Years and years of violence in the home has a lasting effect on the mind and body, not to mention other family members within the home. Origin recently served a client that left her violent home roughly four months ago. Her home was built from an abusive marriage that spanned more than twenty-five years. For multiple decades, she battled sociocultural expectations, which limited her ability to walk the path to a brighter future. Origin stepped in and helped. When our counselors in the Family Violence Intervention Program first met with her, she presented debilitating symptoms of trauma, depression, anxiety, and panic. Again, we ask ourselves how any individual can have a good quality of life while dealing with these debilitating factors and their basic needs (safety) being non-existent? Over time, our counselors worked with her to develop new coping skills using visualization exercises and grounding techniques to control her panic symptoms. Through psychoeducation skills, she learned about the cycle of violence, power and control, and the many ways that the impact of abuse manifests in our lives. That impact can be physical, emotional, psychological, social, or economic. Our team remembers asking her at her first counseling appointment, "What words would you use to describe yourself"? Her response was silence. For the past twenty-five years, her violence within her home had completely disassociated her own sense of self and identity. While walking alongside our team just this past November, she was able to step outside of her abusive home and never look back. She secured her own apartment, gained new employment, and gained enough insight and confidence in a brighter future that she realized she had aspirations to be a social worker. We are so proud to report she was recently accepted into Trident Technical College's Human Services Program and will have her first day in the classroom this May!
To learn more about Origin's Family Violence Intervention Program, click here
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