| - | Here is the PBI Survivor Fund Project update by Jim Crites, now being caleld the Healing Team.:“Healing Team” RoleIn December, Mark Maxwell, PBI’s President, sent out a Christmas letter to alumni referring to the recent events regarding abuse allegations at Prairie. He offered several options by which survivors could find help moving toward healing. These options are:1. A group of alumni / former staff kids who are prepared to listen to survivor stories and provide support through their journey. Contact: prairiealums.healing ( at) gmail (dot) com.2. Talk to an independent third party, Centre Street Church in Calgary, where counseling staff are prepared to listen and give professional advice on steps to move forward. Contact: .3. Talk to the RCMP. (Three Hills detachment).The purpose of this document is to clarify the role of the alumni “healing team”.SUMMARY1. The alumni healing team came about because a group of alumni who care about the hurting wanted to find practical ways to help. We suggested to the Prairie leadership team that survivors who come forward may require some financial help with counseling, travel, and other resources such as abuse recovery workshops, reading materials and other media. The fund was approved by the PBI leadership, allowing donors to make a contribution and receive a tax receipt. It is by design an alumni-driven and alumni-administered plan. We are aware that some survivors will not feel comfortable sharing their stories to current Prairie staff members, so the hope is that a group which is at arm’s-length from Prairie will be seen as safer.2. The team desired two outcomes.a. Healing for survivors.b. Justice for perpetrators, where possible3. The roles of the team are:a. Listen to stories of survivors, should survivors choose this avenue.b. A group of 2-3 people within the larger group, responsible to distribute the funds.DETAILS1. The intent is to use the funds to help survivors of sexual and physical abuse which occurred in the context of Prairie life by someone connected to Prairie, such as a staff member or student.2. The funding is not being distributed by PBI. PBI will give us access to the monies donated and we will submit expense receipts back to PBI for proper accounting and auditing purposes. PBI will not be given the identities of the survivors without the permission of the survivor.3. The team is comprised of volunteers who love people, have a heart to help the wounded, and understand Prairie’s sub-culture. A number of us are abuse survivors. Our role is to simply listen to stories as fellow Prairie staff kids and alumni. It is not to provide counselling or legal advice, though we are likely to direct survivors to those resources as we listen to their stories. In short, this is really about relationship, much like we would offer to a friend in crisis. Survivors are welcome to share their story even if they don’t happen to need funding.4. This is a voluntary service; team members receive no remuneration from PBI.5. A survivor who chooses this avenue for help may contact us by sending an email to prairiealums.healing (at) gmai; (dot)com. We will match you with someone who will walk with you on your journey, most likely someone of the same gender. Once a relationship is established, the parties involved are free to decide for themselves how they want to communicate. So far, we have used Facebook, Skype, email, telephone, and personal visits.6. All stories will be held in confidence; the Prairie leadership has not asked us to pass on the names of survivors, unless that survivor wants their name revealed.7. We will submit expense receipts to the Accounting Department at Prairie. If a survivor is referred to a professional counselor or chartered psychologist, we will probably coordinate direct billing from the counselor.8. Survivors need to tell their own story, not someone else’s.9. We do not plan to coordinate our efforts with the leaders of any particular survivor groups. Let me explain why. There are several groups of survivors out there, connected in various ways. There are also individual abuse survivors connected to no group at all – more in this “category” than those who belong to an identified group. We have no intention of causing offense by that decision, nor is it a purposeful attempt to shun anyone. But we have chosen to offer our help to the broader community of abuse survivors. Some of us were connecting with survivors several years ago, long before the original “I was a Prairie staff kid” Facebook page was started last summer. As we are all volunteers with jobs and families and limited time, we are unable to coordinate this as an effort geared toward one specific group. In all we are doing related to survivors, we are also committed to not neglecting our spouses and children. In our care of others we will choose to remain healthy ourselves for the sake of others.10. There may be survivors who want to tell their story to a staff member or power that be directly “at PBI.” We are not “at PBI” nor part of PBI. In that case, we would probably forward their email to someone at PBI and ask them to respond. How they do that would be up to them. On the other hand, if a survivor with whom we are walking decides that another step in the healing process is to contact PBI and wants our support, we’ll do our best to go with them, set up a conference call, or whatever is practical.11. We cannot speak for Prairie’s administration as to how they are handling this situation or that of any individual survivor they may be aware of. That’s up to them and does not fall within the role we have decided to fulfill.12. We are not interested in further debate with survivor groups about the merits of what we’re offering. We want to focus our time and energy walking with survivors who do choose to talk to us. We realize we’re probably strangers to some survivors, so if some people are not comfortable talking to us, they should feel free to choose a different avenue for healing. We are ordinary every day people just like yourselves. We don’t bite, so we would welcome your contact and will feel honored if you allow us to be part of your journey.We hope this explanation explains our vision and role, and thank the PBI community for your support and encouragement. We value it very much!
| + | Flowers in the Attic- VC Andrews, Great series! It's about well, I don't relaly want to give it away, but it's about these children locked away in an attic VERY dysfunctional family issues.My Sweet Audrina- VC Andrews, A stand alone novel. It's one of my favorites and fits into your category greatly. Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay AsherRunaway-?, A good, quick, read.The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold, A MUST read.The Almost Moon-Alice SeboldLucky- Alice Sebold, A story Alice Sebold wrote about her ****. I could probably go on forever, except I can't remember anymore Happy New Year! |
