Laura’s mother had experienced something similar in her own childhood, and healing and justice was not available to her as a child. She wanted something different for her daughter.
Together they called 911 and were transported to the Brooklyn CAC. Since the responding officers had alerted the Detectives at the CAC, Safe Horizon staff were expecting the family and greeted them by name upon their arrival. A Safe Horizon Clinical Forensic Specialist accompanied the family throughout their stay at the CAC, providing support and what to expect for the day and the weeks to come. The Clinical Forensic Specialist referred the mother to Safe Horizon’s Immigration Law Project, where they helped her apply for special Visa available to survivors of crime.
Laura and her mom completed a trauma screening and went on to participate in the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI), a brief, evidence-based intervention used to dramatically reduce trauma symptoms in child survivors and strengthening communication between the child and caregiver. During treatment, the family was able to gain an understanding of Laura’s trauma reactions and how they impacted her daily living, and together, along with the Clinical Forensic Specialist, developed coping strategies that ultimately allowed for Laura to no longer experience trauma reactions.
After CFTSI, Laura told the Clinical Forensic Specialist that she finally felt normal, like before the abuse. The mother was referred to the Safe Horizon Counseling Center, where she reported being able to speak for the first time about the abuse she suffered as a child, and process it in a healthy, healing way.