Harmony House Children’s Advocacy Center
Contact Information:
Name of Program Funded through UW: Community Education Coordinator
Contact Name: Rita Coyne
Phone Number: 304-230-2205
Email: [email protected]
Website:harmonyhousecacwv.org
What is Harmony House?
The mission of Harmony House, Children’s Advocacy Center is to reduce the effects of abuse on all children, as well as individuals with developmental disabilities, their families, and the community by serving as a community resource to facilitate identification, intervention, and the prevention of child abuse. Harmony House, as a Children’s Advocacy Center, envisions a world where the abuse of children, as well as those with developmental disabilities, does not exist.
How does United Way support Harmony House?
Programming includes both internally and externally developed and researched-based presentations and sources. These can be presented to many different populations related to the field of safety and the well-being of the children in our communities.
Body Safety Education Offerings include:
• Body Safety Basic Skills – Harmony House developed a program designed to discuss and develop a basic understanding of body autonomy, respecting physical boundaries, and developing and implementing safety rules for each child.
• Empower Me Curriculum – Researched-based program by Gundersun and the Jacob Wetterling Research Center to teach children to develop appropriate body safety rules and boundaries.
• Second Step – Evidenced-Based program by Committee for Children to utilize best practice principles of repeated lessons regarding education and practice on body safety and appropriate skills. *Currently utilized in partnership with school systems/agencies who have purchased the program.
• Challenging Situations – Harmony House developed a program to discuss and teach skills related to appropriate communication, boundaries, and other social skill building. The program also addresses difficulties commonly faced in families (ie. Drug endangerment, mental illness, or family separations, etc.) and teaches protective factors for assisting with these experiences.
• The Basics of Consent – Harmony House developed a program to discuss and teach an understanding of consent across several settings with a primary focus on dating relationships, the legal definition of consent, and teaching appropriate communication and refusal skills. This program provides interactive examples to engage students in practicing skills learned throughout the program.
• Awareness and Understanding of Child Trafficking – Harmony House program to discuss common myths around the topic of Trafficking of minors and develop a better understanding of this often misunderstood and continually growing topic in social awareness.
Check out our other member agencies and learn more about their programs here!
About the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley
The United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley supports Ohio County, Tyler County, Marshall County, Wetzel County, Brooke County in West Virginia, and Belmont County and Monroe County in Ohio. Donating through your local United Way is the best way to reach the most people in need.
The United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley is an organization that supports nonprofit organizations in our area through annual campaigns, payroll deduction fundraising efforts, and individual donations. These community-minded people combine donations from employees and businesses alike to help assist those who need it most. The support from the annual campaign is then allocated to nonprofit programs through our volunteer allocations panels. We support 40 programs (and counting) in the upper Ohio Valley that tackle the toughest needs in the Ohio Valley. Consider giving to the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley today.