For Mikaela Gavaletz, the Healing at Home program gives children the voice she didn’t have as a child coping with the trauma of sexual assault.
“It’s important to me because I’m a survivor,” Gavaletz said.
Housing with the Healing at Home program is subsidized by the Sexual Assault Resource and Counseling Center (SARCC), which provides resources to sexual assault survivors in Schuylkill and Lebanon counties.
Gavaletz, who is vice chair of SARCC's board, spoke in Tamaqua on Wednesday, as health providers, lawmakers and community leaders celebrated the opening of two new houses for survivors and their families in Schuylkill County.
Micah’s House opened last year and construction on Clarissa’s House is expected to be completed by this summer, according to SARCC President/CEO Ali Perrotto.
The ribbon-cutting was held at Tamaqua’s Hope & Coffee to keep the safe house locations anonymous for residents’ safety.
'I had nobody to talk to'
Gavaletz understands that need for safety. She said a family friend assaulted her as a youth, and the fallout in her life was significant.
“I didn't talk about, y’know, my trauma as a young teen, being sexually assaulted in my own home … I didn't tell my mother until nearly 40 years later … I was scared [of the consequences of telling my family].”
Growing up transgender in Pottsville in the 1970s, Gavaletz said she felt she didn’t have many options for counseling or social support to turn to.
After moving back to Schuylkill County from California 15 years ago, Gavaletz said she was dismayed that “the needle hadn't moved much in the way of drop-in centers or counseling centers.”
She advocated for change through Youth Empowerment & Support, a foundation she founded to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth.
“It would have been nice to have a place to go for counseling or … advocacy … I had nobody to talk to, so becoming a part of SARCC was special to me in that way,” Gavaletz said.
Each location can house four
The first of the new Healing at Home houses is named after Micah Gursky, a board member and Director of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, which sold the property to SARCC at a reduced price. Clarissa’s House is named after Clarissa Geary, an advocate for children across schools in Schuylkill County.
Each location can house four people, including a survivor’s family members, which Perrotto said is especially important for young survivors.
Without that support, Perrotto said parents may be put into a position where they have to find new housing without the financial means.
“That kind of pressure around economic stability increases risk for recanting, which is when the child says, ‘No, I'm just kidding. That didn't happen to me.’ Which is incredibly common with child sexual abuse cases,” said Perotto.
SARCC has seen an increase in housing needs over the last five years.
“COVID brought out a lot of the cracks in our systems and our communities. We saw [an] increase in disclosures around childhood sexual abuse and referrals to SARCC services. And one of the things that we found was that housing was a significant barrier to kids being safe, to families being safe [and] to survivors having the ability to participate in healing services,” Perroto said.
Hundreds of cases per year
Last year, SARCC served 570 victims of sexual violence. Over 200 of those cases dealt with children under 18, Perotto said.
The agency has up to $50,000 a year to subsidize housing by survivors’ financial need, and Perotto hopes they will find additional funding. Survivors can live with SARCC from six to 24 months.
She hopes to open three additional homes in Schuylkill and five in Lebanon County, which would each be dedicated to one of SARCC’s values. Micah’s House is dedicated to SARCC’s ‘Prevention’ value and Clarissa’s House to ‘Advocacy.’
Gavaletz added the program will support people at a high risk of sexual violence, including victims of violent crime, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ population and individuals in recovery from substance use disorders.
If you or someone you know faces sexual violence and lives in Schuylkill or Lebanon counties, call SARCC’s 24/7 hotline at 570-628-2965.
