Howard County's Healing Service


4/12/2012 10:13:00 AM

Rabbi Sonya Starr, the Howard County Board of Rabbis, The Shofar Coalition and the Jewish Federation of Howard County are hosting a program that needs your attention and attendance.
It is called "Listen, Believe and Respond, a Jewish program of healing for trauma survivors and the entire Howard County community."
It is going to be held on Sunday, April 22, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center, 5885 Robert Oliver Place, Columbia, Md. 21045.
A healing service in this sense offers survivors of abuse, sometimes sexual molestation, to tell their stories in a series of short presentations.
What these healing services really offer is the proof that your friend, your relative, your neighbor, anyone who might have crossed your path in your life could be a survivor of trauma. The speakers prefer to be called survivors instead of victims, because a survivor is someone who started as a victim, but is now empowered to move forward with their lives.
Perhaps, though, the most important aspect of the healing service is what happens after the speeches by survivors are delivered. The Howard County Board of Rabbis, Shofar Coalition, and the Jewish Federation of Howard County will make trained clinicians available to anyone who has something deeply private and personal they want to tell.
Statistics vary. We hear, though, that one in every four females will experience sexual harassment or molestation by age 18. The number for men is one in seven.
For many people, it's just too difficult to tell someone the situation that might have lasted for less than five minutes, but has endured for years in their lifetimes.
We encourage everyone who has an interest to come to the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center. Even if it's just for information.

 

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