Haven youth programs offer kids healing and prevention against abuse, trauma
Visitors walking into Haven’s Youth Center are greeted with kids’ artwork of all kinds. Some are dark and disturbing — the “before” — and others are colorful and cheery — the “after” — of participating in therapy group sessions.
One haunting face mask was painted in black and the deepest dark green with just two words on the inside, “aching and afraid.” The mask was created by a 12-year-old boy who was a survivor of extensive abuse.
“Art is one of the ways we have for the kids to express their feelings,” said Holly Grace Currie, youth and prevention manager for Haven Women’s Center.
For more than 20 years, Haven has had youth programs dedicated to helping children and teens who have lived through abuse and domestic violence.
Haven’s youth programs are one of this year’s recipients of “A Book of Dreams” funds.
(To donate to A Book of Dreams, click here)
Haven Women’s Center is a nonprofit organization that provides support services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
Currie said Haven serves people of all ages and genders, despite the word “women” in the name.
Peer groups help survivors
Haven offers an empowerment and peer-support group called T.R.U.S.T. (Teaching Respect, Understanding and Safety Together) designed to help young survivors of sexual abuse or assault.
Currie said group participation is important to show kids they aren’t alone in surviving such horrible experiences and it gives them a safe space to talk about difficult feelings, such as shame, guilt and anger.
In addition to the therapy groups, Haven offers prevention programs, including HARRT, Healthy and Responsible Relationship Troop.
The goal of HARRT is to teach teens about the signs of abuse and the skills to develop healthy relationships, to stop violence before it starts.
“The reason we do what we do is to show what a healthy relationship looks like,” said Ben Salemmi, a junior at Enochs High School and a peer educator for HARRT.
Ben joined Currie and Manuel Sosa, a sophomore at Enochs High, and Margelis Hernandez, a freshman at Modesto Junior College, in the “cozy corner” at Haven’s Youth Center recently to talk about their experiences as HARRT peer educators.
“Being used to that kind of environment can lead them to be abusive to their partner,” Margelis said of teens who grew up in households with domestic violence.
Ben said 1 in 3 teens will be abused before the age of 18, including physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, digital or financial abuse.
“I know people who have been in unhealthy relationships,” said Manuel. “I try my hardest to help them.”
Haven has seven school-based HARRT programs throughout Stanislaus County, which have reached more than 8,500 students since 2015.
Haven’s other youth programs include Kids Count and Teens Count. Each program has intervention groups for youth who have experienced domestic violence, and prevention groups are for those without a known history of violence. Programs are split for children ages 5-11 and 12-18.
“We know that 1 in 4 kids live in some unhealthy family situation,” said Currie, “though we don’t know who the survivors are in the room.”
Currie said helping a child heal from the trauma and learn healthy expressions of their feelings can make big a difference for the rest of their lives.
“We incorporate a lot of art and movement,” said Currie,”I feel like trauma is stored in the body, especially for kids who are too young to articulate their emotional wounds.”
Currie said the funds from “A Book of Dreams” will be used for after-school snacks, helping to fund field trips and buying therapeutic art supplies.
“We’re not afraid of glitter, glue and paints,” said Currie. “Life is messy, so art and expression can be just as messy.”
For more information about Haven Youth Programs, visit their website at https://www.havenwcs.org/youth-services-1
This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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Our Featured Agencies
Nov. 10: 2018 donations make an impact
Nov. 17: Jessica’s House, Turlock
Nov. 24: Center for Human Services (Pathways), Stanislaus County
Dec. 1: Cricket’s Hope, Modesto
Dec. 8: Haven Youth Center, Modesto
Dec. 15: LearningQuest, Modesto
A list of 2019 contributors. To donate online, go to www.modbee.com/donate2bod
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 5:30 AM.
