Services Provided by Zacharias Center

If you have been sexually assaulted or sexually abused, Zacharias Center’s services can help you in your journey toward healing.  Confidential, nondiscriminatory, and free, our professional staff guides you through the healing process from victim to survivor. You can receive the following services:

 

Counseling

To allow you to heal from the trauma and to lessen your risk of future victimization, our counselors use a client-centered approach to create an empathic relationship with you.  Our goal is to give you a safe place to connect with and explore your feelings.

  • Available to sexual assault/abuse survivors of all ages and their non-offending loved ones.
  • Individual and family sessions in English or Spanish, as well as sexual assault and incest survivor support groups, provided by professional (Master degreed) Zacharias Center staff.
  • Crisis Intervention Services 
    • Zacharias Center’s crisis hotline is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
    • Provides victims of any kind of sexual abuse, and their family members with supportive listening, advocacy, information and referral services

Children’s Program

Your child’s painful transition from victim to survivor can be eased by a Zacharias Center counselor.  Your child’s counselor will help her/him: learn to trust and how to be safe, find a vocabulary for her/his feelings, empower her/ him with this new voice, and develop various coping mechanisms.

Individual and group counseling for children is available to:

  • Child sexual abuse survivors 3-17
  • Siblings and non-offending parents

In addition to individual therapy, the Sexual Assault and Incest Survivor Support Group helps with your child’s transition to survivor.

Parent Support Group

The pain of childhood sexual assault and abuse not only affects your child, but you as well.  If you are experiencing painful and challenging parenting situations, Zacharias Center offers you emotional support, advocacy, and education.     

Services:

  • Are available to non-offending parents and family members 
  • Help you understand your role in your child’s recovery
  • Address issues regarding abuse and court procedures

Advocacy

You are not alone.  Zacharias Center trained volunteers are there to listen and offer support to you, as well as provide information and referrals. As you move through the medical and legal systems, Zacharias Center will accompany you and your family. 

You can receive medical/police advocacy at every hospital emergency room and every police department in the county.  On your behalf, court advocates will attend legal proceedings of your sexual assault case and provide emotional and educational support.

Advocacy services are:

  • Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
  • Available in English or in Spanish

Professional Training

If you provide direct services to sexual assault survivors or work with survivors (i.e., emergency room and hospital personnel, police officers, court and State’s Attorney’s Office staff, fire department staff/paramedics, emergency medical services personnel, educators, social workers, or human services providers), Zacharias Center’s professional training program can educate you on how to give compassionate and sensitive support to victims of sexual violence.   
                       
If you would like to know more about Zacharias Center’s professional training, or to schedule training for your organization, please call (847) 244-1187.

Community Education

Your Child

Whether your child is a pre-teen, teenager or college student, she or he must be able to recognize and respond to dangerous situations. To meet that goal and our community’s expanding safety needs, Zacharias Center’s culturally diverse staff provides vital, real world information presented in a non-judgmental, individualized manner using up-to-date material.

Child Assault Prevention (CAP)

  • For children preschool through eighth grade.
  • Available in English and Spanish to Lake County schools.
  • Teaches children to recognize a manipulative relationship prior to its becoming abusive and to report it to a trusted adult.
  • Trains adults on how to respond to a child in this particular crisis.

Teen Assault Prevention (TAP)

  • Topics include: Date rape, dating violence, gender equality, risk reduction, self-defense, and dispelling myths about sexual assault.

Risk Reduction Programs

  • For women 13 and older of all sizes and abilities.
  • Offered to individuals, organizations, and businesses
  • Topics include: Sexual assault awareness, self-confidence, and self-defense strategies

Youth Allies C.A.R.E. (Creating A Rape Free Environment) for young people ages 14-19

  • Young people work directly with Zacharias Center’s professional staff and adult volunteers in truly meaningful and inspiring ways
  • Provides young people with opportunities to volunteer and fund raise, while developing leadership skills and receiving prevention awareness information

Your Community

As part of a community, you want to make a difference.  One way to contribute to a healthy community is through educating yourself about sexual assault and abuse. 

Zacharias Center’s educational services are:

  • Available to clubs, religious groups, corporations, and other organizations
  • Topics include: Adult sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape trauma syndrome, child sexual assault, incest, prevention, and Zacharias Center’s services

Judith Dawn Memorial Fund for the Arts

The Judith Dawn Memorial Fund is a scholarship for the pursuit of artistic endeavors offered to sexual assault and sexual abuse survivors. Learn More