If your child has a forensic interview appointment at Safe Shores:
Safe Shores is located in the former Bundy School building at 429 O Street NW. When you arrive at Safe Shores, you will be greeted warmly by a member of the Client Advocacy team. You will be brought to the playroom, a welcoming space for children to color and play with toys and puzzles while awaiting the forensic interview.
As the child is getting settled in the playroom, the Client Advocate will make sure you are comfortable and will be available to answer any questions or concerns you may have. The Client Advocates are also available to walk you through the forensic interviewing process and provide you with a tour of the space if you so choose.
Your child will be talking to a Forensic Interviewer, a specialist who is trained to gather factual information from children in an unbiased, child-friendly manner. The Forensic Interviewer is trained to remain attuned to your child’s needs and comfort throughout the interview. A few members of our multidisciplinary team (MDT) will be watching this one-on-one interview in the next room via a closed-circuit television. Their observation of the interview allows the MDT to partner together on your child’s case without your child having to go to several locations or tell their story multiple times to different people.
Safe Shores recognizes that abuse affects the entire family. Our Client Advocates can help connect families with resources and services to address your family’s immediate needs in an effort to re-stabilize and heal after abuse has occurred. Following your child’s interview at Safe Shores, your Client Advocate will follow up with you and is available to continue to provide services, as needed.
If your child has a therapy appointment at Safe Shores:
Safe Shores is housed in a former school building filled with child-friendly art and atmosphere. When you arrive at Safe Shores, a child and adolescent therapist will greet you and meet with you and your child to gather initial information, make you comfortable, and answer questions or concerns. The information gathered is to help our therapist’s create individualized sessions specific to the need of the child. Our therapists use Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) through a variety of techniques such as talk therapy, play therapy, and art therapy. You will be able to wait in our comfortable waiting room just outside of where your child will be meeting with their therapist.
