Non-Offending Caregiver Support Group

– meets monthly and assist the caretaker of the child abuse victim in gaining the needed support to find a sense of security and understanding from the abuse the family unit has endured. Participants talk about coping skills and support one another. This support group is facilitated by the Family Advocate. Prior registration is needed to attend. Please call (706) 245-8700 to register or for additional information.

Teen Sexual Assault Risk Reduction

– an educational group for Teens that have been victims of sexual abuse. This is a six session group workshop that helps teens understand how their past victimization can put them at risk for being re-victimized in the future and how to prevent future victimization. Sessions guide teens through recognizing dangerous situations, making choices, understanding sexual assault, removing yourself from dangerous situations and knowing who good advisors are. This group meets two-three times a year and is used as a summer workshop for teens. Prior registration is necessary to attend. Please call (706) 245-8700 to register and to see when the next class begins.

Nurturing Parenting Program

– an innovative approach designed to provide comprehensive family based parenting skills. Parents and their children participate in a group based and/or home based classes taught by our facilitators. The Nurturing Families program is provided to clients with children in all age ranges. Each lesson plan is guided by the families need which they help to identify.

The program is based on the following six assumptions:
The family is a system. Involvement of all family members is essential to change the system. Parents and children in the program participate together in group or home-based interventions. Empathy is the single most desirable quality in nurturing parenting. Empathy is the ability to be aware of the needs of others and to value those needs. When empathy is high among family members, abuse is low. To some degree, all families experience healthy and unhealthy interactions. Building positive, healthy interactions between family members is an important key to reducing family violence. Learning is both cognitive and affective. To be effective, education or intervention must engage the learner on both the cognitive (knowledge) level and the affective (feeling) level. Children who feel good about themselves are more likely to become nurturing parents. Children who feel good about themselves are more capable of being nurturing sons and daughters and of becoming nurturing parents than children with low self-worth. No one truly prefers abusive interactions. Given a choice, all families would rather engage in happy, healthy interactions rather than abusive, problematic ones. Nurturing Parenting is offered in both in-home and group form.