We are currently moving our office, but our services and service area will remain the same. During this transition, if you need immediate 24-hour domestic or sexual assault crisis support, please call +1-804-612-6126. All other customer-related inquiries should be directed to our primary intake number, +1-804-362-6835.
We have moved our office, but our service area remains the same. If you need immediate 24-hour domestic or sexual assault crisis support, please call +1-804-612-6126. All other customer-related inquiries should be directed to our primary intake number, +1-804-362-6835.
Lawson Craighill works with kids and teens who've experienced domestic and or sexual violence. As one of Thrive's child counselors, Lawson decided to pursue her master's in clinical mental health counseling after working in a shelter in DC and seeing not only the need for, but the lack of accessible services. The fact that Thrive Virginia has built our domestic and sexual violence program around equality and accessibility was one of the things that drew her into the organization. Lawson admits that her role at Thrive Virginia can be intense at times, but feels lucky to do such incredible work.
How does trauma impact developing brains?
“Trauma is one of those things that kind of impacts the entire person emotionally, mentally, physically. As psychology and counseling have grown and evolved, we're really learning more about how it impacts the body and how it impacts a growing and developing brain and body.”
Thrive Virginia does incredible work in our communities. One of the things that attracted Lawson to her role at Thrive Virginia is that they prioritize kids the same way they prioritize adults. There is a lot of support specifically from a domestic violence standpoint
Lawson is a child counselor on the violence intervention side of things, providing counseling to kids who've experienced domestic or sexual violence. Thrive Virginia also has clinicians that work with adult survivors and a case manager there to support adult survivors.
Prevention is key:
Thrive Virginia also has clinicians that work with adult survivors and a case manager to support participants. While we work primarily with women, it is important to note that men do experience domestic and sexual violence.
“At Thrive Virginia, we have a prevention side providing education and facilitating dialogue about the dynamics of domestic and sexual violence, how to work with survivors, how to be trauma informed. In school we educate on the importance of healthy relationships and LGBTQ+ support groups. So, there are many exciting and important things we do not only to support adults and kids who’ve experienced violence, but also work to prevent that violence in the first place.”
Confidential support is imperative:
Our confidential 24 hour emergency hotline
for domestic violence support is 877-966-HELP
This number is not only for people experiencing domestic or sexual violence but also survivors that may need support. If you are in our
service area, someone from Thrive VIrginia is available to help depending on what you are experiencing at the time- whether it is safety planning or an exit strategy,
“… anything that you need at that moment, we're here to help you. We can help you through this moment and then we can start the process for getting counseling or case management.”
How much are you seeing social media tie into mental health issues with the kids that you're working with?
Social media is everywhere. TikTok is the big thing right now, but there are always new platforms. Kids are getting phones and access to the internet and social media earlier and earlier, and as the internet grows, The content and ease of access to just a world of information grows.
“It can be super confusing for younger kids who may be struggling and looking for information or just looking to make connections…we're starting to see how this inundation of content about mental illness or various diagnoses or kind of trauma dumping that exists a lot online. And with things like TikTok where you can just consume video after video, it does start to take a toll on the brain, and it does make it difficult to understand your own experience.”
Is there an impact on the sleep cycle?
“Absolutely. 100%. it's everything from the blue light of a device to the type of content you're watching and the way it stimulates your brain.Engaging with this stuff that could be high intensity is the opposite of what you wanna do, and it can take your brain a lot longer than you think to come back down to a place where a good night's sleep is gonna be a possibility.”
Can you tell us a little bit about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scores?
ACE it's a survey and you can go through and ask questions about all of these various things that someone may have experienced. So it can be anything from have your parents gotten divorced to, did you experience sexual abuse or repeated sexual abuse.
“It is a pretty large range, but at the end, once you calculate those scores, we're able to see risk factors for health problems and social emotional problems. I think this goes back to how much we're learning about trauma and how we're learning how trauma not just impacts the mind, but impacts the body.”
ACE scores represented one of the first times that counselors were able to see tangible evidence that experiencing trauma as a child can really spike your risk factors, not just for emotional issues in the future, but physical things like heart disease, stroke and similar health risks.
How are you able to see kids while they are in school?
Thrive Virginia partners with most of the schools in the area in our counties, and with that partnership, we're able to come into the schools and provide this therapeutic service.
“I've worked in a variety of communities, in a variety of capacities, but no matter what, accessing mental healthcare can be tricky for whoever you are, whether it's finding a provider that works with your insurance or having insurance or having enough money to pay out of pocket if you don't have insurance. There are a lot of things that need to fall into place in order to access services.”
Thrive removes so many of those barriers, especially for our kids. First and foremost, our participants are not paying for our counseling services. Transportation is sometimes an issue, so going to schools removes that barrier.
How do I get care for my child or a loved one? Is there a qualification/vetting process?
All of our information is on our website-
ThriveVa.org
the best way to get more information, the best way to get involved to start asking and receiving services is through our website or giving us a call.
Again, there is a 24 hour confidential line and that's 877-966-HELP
To donate to Thrive Virginia, please
click here
Thrive Virginia uses person-centered and collaborative services to empower those fighting poverty to achieve individualized prosperity and community connections.
Our NEW Address:
211 Rocketts Way
Suite 200
Henrico VA 23231
Phone:
804-362-6835
Domestic Violence
Hotline:
877.966.4357
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