Glenna Phelps-Aurich, Executive Director of the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, (right) presented SARA House with the Business of the Week Award. Receiving the honor were Paulina Fix, Jacque Morse and Executive Director Paula Bragg..
….SARA House started in April 2007 by Paula Bragg who is the founder and executive director. SARA House started as an anti-sexual assault center providing confidential support services for adults, and within months Paula was asked to consider opening a child advocacy center.
…Until SARA House there were few local resources for sexual assault survivors and no specialized services for child victims of sexual assault and child physical abuse.
…The SARA House Child Advocacy Center provides services for children and youth who have experienced sexual assault, child abuse, and/or have witnessed other violent crimes.
…Their service area is the Thirteenth Judicial District which consists of seven counties in the northeast region of Colorado-Morgan, Logan, Washington, Yuma, Phillips, Sedgwick, and Kit Carson. Office locations are in Fort Morgan, Sterling, and Yuma. All offices are fully functional with family rooms, forensic interview rooms, observation/meeting rooms, and medical examination rooms.
…SARA House was accredited through the National Children's Alliance in 2011 and received re- accreditation in August 2021. In 2021 an addition to the Fort Morgan office was built, Polli’s Place, to enable forensic interviews, forensic medical examinations and family advocacy for two families simultaneously.
…SARA House was founded to provide a child/family-friendly, safe and neutral environment where police investigators and detectives, social workers, mental health therapists, forensic interviewers, and medical professionals can talk with children and their families.
…The facility is child and family friendly and provides surroundings that lessen the anxiety of child victims/witnesses to crime. Children and youth who have been sexually or physically abused can tell their stories to trained forensic interviewers, undergo comprehensive medical forensic examinations performed by trained sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE), and receive trauma-focused therapy.
…Although SARA House does provide services for children of younger ages, typically services are offered for children ages 3-17, as well as developmentally disabled adults. Specialized services for adult victims include emergency financial assistance, specialized forensic medical examinations that include strangulation assessment, victim advocacy/support and forensic interviews.
…Additionally, SARA House provides support groups, bi-lingual outreach and advocacy, trauma-focused therapy, mobile advocacy, emergency financial assistance, prevention education in schools, community outreach, information/referrals, and training for law enforcement, departments of human services, hospitals and medical clinics, and nursing homes.
…SARA House has also been actively involved in training law enforcement and community partners on human trafficking with the goal of establishing a district-wide task force to address this issue in Northeastern Colorado.
…SARA House offices are located at 119 North Front St. in Sterling, 418 Ensign St. in Fort Morgan and 910 South Main St. in Yuma. Call them at (970) 867-2121 or go to their website at www.sarahouseco.org.
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SARA House
Our Business Of The Week
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