EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Borderland Rainbow Center offers support for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies in El Paso. Thanks to a grant from the Department of Justice they will now be offering therapy for victims of sexual assault or anyone dealing with sexual trauma for free.
“Anyone who has experienced sexual abuse. It could be by a parent it could be by a stranger it could be sexual assault, really anybody it doesn’t matter the age we serve everybody,” said Victoria Doster the Program Director Borderland Rainbow Center.
The $50,000 grant is funded by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. The grant allows for anyone in the community dealing with sexual trauma to receive counseling. Alleviating the out of pocket costs for those who qualify.
The grant is also allowing the Borderland Rainbow Center to hold multiple work shops focused on cultural healing rituals to help with further healing.
“We have Danza, we have curandismo, we have limpias, we have deaf arts we have writing work shops and african druming work shops,” said Doster.
The work shops are open for anyone within the community. The first one will be two parts held in December. They will be focused on healing the body through art and photography.
Victims can also receive traditional therapy sessions and the Borderland Rainbow Center says one of the most popular forms of therapy is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing psychotherapy or EMDR. This type of therapy helps those struggling with sexual trauma.
“It targets and focuses on those nuero pathways that were maybe surppressed with things happening in the past. EMDR lights those neural pathways up so someone can process this,” said Doster.
All of these services are now free through the grant if you qualify and are for everyone in the community not just members of the LGBTQ + community.
To apply to receive free counseling or to sign up for future workshops you can visit https://www.borderlandrainbow.org/.
