The South Central Child Advocacy Center collaborates with various mental health agencies to assist children and their families with the healing process. The Bridging Program is a unique program that personally reaches out to the victims and encourages the caregiver and child to come in for treatment. The treatment process consists of 5-8 sessions that focuses on preventative care and uses evidence based treatment methods. These sessions focus on helping the child find ways to manage their symptoms as well as assisting their parents throughout this process. The “Involvement of Family and Friends” principle is an aspect that is essential to the work done at the Bridging Program because of the significant role that a family plays in the victims’ lives. Incorporating the families into the treatment plan is a vital component for providing the child with a solid foundation that is necessary for their recovery process. When a child is a victim of abuse, their families struggle too. Providing these services to the entire family is a way to ensure that recovery is occurring in all aspects of the victim’s life.
“It is important for a caregiver to be involved, most importantly for the child’s recovery, but also the parents recovery as well.” -Kristen Hammel, LCSW, Trauma Services Coordinator
