Walking Together: Support for Survivors of Family Violence

Walking Together was established in 2003 as an outreach program of the Samaritan Counseling Center. The program helps to meet the Center’s mission of providing quality education and consultation services. Since it inception, the program has expanded to provide trauma training and consultation on a regional basis to clergy and congregations; hospitals and medical practices; and business and organizations. It also provides general educational workshops on trauma and violence prevention to community groups, individual consultation, and coordinates the Lancaster County Family Violence Resource Network, a multi-disciplinary open forum that meets four times a year.

Scroll down this page or click the following links to learn more about Walking Together services:

Clergy and Congregations
Our Safe Church initiative offers an array of resources to judicatories, clergy and congregations to prevent abuse, respond to victims and perpetrators, reduce risks, and create environments characterized by inclusiveness and safety.

• Developing Safe Church policies, guidelines and practices to reduce risk
• Recognizing and responding to domestic violence in the congregation
• Recognizing, responding, and reporting child abuse in the congregation
• Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Empowering adults and children through education
• Pastoral Care of Victims and Offenders
• Integrating a convicted sexual offender into the congregation: Best practices
• Broken Boundaries: Congregations healing in the aftermath of sexual abuse or other trauma

Hospital and Medical Practices
We provide staff education, clinical training and consultation for health care systems and medical practices on implementing and sustaining domestic violence screening programs. Our services are customized to meet your needs, and are based on national consensus guidelines, research validated tools, and best practices.

• System and staff assessments
• Staff Education on the dynamics of domestic violence
• Clinical Training on screening and response
• Consultation on development of protocols and guidelines

Businesses and Organizations
Domestic violence impacts 1 in 3 women in her lifetime. There is a compelling business reason to focus on it in the workplace: the impact walks right in the door with affected employees. The high health care and diminished productivity costs employers $3-$5 billion each year.

• Workplace safety: Because Domestic Violence Doesn’t Stay at Home
• Training for managers and security staff
• Developing Employee Awareness and Assistance policies
• Reducing the risk of child sexual abuse for business and organizations working with children

For information on these workshops, please click here.

For more information, contact Linda Crockett at lcrockett@scclanc.org or via phone at 717-560-9969.

Family Violence Resource Network (FVRN)
The FVRN meets four times a year. It serves as a forum where participants learn about upcoming events, new programs, trends, and current issues in the community related to family violence. Participants include clergy, medical caregivers, therapists, congregational leaders, survivor-advocates, and representatives from the legal community and social service agencies. Participants share expertise from various perspectives and personal experiences in order to gain a broader understanding of the issues faced, the range of resources available, and to educate each other about appropriate responses to trauma.

The FVRN meets from 10 AM – noon on the 3rd Wednesday of January, April, July, and October. A light networking lunch follows the meeting.

To receive meeting notices or to subscribe to our electronic newsletter, contact us by phone at 717-560-9969 or by e-mail at lcrockett@scclanc.org.

FVRN Summer 2010 Newsletter

FVRN Spring 2010 Newsletter

FVRN Winter 2009 Newsletter

FVRN Fall 2009 Newsletter

FVRN Summer 2009 Newsletter

FVRN Spring 2009 Newsletter

FVRN Winter 2008 Newsletter

FVRN Fall 2008 Newsletter