A front door with the words "welcome home" painted on the outside.

Courage House

Courage House is a long-term, trauma-informed therapeutic residential home for minor female victims of sex trafficking.

It is a place of restoration.

What is Courage House?

Courage House is not just a structure or a building, a program or an approach; it is a place where hope is given, healing is offered, and lives are restored. It is a community of girls and young women who not only share a similar past, but now share the common purpose of finding their true identity and fulfilling their destiny while embarking on a journey of healing.

Our Program Design

We offer a comprehensive, culturally-relevant, holistic approach, encompassing each resident's own unique physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Each campus is a safe house—a community where survivors can learn to be a family, and how to have and participate in healthy relationships.

Each resident creates a Unique Life Plan with her counselor, designed to provide the survivor with a say in her future, an individually designed pathway toward healing.

Physical

Physical health is a vital element of the Courage House program which empowers each resident to regain control of her own body, while teaching and encouraging healthy choices. Recreation, physical fitness, nutritional are all intentionally factored into daily programming and greatly contributes to stabilization of trauma symptoms.

Emotional

Every hour is intentionally therapeutic at Courage House and is designed to provide each resident with the tools they need to begin their own unique journey of healing. Consistent, best practices in trauma therapy aid residents in managing their emotions and reaching their own emotional health goals. Multiple therapeutic modalities, designed for adolescents with complex trauma, are utilized.

Mental

Complex trauma makes it extremely difficult to learn and retain information. Many residents feel a sense of failure in this area of their lives. Courage House programming offers residents onsite academic classes designed individually to accommodate their learning style, grade level and goals for the future while working at their own pace.

Spiritual

The spiritual component is a faith-based track of the Courage House program that is voluntary and provides residents with a mentor for those who request spiritual counseling. The therapeutic program also has a faith-based component that helps residents seek answers to difficult questions like “Why did this happen to me? Why didn’t God intervene?”

I've been very impressed with the design for expanded treatment programs having to do with CWW for trafficked adolescents. I can truthfully say they are one of the most well designed therapeutic environments I have worked with in the area of human trafficking. Their extended family approach and focus on personal responsibility, while in a supportive environment, is cutting-edge in the industry.

Dr. Benjamin Keyes, PhD, Ed.D. Director for the Center for Trauma and Resiliency Studies, Executive Director of Green Cross Academy of Traumatology at Divine Mercy University

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Courage Worldwide has established a long-term therapeutic residential care home model for sexually exploited adolescents and young adults that meets and even exceeds standards for best practices in the industry. Their outcomes are extraordinary with this population and are now documented as part of a five-year longitudinal study measuring the effects of the Courage House program.

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Dr. Vanessa Snyder, PhD, LMFT, CST, Dean of Clinical Affairs, VP Institute of Trauma & Recovery; Richmont Graduate University

But Does It Work?

Courage House is designed as a long-term program, a minimum of 12 months, to provide extensive, daily, trauma-focused services. The need for long-term treatment is due to the severity of trauma and manipulation each resident has experienced. This level of exploitation takes an extensive amount of time to work through and overcome.