Next up in our “Meet the Charities” series is The Centre for Treatment of Sexual Abuse and Childhood Trauma. Therapy can be a fantastic tool for empowerment and to gain control over your life, as anyone who's been can attest. Shout out to those of us in therapy.
Whether you’re going to tackle your trauma, learn your attachment patterns, or develop healthier coping tools, the results of therapy done right can be life-changing. Therapy helps people live their best lives, have fulfilling relationships, and tune into joy.
Less Money, Longer Wait Times
Like many things in life, it’s easier if you have money. For people who have the funds for private therapy, the process can begin quickly with a diversity of therapists to choose from. The reality is a bit more complicated if you are low-income. The waitlists for free or low-cost therapy can take years to waft through and once you are matched with a therapist they usually only offer a limited number of sessions.
This prevents people from getting the support they need when they need it. Free or low-cost therapy is often not trauma-informed which is crucial for low-income people, since they experience higher rates of mental illness and trauma. In many ways poverty itself can be traumatic. These types of complex issues cannot be fully addressed in six sessions. Using a modality that doesn’t match a patient’s lived experience can be ineffective or in the worst case negatively affect their mental health. Low-income people deserve someone who can be in their corner while they work through their pain.
How the Centre for Treatment Helps
The Centre for Treatment patches a crack in our current mental healthcare system. They don’t let anyone fall through the cracks. They offer trauma informed individual therapy with sliding scale options available. We would like to highlight their Trauma Processing Group Therapy program today.
This program is a game changer because it offers a 14-week group therapy program at a very low cost compared to prices for sliding scale therapy. Participants can work through their trauma with people who can understand. There is a women’s, men’s, and an LGBTQIA+ group available so everyone can feel seen.
We need more services like this. Because of high-demand, the program faces longer waitlists like many low-cost therapy offerings. Their participation in this year’s HOPE Volleyball SummerFest will give them the funds to expand their program to cut down on wait times.
Keep an eye out on our social media and blog for upcoming features of our other two recipient charities.
