Advocacy center moves to own location | State and region

Beckley’s Just For Kids Children’s Advocacy Center is moving to a new location which Chief Executive Scott Miller hopes will be a more welcoming and calming place for the children it serves.

While renovations are still underway, Miller said they will be moving from their current location in downtown Beckley to the historic Ambrosia Inn on North Kanawha Street.

The Just for Kids Advocacy Center and its partners are the first responders in Raleigh and Fayette counties to reports of child sexual abuse and child abuse.

It offers advocacy, counseling and a child-friendly environment for counseling and therapy sessions to help children and families deal with the trauma of abuse.

Miller said the center’s offices are primarily used to interview children who may have been abused.

He added that their former location, above a bank on Main Street, was not an ideal setting for the work they do, as studies have shown that children can be traumatized just by walking into a building. office building or a building with an elevator.

Describing the new locations as “a beacon on the hill”, Miller said he hopes the former bed and breakfast will exude a more intimate vibe and be seen as a safer place for children to open up about their traumas. .

He added that the two acres of land surrounding the house will be another added benefit for the organization.

Once renovations are complete, which Miller said will likely take place in February, the hostel will be renamed “Trudy’s House” in memory of Trudy Laurenson, a pioneer of the West Virginia child advocacy movement who died in 2021.

“It was (Laurenson’s) dream for us to have a house,” Miller said. “We have another location in Oak Hill, and it’s in a house and the staff there have seen a difference. . . the children really feel more at ease there.

Miller said the first floor is where the majority of their services will be provided.

In describing the layout of the first floor, Miller said the front door will open into a large open waiting area. Then on the left, in a room with bay windows, will be the games room.

Next to the game room will be a councillor’s office.

Continuing down a hallway past the waiting room is a kitchen.

Miller said they plan to keep the kitchen as it is for the most part, although it probably won’t get much use.

The space to the right of the kitchen has been converted into two rooms side by side.

Miller said one room will be where interviews with children will be conducted while the other room will be used by law enforcement and child protective services officers to monitor the ‘interview.

In an average month, Miller said he conducts between 30 and 40 interviews per month.

The top two floors of the house will mainly consist of offices.

Somewhere on the pitch, Miller said he would also like to set up a therapeutic garden as well as a small outdoor play area.

Between buying and renovating the three-story home, Miller said he estimates the total cost will be around $400,000, which will require community support.

He added that they have already raised nearly $200,000 and that he plans to launch a fundraising campaign soon to raise a total of $500,000 for the project.

“Almost half of our funding we need to increase,” Miller said. “We get state and federal dollars, but we also need community support, and we have amazing communities.

Miller said he plans to hold a grand opening for Trudy’s House in April, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.


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