Our Clients:
For more than 10 years, La Rosa Family Services has been helping abused women in the Houston area heal their emotional scars and psychological trauma by treating these women as survivors and not victims. "For a decade, this invaluable facility has been a valuable source of support, education and services essential for overcoming domestic violence." -State Rep Kevin Bailey The La Rosa method works principally through the family matriarch, the "spoke" of the family wheel and the person with the greatest stake in seeing change. Once a client realizes she is the matriarch, she uses her strength to fuel positive changes in her family.
La Rosa has recently begun reaching out to at-risk teens. By working with teens on correcting ill patterns of behavior that lead to domestic violence and providing both the mother and teen with encouragement and empowerment, La Rosa is able to help each family walk away from the domestic violence in their lives. "We help our clients realize they possess strengths they were not aware of - power, fortitude, and control over the quality of life in their homes." -Founder Candy Perez Johnson With the staff being bi-cultural and bilingual, La Rosa clients feel welcomes, safe, and at home. La Rosa offers dignified help without making the client feel intimidated or degraded.
Testimony of Marcia
A La Rosa Client Since 2005
I want to tell you about the hell I once lived. My husband constantly yelled at me, cursed me, and would even throw dishes at me...and he did this to me in front of our 2 daughters. My mother-in-law lived with us and she treated me the same way.
I was so depressed that my hair started falling out. I was very nervous and would scratch myself so hard that I would bleed all the time. The abuse got worse at night. He was violent when we had sex and constantly forced me to do things against my wishes.
I was so afraid of him because he threatened to take my daughters away from me. He would poke me in the eyes on purpose, so hard that I would scream. When my father had a stroke and I said I wanted to go see him, my husband started accusing me of terrible things. I did not have money to go see my father. But by then, I had started going to the La Rosa support group. I started getting stronger - because of the support group, the support group leader would tell me: "You can make it, Marcia! You can make it!" Finally, I was able to see how strong I could be, how smart I am, and how many talents I have. It was great to realize that my husband was not Superman.
Testimony of Alana
I am so glad that God has created organizations like La Rosa. I trust them to understand my needs in my horrible situation. I am a victim of domestic violence. During my 6 years of marriage, every night that my husband came home my children and I were in danger. I had to call the police very often because he was abusive and my children were always crying.
In Christmas of 2004, Tom was very drunk when he hurt me just because I asked him to stop drinking. He went into the kitchen, grabbed a meat mallet and hit me with it several times. When he saw how scared the children were, he kicked the Christmas tree and all the children's presents. My oldest daughter got the other 4 children to our van and we took off. We were so scared because we knew he was going to hit us harder. Since I had no money for a hotel, we spent Christmas in our van parked in a residential subdivision.
My heart was so broken. I didn't know why I stayed with him. Many things were in my mind. It was that night that I realized I was alone; I had no family or friends to turn to for help. I knew then that I needed to find help. That night I decided I would look for help. I had nowhere else to go in the morning so I had to return home.
In January of 2005, I had to call the police again because Tom was being very abusive again. This time they took him to jail. The police office gave me several phone numbers to call about domestic violence. I called some of them but only La Rosa answered in Spanish and that gave me trust. The lady I talked to on the phone was named Renata. She was very nice and very professional. She was very prepared to answer the large number of questions I had. Then I immediately started going to the support group.
Every time I went to counseling I started to understand that my life could be different and happy without violence. I know I will never go back to my abusive husband. I learned from La Rosa that I do not have to live with a violent person and that my children and I deserve to be very happy and to not be afraid of life.
Thank you La Rosa, counselor. Please keep doing the beautiful job of helping people.
Good evening and God Bless all of you. *Due to confidentiality, the names in these testimonies have been altered. |
