As Need Grows, Avalon Expands Mental Health Support for Survivors

For survivors of sexual violence, healing rarely follows a predictable timeline — or a single path. 

At Avalon Healing Center in Detroit, that understanding shapes everything from how clients receive counseling to the physical environment where care takes place.

As Avalon celebrates its 20th anniversary, the organization is expanding the choices available to survivors while responding to growing demand for its free, confidential services.

“We meet survivors where they’re at,” says Katie Smith, Avalon’s director of marketing and communications. “We’re never going to turn anybody away, and we’re going to find a way to make sure that they’re provided services.”

Since opening in 2006, Avalon has served more than 30,000 survivors of sexual violence. 

Today, the organization serves approximately 1,500 people each year across seven Wayne County clinic sites. Smith says demand is not decreasing: In the past year alone, calls to Avalon’s hotline increased 38%.

Bringing the realities of sexual assault into the open

Reaching survivors begins with helping the wider community understand the prevalence and realities of sexual violence. Through an awareness initiative called Unmuted, Avalon is speaking more openly about what its staff encounters and why specialized mental health and healing services remain so vital.

Avalon uses its social media channels, blog and podcast to share statistics, stories about its work and information that may be difficult, but important, for the public to understand. More than 30% of the survivors Avalon serves are children, Smith says. Over its history, Avalon’s patients have ranged from two weeks old to 101 years old.

Smith recognizes that Avalon must approach these realities carefully. Many people who follow the organization are themselves survivors, so potentially triggering posts include content warnings. Avalon’s communications must create a supportive space for survivors while also helping donors and community members understand the urgency of the work.

The goal is not to shock people. It is to make an often-hidden need visible — and help survivors and their loved ones know where support is available.

“As we bring more awareness in the community about our services, we’re getting more calls and more intakes,” Smith says. “It’s showing that it is working, because we’re trying to reach everybody that we can.”

During Avalon’s anniversary year, the organization is also sharing photographs and milestones from its history, tracing its growth from a small grassroots nonprofit into Michigan’s largest and most comprehensive provider of free sexual-assault services.

Supporting mental health every day

Mental health support is not a separate part of Avalon’s work; it runs through every service the organization provides. Smith says everyone experiences difficult periods with their mental health, but sexual violence can intensify existing struggles and introduce new ones.

“You attach something horrific that’s happened to you to that, and it exacerbates everything,” she says. “We’re focused on supporting our clients through their trauma, but also supporting their mental health every day.”

For some survivors, an Avalon counselor or advocate may be their only consistent source of emotional support. Not everyone has family members or friends they feel safe talking to, and some fear they will be blamed or disbelieved. Avalon’s individualized approach helps fill that gap without imposing a predetermined treatment plan or timeline.

“Sometimes that’s the only support system that person has,” Smith says.

Avalon’s comprehensive model connects survivors with medical-forensic care, counseling, advocacy, transportation, court accompaniment and follow-up medical services. Increasingly, the organization is also providing different ways for people to access that support.

Counseling may take place in person, by phone or through a virtual appointment, depending on what is most comfortable and practical for the survivor. Clients can also participate in individual and group counseling or explore holistic healing practices such as trauma-informed yoga, sound bowl therapy, art, movement and meditation.

Those choices matter because traditional talk therapy is not the right — or only — healing tool for every person.

“Everybody’s story is different. Every client is different,” Smith says. “What does that specific client need to feel supported?”

Trauma-informed care recognizes the survivor as a whole person, including their identity, culture, circumstances and individual needs. It can mean connecting someone with resources tailored to LGBTQ+ survivors or honoring a client’s request to communicate only in a particular way or at a particular time.

It also means allowing survivors to decide whether and how long they want to participate in services. Someone might meet with a counselor twice and decide not to continue. Another survivor might need support for years or return after time away.

Avalon provides information and resources without prescribing what healing should look like.

“We want to make sure that they are doing what they need to do for themselves,” Smith says.

Creating an environment that supports healing

Avalon has also invested in making its Detroit healing center feel welcoming, calm and accessible. The organization worked with a trauma-informed designer to create spaces that feel safe without introducing features that might be intimidating or triggering.

“We spent a lot of time creating spaces in our building that reflect that trauma-informed lens,” Smith says. “We want to make sure clients feel like the building is accessible to them, that the building is for them.”

A new mural by Detroit artist Jake Dwyer will extend that idea to the building’s exterior. Inspired by the Arthurian legend of Avalon as an island where people went to recover after battle, the nature-filled mural depicts cranes flying toward an island of healing.

The artwork is more than decoration. It is intended to make the previously plain brick building recognizable and welcoming before a survivor walks through the door.

Avalon is also working with community partners to explore additional support for survivors during the perinatal period and to develop a digital resource hub that could help survivors find services in one place.

Meeting increased need with flexible funding

Avalon’s growth comes with a significant gap between the cost of providing specialized care and available public funding.

Smith says each medical-forensic examination costs Avalon approximately $2,500 to provide, while the organization receives about $1,200 in state reimbursement. In 2024, Avalon had to raise approximately $870,000 to help close funding gaps and continue providing services at no cost.

The organization is always seeking additional resources, but Smith emphasizes that the type of funding matters, too. Many grants restrict dollars to a designated program or project. Those grants are essential, but they do not necessarily cover needs that arise elsewhere in the organization.

Unrestricted funding gives Avalon the flexibility to pay for facility improvements, additional construction, features inside the healing center and projects such as the exterior mural. These investments may not fit neatly within a program-specific grant, but they help Avalon create and maintain an environment intentionally designed to support survivors’ mental health.

Flexible dollars also allow the organization to respond when needs change or demand increases.

Philanthropic support carries another benefit, Smith says: It signals to survivors and the wider community that established institutions recognize the importance and credibility of Avalon’s work.

“So much of this work is collaboration in the community,” she says. “Avalon cannot do the work alone.”

That includes caring for the people who provide the services. Avalon staff members regularly absorb the secondary trauma that can accompany years of supporting survivors. Yoga, sound bowl sessions, creative time, staff retreats and paid time off are among the ways the organization encourages employees to care for their own mental health.

“How can we support the staff so that they can be the best for their clients?” Smith says.

Celebrating 20 years while sustaining the work ahead

Community members can support that work at Avalon’s upcoming Waves of Change: 20th Anniversary of Healing and Hope fundraiser. The event will take place aboard the Ovation yacht on the Detroit River on Sept. 24 from 5:30-9 p.m.

The evening will celebrate Avalon’s two decades of service while raising unrestricted funds for the organization’s continued work. Avalon is seeking additional sponsors as well as guests who want to purchase tickets, celebrate the milestone and show survivors that their voices matter.

Helping healing begin with belief

Although Avalon provides highly specialized services, Smith says every person has a potential role in a survivor’s mental health and healing, particularly when someone first discloses an assault.

There is no correct timeline for coming forward, she says. Fear of judgment, blame, disbelief or repercussions for the person who caused the harm may keep a survivor silent for months, years or decades. Waiting to disclose does not make the experience less real, nor does choosing not to disclose publicly make someone less courageous.

The first response a survivor receives can influence whether that person feels safe seeking further help.

Smith encourages everyone to remember three statements:

“I believe you. It’s not your fault. You’re not alone.”

Knowing how to respond — and knowing where specialized help is available — can make an enormous difference. Smith wishes awareness of Avalon were “just as important as knowing where your local hospital is.”

After 20 years, Avalon’s message remains both simple and urgent: Healing is personal, survivors deserve choices and no one should have to navigate trauma alone.

Learn more about Avalon Healing Center.