own home. “The abuse happened to the child, but the trauma happened to the whole family. When we receive funds from the Women of Courage grant we use them accordingly to makeover a bedroom. However, with local partnerships and donations we can expand the help we are able to give. We can redo a parent’s bedroom, a bathroom, help with a few repairs or assist with siblings’ rooms, whatever it takes to reinstate the victim’s comfort and healing, and help the siblings and protective family members with safety and stability.”
