Project Anchor- adolescent victims of sexual abuse

Updates

We are preparing for our first Project Anchor cohort of the year. We are excited to work with our next group of courageous young women.

The room where we implement our Anchor program is getting a new coat of paint and a fresh look. It is our hope that the space will become less clinical and more inviting and will encourage our participants to feel inspired and hopeful about their recovery journey.

Navigate Trainings

We have been promoting the Navigate program with local churches and high schools, and hope to have the opportunity to present in all of the local high schools. Recently, we held two Navigate trainings in December 2015. The first one was presented at a local community high school. The second training was presented to an area church youth group. We have a training scheduled in February with another church youth group. We’re so grateful for the chance to be able to educate our young people about rape culture, the power that they hold to help their peers, and the essential role that they play in the battle to eradicate sexual assault in our community.

As always, we want to thank you, on behalf of the staff and participants of Project Anchor, for your generous support of our program and our mission to help the hurting youth in our community.

I leave you with a testimony written by one of our previous Project Anchor participants (and used with permission)

"What breaks in a moment may take years to mend”

(Swedish Proverb)

This quote could not have been phrased any better. After I finally got out of my abusive situation I had so many feelings and I was so confused I shut myself out of the world and out of my own mind. I became abusive to myself because I thought that’s what I deserved. I didn’t know how to function in everyday life. It became harder and harder for me to go through every day. I didn’t trust anyone enough to actually listen to their advice because I had a mindset of everyone will hurt me. When I felt myself building friendships I pushed those friends away and I didn’t let anyone near my heart. I hated myself and blamed everything on me. After a long tie of pushing people away and not trusting anyone I was lonely. I was convinced on what the abuser would tell me that nothing else was the fact. I ended up coming to the anchor program. I wasn’t thrilled to come and talk to people I barely knew about my abuse. But I decided it is better to talk about it instead of running away.

I never thought it would be this hard because nothing comes easy it’s up to me to work towards having a healthy life. The group topics at times were hard and sent me home feeling upset, but I realized that it’s better to be upset for a couple of hours instead of not get the help, and be fearful, not trust anyone, blame myself and be a wreck for the rest of my life. When it all comes down to it, life is hard and there is no easy way out of anything especially feelings, memories, and the list goes on and on. Fair Haven isn’t just a place to express how you feel or get help with your feelings. For me it was a trustworthy place for me to discuss my biggest fears, my feelings, memories, and the list goes on. I am really thankful to have had this opportunity to be in the Anchor program. So I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who helped me through this.

So the point of the quote above and the brief history about my life was that it takes a while to learn how to cope and find your place in this world without being fearful, being able to trust and finding ways to cope but eventually you will. I’m not saying that after this program I won’t have days that I will feel upset and down but since I’ve been in this program I will be able to cope with it and use the skills that I have learned to help me so I don’t spiral out. If I had to recommend someone to get help with abuse I would definitely recommend Fair Haven to help learn ways and go through the program.

Meet Aspen, a Great Pyrenees/Retriever and the newest member of our team! Aspen, who has been coming to work with her handler, abd our Executive Director, since she was just a 9 weeks old pup!  Now 8 months old, she adores both people and dog treats! 

Introducing Aspen to our program will afford our clients so much more than other traditional modalities.Therapy Dogs create a healing and nurturing environment for those impacted by violence.  Some benefits recognized are:

• Through their own zest for life, Therapy Dogs help people maintain a positive attitude.
• Individuals "need to be needed " and "to touch and be touched."  Therapy dogs allows a victim who may be struggling with vulnerability to accept unconditional affection.
• Therapy Dog can love without prejudice and they eliminate any language barrier.
• Therapy Dogs are an antidote to depression and an easy pill to take!

In addition to supporting clients, Aspen will be engaging the general public and education children (and adults) through our anti-violence campagine "Paws Off!" Visiting schools and attending community events, Aspen will carry the positive message of mutual respect and compassion for others.

We are very excited to see how the addition of a Therapy Dog will benefit our clients and our community! 

Links:

• http://www.asafeport.org