Surviving to Thriving was an amazing experience for my daughter and I. It taught us various skills and provided us tools, it helped us connect with others that have been through similar experiences, and it allowed us to bond together as a family. That is why I would highly recommend this program to any other family that is mending and learning to reconnect after overcoming domestic violence.

Throughout the program both of us were taught and equipped with various skills and tools to help us overcome and cope with the past traumas that we experienced due to domestic violence. As a mother and single woman, I was taught the importance of self compassion, self love, and self worth. I was given the skills and tools to learn to take care of myself and my mental health and I was shown that it is okay to make sure that I was strong and healthy in order to be able to be strong for my children. To this day I still have my positive affirmations on my mirror as a positive reminder that I am strong and beautiful and every day is a new day. As for my daughter, she learned a large amount of coping skills that she has even taught her friends. She now spends her time drawing to express her emotions, she also learned to start writing about her feelings. She has cards from the program as little reminders as to which activities that she can do when she is distressed. She taught her best friend the breathing techniques that she learned in class and she even uses them herself to calm down, which is incredible. The amount of skills and tools learned and given to us in this program exceeded all of my expectations and we are both extremely grateful for them.

Also, by participating in this program both my daughter and I were able to connect with other people that have been through similar experiences. Personally, I am very timid when it comes to going out of my way to meet new people. I would never have found a way to connect with such a strong and wonderful group of women and children on my own. There are no words to describe the sense of security, comfort and understanding that I discovered when talking about my past experience with the other moms. It created a deep bond between us when we were able to ask each other and the group leaders questions about parenting or life in general after our traumatic experiences. I was able to learn a lot of information for myself and my daughter that I wouldn’t have be able to on my own. As for my daughter, she is even more timid than myself. So, when she met children that went through similar experiences so was extremely happy and excited to spend time with the other kids. The most comforting feeling in the world is knowing that you are not alone and without this program my daughter and I would not have been able to know the comfort of meeting others that have been through the same situation and see that they are also learning to reconnect and bond.

Along with bonding with new friends I was able to connect and bond with my daughter. Surviving to thriving taught my daughter and I how to express our emotions in a healthy way. This helped us grow our bond together because we were able to discuss difficult topics together without our emotions taking control of us. For example, after the groups my daughter I would sit down together and talk about some of the things we learned and then, whatever memory it triggered, we would draw out pictures together to help express our feelings about it. Another way that we bonded through group was that everyone would meditate together. To this day my daughter and I still meditate together, every night, before bed. Overall, the program helped us grow closer, connected more emotionally, and become a stronger mother daughter team.

Overall, our time in the program was amazing. I would love to thank Gillian’s Place for offering such a helpful program and all of the kind hearted, warm and welcoming staff that took the time and effort to put everything together. They made use feel safe, welcomed and treated us like family.  We were truly blessed to be given the opportunity to participate in this program. We would definitely attend this program again or any other program that helps women and children like us because it truly made a difference in our lives. 

Me and my Daughter are really Thankful to all the Staff of Gillians Place for arranging this program.

I would recommend more Women to attend this program and gain more confidence and start loving their family and  themselves more day by day.

Overall the 8 Week Journey from Surviving to Thriving was Worth attending.

All the Beautiful Mothers, came out more happy and confident.

The Mother and Children bond became more Powerful, in the process, providing the Love, Support and Encouragement needed to overcome the Challenges along this Beautiful Journey, called

Life.

Surviving to Thriving is a powerful concept that represents the transformation from a state of mere survival to a state of flourishing and thriving in life.

It usually refers to individuals who have experienced some form of trauma, abuse, or hardship and are working towards building a better future for themselves and their families.

With the help of the Staff of Gillian's Place, Me and my Daughter built a Bond or rather a Strong Bond, to provide Emotional Support and encouragement.

We both gained more confidence, started loving each other more,

We got to connect with more Families who were going through the same hardships.

We discussed the abuse , traumas and domestic violence that we all went through.

Kids were connected to each other, they had different activities to do every week.

My little one used to look forward to attending  every week.

I have a plethora of positive things I could say in regards to the experience that the surviving to thriving program has brought to our lives. My daughter and I have both made close friendships within the program and have grown closer together than we have been in a long time. Going through a battle in your home like domestic violence can truly feel isolating for everyone in the family, but this program has made us feel much less alone, and it truly feels like coming to meet family every Monday. I loved watching my daughter learn so many skills to benefit her healing process, and I can't thank the staff enough for providing the positive lessons, motivating chats, fun games and crafts that we've done with the children, and resources and coping skills that we have learned along the way. We truly appreciate the staff from Gillian's Place for allowing my daughter and I to participate in such an amazing program, and we hope that more women and their children that have experienced domestic violence in their home have a chance to take part in such a fantastic opportunity for bonding, support, and growth. (Not to mention the amazing food, snacks, raffles, dance parties and fun!) 

Thank you so much again for everything. You have saved my family more than once in countless ways & this program was one of the best bonding and supportive experiences I could have asked for. 

Forever grateful. 

I just wanted to thank you to all the wonderful ladies that put this group together.  It was a eye opener for myself. I learned different  Techniques on how to breath though my anxiety attacks. What is a healthy way of living after going though something that wasn't good. 

Thank you.

From the bottom of my heart. 

"My son and I have been attending this mom and child therapy group for moms and children, who have been victims of domestic abuse. We really enjoyed the sessions that help me support my kids through this trauma. Getting to see other family's who have been through it. Helps them to no feel so alone. We all really enjoyed that dinner was provided. The gift certificates and prizes were a really great bonus to attending. Domestic abuse has effected our financial situation greatly. So getting gifts to do mindfulness activities was really meaningful to all of us."