Trauma Recovery Centers are a place where crime survivors and their families can connect to mental health, relocation, job resources and more services that they need to achieve stability after life-altering violence. And where they have been established—they are working, “serving the populations the model was designed to support” and “providing a wide range of benefits to their clients and to the broader service community.” Those are the main findings of a new preprint paper—which presents findings from “the first national survey to document Trauma Recovery Center operations and the people they serve”—from New York University Professor Angela Hawken and Sandy Mullins, a senior research scholar at NYU’s Marron Institute.
The full paper—which details a first-of-its-kind survey of Trauma Recovery Centers across the country as of 2022—is worth reading, but here are some highlights of the what researchers found, all of which point to a need to establish more Trauma Recovery Centers and more stable funding for them:
“Clients present to [Trauma Recovery Centers] with complex and co-occurring disorders, and with extremely high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The most common reasons clients seek the services… are to address trauma stemming from domestic violence, adult physical and sexual assault, and gun violence… Demand for services exceeds current capacity, and 57 percent of [Trauma Recovery Centers] are running a waitlist…
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Survey respondents are concerned about ongoing funding sustainability… only 14 percent are confident they can maintain their current level of service over the next 5 years… Nearly all (93 percent) report that their funding situation may require them to reduce services in the future and express concern that growing waitlists lead to service delays, which negatively impact their clients and their families…”
Here are three more centers opening around the country to help ensure that crime survivors get the support and resources they need:
- “New ‘One-Stop Shop’ For Trauma Recovery Is the First in Texas.” For The Austin Chronicle, Lina Fisher reports on Austin’s new trauma recovery center—the Harvest Trauma Recovery Center (HTRC)—“where survivors of violent crime can receive clinical case management, psychotherapy, and legal advocacy.” The center, staffed by trained therapists, counselors, social workers, and outreach workers, is funded for two years and set to handle as many as 240 survivors each assigned to a dedicated case worker with whom they will be able to receive up to 32 counseling sessions. But Michael Lofton, the executive director of the non-profit group that runs the center told the newspaper that “no one will be turned away” and that eligibility to receive services from the center for violent crime survivors is broad: “If you’ve been affected by human trafficking, domestic violence, violent interactions with law enforcement, or even a car crash, you’re welcome.”
- “Sexual Violence Trauma Recovery Center Opens In Scottsdale.” For KTVK, Scottsdale, Arizona’s local CBS affiliate, Mickaela Castillo covers Ruth Place, a “first of its kind trauma-informed program … to help those who have experienced sexual violence.” Camea Peca, director of programming at Ruth Place, explained to the news station that Ruth Place uses “a unique three-phase program that provides both resilience training and tools [through] group therapy and individual sessions… to help survivors understand that trauma is an injury rather than an illness, and like injuries, they can be healed.”
- “Trauma Recovery Center Opens For Napa County Crime Survivors.” For the Napa Valley Register, Howard Yune reports on The North Bay Trauma Recovery Center opening its doors “to aid local victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking and elder abuse” and provides “mental health services tailored to the needs of those coping with trauma resulting from crime.” The California Victim Compensation Board provided the $2.5 million grant to the center, and also funds 22 other centers around the state to service survivors of violence “who may not be eligible for [the state’s] victim compensation program, or who may be fearful of reporting a crime to law enforcement.”