- In Chicago, “a trauma recovery center is helping victims of violent crimes put their lives back together.” As Dane Placko reports for the local Fox news affiliate:
“Paul Robinson, 33, was playing with his son in Morgan Park in 2017 when a stray bullet severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the chest down … Even after months of physical recovery, Robinson continued to slide into depression … Now, Robinson is putting his life back together with help from the Advocate Trauma Recovery Center, which opened four years ago at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn … The idea behind the program is to help victims of violent crime by getting their lives back on track by finding them a place to live, a job or financial and legal resources.”
- The University of Southern California also launched a Trauma Recovery Center late last year, which offers “no-cost victim support services, including both virtual and in-person mental health care services as well as wraparound services to support victims in every area of their lives impacted by their experience, from medical care to food and housing to attending court appearances with them.” The Center also has a budget to provide victims with flexible emergency cash assistance. Professor Ruth Supranovich, who directs the center and is based in USC’s social work department, explains why crime victims need these services:
“When a violent crime is involved, you may be dealing with a lot of different things … Maybe I got assaulted and I’m in therapy. But I’ve got a court hearing coming up and I’ve got to do a deposition. I’ve got medical appointments. I may also be suffering from a lot of grief or loss because someone else may have died. And I’m in shock and not necessarily functioning that well. It’s a lot of complicated emotions, so people need extra support and handholding. We can help them identify their priorities right now and get them into a position where they’re ready to get some counseling.”
- Stay Tuned: Travis County, Texas, poised to greenlight the first trauma recovery center in the state later this year. The city of Austin already budgeted $1,000,000 to launch the center, and county commissioners recently passed a resolution to determine how best to sustainably fund it. Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes told the local NBC affiliate that “the creation of a [Trauma Recovery Center] in Austin reaffirms our commitment to public safety and will create new avenues for survivors of violent crime to receive the resources needed to recover from traumatic experiences. This TRC would be the first in Texas and provide individualized case management, therapy, legal assistance, and more to our region’s most vulnerable communities.”