AFTERCARE PROGRAM

The Aftercare Program at Project Return began in 1994 in an effort to address the growing need for an emotional, financial, and practical system of support and guidance for residents once they have left Project Return. Most girls entering Project Return come having survived traumas such as physical and emotional abuse and/or neglect, sexual abuse, the loss of one or both parents, depression and suicide, and eating disorders. We work with them to help them heal, grow, and live healthier in every way.

However, once they leave Project Return they are often faced with little or no family support, no affordable place to live, and the continued burden of coping with their past traumas. The Project Return Aftercare Program, the only one of its kind in the state, offers them six months or more of continued counseling, crisis intervention, support groups, financial assistance, and educational/vocational guidance.

Aftercare Support

Each girl who leaves Project Return is offered a weekly counseling session with a designated staff member who becomes her personal aftercare worker. This worker stays in close connection with the past resident for six months. The purpose is to help each girl solve problems and to give her support for functioning at home or in her new environment. This counseling is used to help her transfer her growth at Project Return to the larger world. An average of four girls graduate from the Residential Program every year and are eligible for Aftercare support.

Ongoing Connections and Support

In addition, Project Return has a designated Aftercare Coordinator who fields the numerous weekly phone calls and emails from past residents and monitors the well being of the girls who have left Project Return and no longer have the benefit of an Aftercare worker. She also organizes Alumni Support Group meetings; visits residents; attends showers, funerals, and weddings; provides crisis intervention; and gives practical advice and encouragement.

Many of the girls need an anchor/support person to provide them with informal counseling and resource information. Some of the girls use this support on a regular basis, while others are in contact for specific needs or just to say hello and stay connected. Our alumni that make use of this therapeutic, "parental" involvement continually remind us of how necessary this continuted contact is to their confidence and growth.

Special Needs Fund

Our Aftercare Special Needs Fund also offers financial assistance, both loans and gifts, to newly independent girls. It has helped with tuition payments, car emergencies, medical crises, and apartment security deposits. This fund gives the girls a financial safety net yet is structured in such a way that it encourages self-sufficiency and fiscal responsibility.