The annual Child and Youth Protection Catholic Leadership Conference brings Safe Environment and Victim Assistance Coordinators together to hear updates, ask questions and learn from one another. The speakers and resources this year inspired us to make these commitments:
- Become “Where to Begin”
We were humbled to hear Kathy Damman, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, share her story. She recalled a point in her journey where she was ready to seek healing, but didn’t know where to begin, where to turn first. Journey to Bethany wants to be known throughout the diocese and in the mental health provider community as a place to begin a healing journey. We’ll do this by broadening our services list and becoming active in those communities.
- Make Trauma Recovery Therapy Easily Accessible
The recognition of the lasting impacts of childhood trauma and therapies focused on recovering from trauma are changing the way survivors can be cared for. We learned from Fr. Kenneth Schmidt with Trauma Recovery Associates and are working to integrate resources for this work into our services list.
- Connect Others Who are Providing Healing Resources for Survivors
We are fortunate to have resources, great minds and talented people dedicated to healing in our diocese. We met people from around the country who are taking steps to provide healing resources, and we’re connecting people from around the country on a monthly Zoom to learn from one another. We hope this will bring care and peace to more survivors, more quickly.
If you can help us fulfill these promises in any way, we’d love to hear from you. Watch for updates on our progress.
