Trauma victims tend to keep repeating the same destructive patterns without any conscious awareness.  They have difficulty regulating their emotions, which interferes with their ability to problem solve, resolve conflict in a healthy manner and communicate their needs effectively.

For these children to heal, they must understand their emotional reactivity and learn good decision-making and problem-solving skills.

White Fields uses the Sanctuary Model ®, which is a full system approach to helping traumatized children heal from their previous life experiences. The Sanctuary Model ® seeks to develop an organizational culture that embodies seven unique characteristics:

• Establishing a culture of nonviolence
• Teaching and modeling affect management skills
• Building and modeling cognitive skills
• Creating and modeling a community of self control, self discipline and healthy authority
• Overcoming barriers in healthy communication, reducing acting-out behaviors and enhancing self-protective and self-corrective skills 
• Rebuilding social connections and healthy relationships
• Restoring hope, meaning and purpose to each child

These characteristics are combined by teaching the residents and the staff to  implement the Safety, Emotional Management, Loss and Future (SELF) concepts.  This unique approach allows the community to grow together and be seen as a supportive system to help children heal from their traumatic pasts.  Along with this model, the boys will learn mediation skills to improve their ability to resolve conflict appropriately. 

For more information on our programs or the professionals we work with, call Mary Jones, executive director, at (405) 302-5123, or e-mail her by clicking here.