Counseling
Counseling Services for Victims of Domestic Violence
Life Span’s approach to ending domestic and sexual violence is a nationally recognized model that provides safety, empowerment and a lasting solution.
Adult Counseling
Life Span believes that when given correct information, and a safe environment to ask questions and learn about resources, a client becomes their own best advocate and develops a safety plan that fits their individual situation.
The goal of Life Span’s Adult Counseling services is to help victims create a safety plan, to educate them about all available options, and to empower victims to reach their own goals. These services restore power and choice to the victim, allowing the victim to choose when or if they leave the abuser. Through individual counseling sessions, experienced counselors provide clients the opportunity to share their experiences, explore their options, support their choices, and develop their potential.
Life Span does not provide therapy. The reason for this distinction is that the word “therapy” is borrowed from a medical model that diagnoses a physical or emotional disease or disorder, which requires cure or treatment. We do not consider abused victims to be sick or disabled. In situations where clients may need more intensive addiction or mental health services, we will refer them to other community agencies that have demonstrated expertise in these issues.
Adult Support Groups
Life Span offers time-limited, issue-focused groups to address specific concerns expressed by clients, such as self-esteem, divorce, separation, parenting, and issues faced by new immigrants. Groups are offered in English, Spanish, and Polish.
Teen Counseling
Life Span’s Teen Counseling Program offers intervention services to teens experiencing domestic violence at home or dating violence in their own dating relationships.
Being exposed to violence between their parents can be a terrifying experience for young people. For teens that have experienced domestic violence, Life Span seeks to help them feel safe in counseling sessions so they can address those experiences and come to terms with them. We also seek to help teens develop a safety plan for themselves if they still live in a home where domestic violence is present.
For teens experiencing dating violence, we provide counseling and crisis intervention. The focus is to help restore power and choice to victims. We help teens create a uniquely tailored safety plan that includes getting an order of protection, collaborating with school staff to ensure safety and creating a plan to leave the abusive relationship. Restoring power and choice to the victim also means allowing the victim to choose when to leave, and supporting them with counseling until they are ready.
Teen Outreach Program
Life Span’s Teen Outreach Program addresses the broader issue of prevention of violence in our society by educating teens on how to construct nonviolent solutions to problems. Life Span’s Teen Program is offered in host schools serving the northwest suburbs and in Chicago. The program is staffed by two counselors who work with a teen audience. The counselors have developed an extensive curriculum with experiential activities to reinforce the messages of non-violent conflict resolution, healthy relationships, and positive role models. Our prevention work has two goals: to teach teens to avoid or escape abusive relationships and to help teens build healthy relationships. Life Span is dedicated to preventing teens from being victimized by abusive relationships.
Services are offered in two formats: classroom workshops and group work, which we provide in the schools. Classroom workshops are conducted by two teen Life Span counselors and are ideal for health, marriage and family, and self-defense PE classes.
Group work consists of groups conducted at school during the school day. The content is similar to the workshops, but the small group setting gives teens feel safe to explore the issues above in both past and current relationship.
Children’s Counseling
Life Span’s experienced children’s counselors assist children whose parents are victims of domestic violence and who themselves are engaged with a Life Span counselor. Our children’s counseling services teach children nonviolent self-expression and conflict resolution skills. The goal is to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of violence and address the trauma children have experienced. In some cases, Life Span staff will work jointly with both children and parents in family sessions.
Children’s Group Counseling
Group counseling sessions for children focus on the same goals as individual counseling, but are offered in a structured, time-limited format.
DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE END HERE