About Our Services
Our customized programs are designed to provide complete support for all survivors, regardless of race or gender.
Practice Makes Purpose Curriculum
All Dorothy’s House participants follow Practice Makes Purpose. This curriculum helps individuals understand and apply universal concepts that shape decision-making. Practice Makes Purpose takes a holistic approach and incorporates foundational lessons around self-care, emotion regulation, beliefs, values, relationships, identity, and more. Rather than addressing isolated aspects of life, it connects eight universal principles to every area of daily life, equipping participants with lifelong tools to build the futures they want.
The curriculum is particularly useful to individuals with significant trauma, addiction, and patterns of unhealthy relationships. It guides each participant to examine his/her past to understand how it led to the present. Then it empowers every participant to choose a new path and take ownership of the future. Practice Makes Purpose includes thorough assessments that pinpoint areas of need and measure growth and progress over time.
The assessments are paired with goal-setting tools that help participants establish what they’re working toward, and break big goals down into manageable, weekly tasks. Practice Makes Purpose begins with the end in mind. It coaches participants to imagine the change they want, and then take the necessary steps to achieve and sustain that change.
Our Program
Our residential program is a rigorous three-phase program designed for women over the age of 18 who are ready and willing to affect change in their life. The duration of each phase is not predetermined and is based on achievement and experience. It can take a participant up to two years to move through all phases.
Phase I: Recovery provides participants a safe place to explore the decisions that created vulnerability in their lives and help them change in those areas. They are able to focus entirely on their challenges and building the tools that will help them manage their trauma triggers for the rest of their lives.
At the facility, care coaches walk alongside each survivor through all aspects of her individualized program, including the Practice Makes Purpose curriculum. The curriculum, with assessment tools entwined, generally takes about nine months for a survivor to move through to build a better life for herself. Dorothy’s House works with each participant to determine the ideal length of her residential treatment.
During this first phase, a participant can expect to build safety, do addiction treatment, improve physical and mental health and engage in a variety of life and job skills with a focus on PATTERNS of self care.
Phase II: Transitions is for participants who successfully complete our Recovery Phase. After achieving certain milestones, participants continue working on specific curriculum suited to their specific needs and gain further independence as they begin to practice personal and professional skills development.
Phase III: Front Porch is the final stage where participants move into independent subsidized housing and establish their independence in the community. With continued support from our staff, they put their newly established skills to the test in real-life situations.
We work with survivors of human trafficking to regain custody of their minor children during Phase II and III. However, minor children are not allowed in the Recovery Phase of programming.
Programming and services are unique to the needs of each individual and include, but are not limited to:
- Access to addiction treatment
- Access to traditional therapy and medication management
- Non-traditional therapeutic programming (equine coaching, writer’s workshop, music, art and crafts)
- Life-skills coaching
- Nutrition and wellness
- Access to ongoing education
- Job skills training
- Legal aid
- Financial literacy training
- Mentorships and relational skills training
- Recreational activities (bike riding, knitting, sewing, music lessons, etc.)