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Laura's House Programs That Serve the Entire Family
Domestic violence can have a devastating effect on the entire family.

Counseling & Resource Center

Living with years of abuse can cause severe trauma. With continued hope and assistance from professionals, families can start to heal and rebuild their lives.

Domestic Violence Resource Center (DVRC) Services

The Domestic Violence Resource Center provides a variety of opportunities for therapeutic support and healing. These services are available to men, women, and children who have been impacted by domestic violence. Counseling is provided in English, Spanish, or Russian. Fees are based on a sliding scale to ensure that no one is turned away because of the inability to pay. Childcare is offered Monday – Thursday, 2-8 pm.

In order to participate in Individual Therapy or an Advanced Group with Laura's House, one must have completed the Personal Empowerment Program (PEP) first.

 

Our offices

Our Offices located in Aliso Viejo and Garden Grove
Click here to see Location details.

Contact

For more information or to schedule an intake appointment at the Counseling and Resource Center, please call (949) 361-3775.

We offer the following services at our locations:


Individual, Child, Couples and Family Therapy

Individual Therapy - Brief psychotherapy (12 sessions) in a “one-on-one” setting designed to address and support personal goals stemming from intimate partner violence. Individual sessions may focus on safety planning, reducing symptoms associated with PTSD/anxiety/depression, building self-esteem, and empowerment, or exploration of choices regarding abusive relationships.

Child therapy - Child therapy is offered to children 5 years old and up. Children often experience difficult and complicated feelings due to witnessing or experiencing abuse in the home. Offered individually or conjointly with siblings, child therapy serves to facilitate the identification and processing of feelings in a safe, non-directive manner. This is often accomplished through therapeutic play and art therapy interventions.

Couples Therapy - When safe to do so, couples therapy assists in creating healthier ways to relate and improves the quality of relationships. Couples have the opportunity to establish better-coping skills, new communication styles, and conflict resolution techniques that are necessary to avoid abusive interactions. *Therapist will need to assess before initiating couples’ therapy.

Family Therapy - Serves to address the pervasive family dynamics and roles that continue to exist whether the abuser is still physically a part of the family or not. The parent(s) and children will often benefit from sessions designed to alter old patterns and create new roles (along with communication styles) that are healthy and safe.

 

Group Therapy

Personal Empowerment Program (P.E.P) - A 10-week psycho-educational group aimed at increasing awareness of the emotional and physical dangers involved in abusive relationships. Each week highlights a particular aspect of abuse in relationships. Topics include: Defining intimate partner violence, PTSD and Stockholm Syndrome, boundaries, the effects on children, the legal system, denial, red flags, healthy relationships, codependency, and safety planning. The goals of PEP are to educate participants on domestic violence/abuse, increase awareness of individual roles in abusive dynamics, offer social support, and learn tools to stop the cycle of violence in one's current relationship and/or family. The Personal Empowerment Program is offered at Laura's House Counseling and Resource Center and Domestic Violence Advocacy Center for women, men, and Spanish-speaking individuals. PEP is endorsed by the court and is extremely beneficial to anyone who has been victimized by domestic/intimate partner violence.

 

Advanced Groups

Codependency Group - Considered an advanced level of the Personal Empowerment Program, this is an 8-week psycho-educational group designed to help participants understand what codependency is, how it relates to intimate partner violence and how to let go of codependent patterns. Topics include: Identifying and establishing boundaries, uncovering learned codependent behaviors in family-of-origin, healthy communication, and becoming aware of self-defeating thoughts that perpetuate unhealthy relationships.

Self Esteem Group - An 8-week psycho-educational and interactive group. Topics include: Understanding the basic tenets of self-esteem, learning the techniques to help cultivate self-esteem, integrating practices of healthy self-esteem into your daily life, and discovering an internal sense of personal power.

Parenting after Abuse - An 8-week psycho-educational group designed to specifically address those parenting questions and concerns when intimate partner violence is involved in the family.

Dating After Abuse - An 8-week psycho-educational group with the aim to help participants identify unhealthy patterns of dating and develop new, healthy dating practices. The group will address these questions: How will I know if I'm ready to start dating? How can I avoid getting into another abusive relationship? Why do I seem to attract abusive partners?

Healing is My Choice - A 12-week process group for sexual abuse survivors. The focus of the group is to process emotions related to the effects of sexual abuse in a safe, supportive environment. Participants will learn relaxation techniques and other coping skills in an effort to move forward.

Experiencing Life with Assertiveness - A 4-week, psycho-educational group with the aim to increase assertiveness. Topics include communication skills, goal-setting, mindfulness, and overcoming fear and anxiety stemming from uncertainty.

Grief and Loss Group - A 6-week psycho-educational group with the aim to address and process feelings, thoughts, and emotions of loss. Loss can take many forms - loss of self, relationship with spouse or partner, relationship with children, role as a mother or father, loss of childhood if one was exposed to domestic violence in their youth, etc. Different types of loss (applied to the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) will be addressed in the group.

 

Workshops

Boundaries - A workshop to address why boundaries are an important part of healthy relationships (including the relationship you have with yourself.) Through round table dialogue, the facilitator will explore real-life examples of challenging situations where boundaries are tested. Participants will receive tips and tools to apply healthy personal boundaries to even the most daunting situations.

Addressing Anxiety - A workshop devoted to education about the effects of anxiety as well as opportunities to develop tools to combat stress in the mind and body. The experiential portion of this workshop aims to provide complete relaxation for the participants as one learns to cope with worries and fears.

Altered Book Making

Goal Setting

The Art of Letting Go

Parenting

Creative Arts

Groups and workshops are offered continuously or intermittently depending on the needs of our clients. New groups and workshops may be introduced while others are on hold. For a current list, with dates and times, please contact the Domestic Violence Resource Center (DVRC) at 949-361-3775 or click here.

 

Healthy Families for Healthy Communities

At Laura’s House, we recognize that healthy communities begin at home. We have developed a three-part series to help families in our communities create a healthy family dynamic that will work no matter the make-up of the family. The series focuses on identifying generational patterns, assessing areas for growth and building safe communication practices. Each class not only instructs but gives easy to apply principles that can be incorporated into any family dynamic.

During COVID-19, we are offering these Sessions both via Virtual Workshop * See dates posted on our Event Calendar and via the links below.

Session 1 - https://bit.ly/2SibEYX
Session 2 - https://bit.ly/3cOT3vA
Session 3 - https://bit.ly/2VL8eA7