Hepzibah House
Moving Beyond the Horror of Human Trafficking
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Research indicates that a pimp, a gang or the mafia is controlling 90% of women who are commercially, sexually exploited. These women have no control over resources, and 92% would leave if they had somewhere to go. The most significant issue for a woman escaping sex trafficking is housing. With no capital, no resources, and no way to rebuild without external intervention, these women are isolated, homeless, and powerless to improve their circumstances. Most women require some type of outside intervention to start over – with safe and supportive housing often being the limiting factor. Every sex trafficking survivor deserves the opportunity for a fresh start and assistance processing the trauma (often beginning with family of origin abuse), PTSD, anxiety and depression resulting from the devastation of their experiences.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Restoration Program
A multi-faceted residential treatment facility for women rescued out of human trafficking. Providing necessary resources for healing, including meeting physical needs as well as spiritual, emotional, and mental needs through a trained therapeutic team.
A large percentage of women rescued out of human trafficking have family histories of complex trauma, abuse and domestic violence. Successful therapeutic intervention must address the larger picture. Dealing with the trauma, both from family history as well as the trafficking experience is the main focus in terms of mental health.
Awareness Program
In these efforts, we have worked with eleven survivors since 2011, who have left the life. In 2014, we had almost 30 speaking engagements, adressing professional women's groups, churches, youth groups, nursing training programs, police academy trainees, continuing education for law enforcement, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Florida International University, Palm Beach State College, Kaiser University and Palm Beach County's john school, called Prostitution Intervention and Prevention Education.
Our programs for survivors of sex traffikcing and sexual exploitation include:
Mental health and trauma counseling
Group therapy and support
Career counseling and assessments
Job search and placement assistance
Mentoring & tutoring
Referral services to other programs such as Dress for Success, Palm Beach State College, CareerSource, The Lord's Place, etc.
Our awareness program includes speaking engagements to various groups addressing these topics and more:
Modern Day Slavery, 101 (Basic introduction to the topic, addressing international, national and local realities)
Mental Health Issues Regarding Human Trafficking (Addresses vulnerability factors, trauma bonding, and traumatic sequalae)
Red Flags That May Indicate Human Trafficking (Markers that may indicate trafficking and best practices for how to respond)
Ten Things YOU Can Do (Ideas on how regular mortals can make a difference for this issue)
Minors in the Crosshairs (Looks at statistics regarding trafficking of minors, internationally and in the US, developmental markers that are disrupted and realted problems resulting from abuse)
Healthcare Providers & Human Trafficking (Gives markers specific to a health care provider setting, with best practices responses)
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The goal is to offer recovery, restoration and release to women escaping sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation by offering them housing, food and clothing as they exit “the life.”
Most women require some type of outside intervention to start over – with safe and supportive housing often being the limiting factor. Every sex trafficking survivor deserves the opportunity for a fresh start and assistance processing the trauma (often beginning with family of origin abuse), PTSD, anxiety and depression resulting from the devastation of their experiences.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Hepzibah House offers a safe house – addressing their homeless status – mental health counseling, trauma therapy, and donated health care services to assist women in their restoration process. These services help them transition from victimhood to survivor, to overcomer and eventually, to victors over their pasts. Our housing program provides a safe place to live, a safe and supportive community of other survivors, a caring staff and dedicated volunteers.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
A housing facility that can host up to four residents. We not only offer shelter but also food, clothing, hygiene products, referrals to health care services, free mental health counseling and job skill training through baking organic dog treats "Zibah Treats for a Cause".
We supplement donated healthcare services from several Palm Beach County sources to assist survivors in rebuilding healthy, productive, and independent lives.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since we received our non-profit designation Fall, 2011 we have provided mental health counseling, trauma therapy, group counseling, career counseling and life and job skill training, referrals and mentoring to 50+ survivors of sex trafficking. In November of 2015, we opened a four-bed safe house with a 12 to 18 month long program for women, giving them a chance to process the trauma and rebuild their lives.
Last year alone we provided roughly 350 hours of therapeutic counseling services, 140 hours of job and life skill training, and 30 awareness and training events. We were featured in five print articles, four TV News clips and one TBN interview for “Joy in Our Town”!
We created a social enterprise called “Zibah Treats For A Cause” hiring women coming out of life to bake organic, non-GMO animal treats as part of our life and job skill training program as well as to create a sustainable funding stream for Hepzibah House.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Hepzibah House
Board of directorsas of 07/02/2019
Mary Rebecca Dymond
LMHC
Mary Rebecca (Becky) Dymond
Paula Mantrozos
Palm Beach Atlantic University
Brenda Smith
Dick Smith Home Inspections
Todd Stube
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes