It has been five years since Pathway started its metamorphosis from a conventional homeless shelter to a trauma-specific homeless ministry.
The challenge facing our ministry is that we cannot find anyone else doing what we are learning to do.
Without the benefit of case studies or lessons learned by other providers, we soon found that treating homeless people with trauma is a trial-and-error process requiring agility and frequent evaluation.
Multiple studies over 15+ years have consistently documented evidence of high levels of repeated trauma within individuals and families who are homeless. But none of these studies produced actionable ideas that could be used to help the homeless.
The reality is that every client is different, and every trauma is different. Therefore, "cookie-cutter" solutions are ineffective for trauma or homelessness.
Our metamorphosis became an ongoing process of listening, learning, collaborating, evaluating, and then adjusting. Every client’s situation tests what we know, and their story challenges us to be more compassionate.
Every year we invest more resources into training our staff to deepen their understanding of trauma and of human flourishing.
We tried several different trauma programs, yet none of them seemed to be what our clients needed. Being a homeless trauma survivor presents layers of problems that most other trauma survivors never experience.
To address this need, we developed two different trauma healing programs that are specifically designed for homeless trauma survivors.
Opening Pathway Village in 2023 created a whole new level of complexity for our trial-and-error process. Homeless parents and homeless children all have different needs and challenges.
Parents in these traumatized families have never seen what a healthy parent-child relationship looks like. We had to find ways to treat the parent’s trauma and help them build parenting skills.
We discovered there were twice as many parents on our campus who were separated from their children than there were parents here with their children.
We developed a Strong Families Program that serves all the parents on our campus. The program treats the parent’s trauma, builds family skills, and prevents childhood trauma.
Treating traumatized children presents many unique challenges. The techniques used to treat adults will not work with young brains that are not fully developed.
But God provided opportunities for training, information, and community partners to help 207 children have the safety, stability, support, and positive experiences that they need to thrive.
All of these experiences, together with our training and our prayers, have helped us reach a place where we can now address cognitive restructuring.
God created our brain with the capacity to rewire itself.
Our staff was recently blessed with scholarships for training in how to help our clients with cognitive restructuring. We can now begin to guide our clients through the transformative experience of renewing their minds, as in Romans 12:2.
We are constantly making improvements to our programs and services as we learn more about human flourishing, post-traumatic growth, and cognitive restructuring. But we understand that the Great Physician is the only one who can heal the wounds of trauma.
Our ministry exists to offer life-changing support through the transformative grace of Christ. It is truly amazing to see God at work on our campus as the brokenhearted are healed and families are strengthened.
Our goal is to equip our clients to overcome homeless by building functional lives. The only way to achieve that goal is to help them become thriving members of our local community.
Your support of our ministry gives our clients the time they need to treat their trauma, renew their minds, build a functional life, and overcome homelessness.
You are making it possible for our clients to receive trauma therapy, biblical training, life skills training, work skills training, and the multitude of services they need to address the root causes of their homelessness.
You are helping us transform the homeless into an asset for our community.
Every year, we have 100 clients join the workforce as our ministry adds five million dollars of economic contribution to our community.
We love celebrating when a former client:
God really does heal the brokenhearted and helps them have an abundant life. We are blessed to be a small part of what He is doing in the lives of homeless trauma survivors.
We are so thankful for everyone who has helped us through this process with prayers and financial support. You made all of these changes possible.
You helped elevate the lives of hundreds of people from Greenwood and Abbeville County.
Thank you for making a difference in our community!