The Sexual Assault Resource & Counseling Center of Lebanon and Schuylkill Counties has more tools to help youngsters, as it has received a $74,000 grant to combat child sexual abuse.
“I am elated,” Executive Director Jenny Murphy-Shifflet said Thursday about the money, which came from the Endowment Act Fund established as part of the settlement of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State University.
Murphy-Shifflet said the money will be used to help victims in Lebanon and Schuylkill counties overcome the trauma of sexual abuse, and that unconventional but effective methods will be funded.
“I know that specifically ... there will be dogs,” she said. “The dogs help calm our clients.”
The $74,000 is part of $3.4 million approved by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency from the fund. The commission distributes that money, which comes from the $48 million in penalties imposed on Penn State by the National Collegiate Athletic Association as the result of Sandusky’s sexual abuse of boys before and after he was an assistant football coach.
“It was a very competitive process,” said Murphy-Shifflet, who added that she did not expect to get the money.
Murphy-Shifflet said using the dogs will help the children. She said the dogs lower blood pressure and make the children more comfortable.
Additionally, she said the children will be able to read to the dogs, who will be a source of great comfort in several ways.
“They will be there to cuddle, to hug and to make safe,” according to Murphy-Shifflet.
She said using dogs is more than just a method to use for comforting children.
“Animal-assisted therapy for trauma survivors has been used primarily with veterans,” Murphy-Shifflet said. Therapy animals have been shown to lower anxiety, increase trust and provide a supportive and loving environment, she added.
She said money from the grant also will be used to help fund a child advocate in Lebanon County, two SARCC staff members and therapists. The therapists will help children who need extra support in integrative therapeutic interventions, including ones in community settings such as churches and schools, according to Murphy-Shifflet.