Since she was six years old, Jenny had been repeatedly sexually abused by those trusted to care for her. She was moved from foster home to foster home, continuously suffering physical and emotional abuse that left her traumatized and scarred throughout her childhood. As Jenny got older, she experienced post-traumatic stress that affected her behavior and school performance. In high school, she began abusing drugs as a coping mechanism and began skipping school and lashing out at others. After her grades plummeted and she ran away from home on multiple occasions, Jenny was taken into custody and placed at the Florence Crittenton Agency’s Crittenton Youth Services program.
At the Youth Services program, Jenny attended individual and group therapy and, for the first time in her life, found herself with a safe and stable place to stay. Jenny also took advantage of Florence Crittenton’s New Pathways Academy, an on-site educational program available to the girls staying in the Youth Services program. Jenny worked hard in therapy and in school, and eventually was able to work through her traumatic experiences and graduate from high school. We are proud to say that Jenny is now enrolled at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga and plans on becoming a nurse.
United Way of Greater Knoxville is proud to partner with an agency that offers such wonderful programs to teens in crisis. The Florence Crittenton Agency is committed to offering a safe place and support system to those who have suffered abuse and neglect in our community, and we are thankful that we are able to help them do this important, life-changing work. But change doesn’t happen alone. To live better, we must LIVE UNITED.