I have walked closely with victims of abuse and neglect at The Ebby House for almost 7 years now. I know deeply that trauma is a slow healing. It’s a slow call to change. A person must recognize and acknowledge the trauma, then want and seek the change.
Children and youth who are literally living each moment in acute crisis like those we serve at the Youth Support Center – youth who are clear or possible concerns of being sexually trafficked – must be reached in specific moments through brief windows of chance. The more opportunities of those moments we have with them that offer an opportunity to touch their lives when they are receptive to hear and feel, their odds of WANTING change increase. The more safe people we place into their lives, those possible glimpses of change grow. String those moments together and you offer the chance of recovery and healing.
Healing is slow. Offering the chance to heal can be fleeting. That’s my personal service and the work I do at The Ebby House and the Youth Support Center: moment by moment.
Author: Lisa Mumford, BS, BSW, Director of Children, Youth and Family Services