Valley Trauma Center

An office that will provide free and low-cost counseling to victims of sexual assault and their families will open Saturday in the northeast San Fernando Valley. The new Mission Hills office will become the third branch of the state- and federally funded Valley Trauma Center, which already has locations in Van Nuys and Santa Clarita. A $150,000 state grant allowed the organization to open the Mission Hills office, said trauma center spokeswoman Jean Morrison.

An office that will provide free and low-cost counseling to victims of sexual assault and their families will open Saturday in the northeast San Fernando Valley. The new Mission Hills office will become the third branch of the state- and federally funded Valley Trauma Center, which already has locations in Van Nuys and Santa Clarita. A $150,000 state grant allowed the organization to open the Mission Hills office, said trauma center spokeswoman Jean Morrison.

The Valley Trauma Center, which has provided crisis services for sexual assault victims in Northridge since 1984, said Monday it will open a second center later this month in Newhall. Trauma center officials said the Newhall branch will be the only facility of its kind in the Santa Clarita Valley and will help to make up for a lack of sexual trauma services in northern Los Angeles County. It is scheduled to open the week of May 18.

It was a noisy rally, and that's how the students wanted it. Marching and carrying signs Thursday at a school yard at James Monroe High School in North Hills, they shouted, "Is there ever an invitation to rape? No." Many motorists on Nordhoff Street honked in support. About 80 students and rape crisis center supporters gathered to draw attention to what they say is a lack of sufficient rape prevention education at schools. The demonstration was triggered by the Dec.

For Lorretta Woodbury, the Valley Trauma Center was the last resort before suicide. Despite thousands of dollars and many years of private therapy, the 39-year-old incest survivor couldn't escape the nightmares and the flashbacks of being a terrified 10-year-old girl on an isolated Wyoming range, being raped by her father in his pickup truck.

The 30 or so women had battled drugs, alcohol and abusive men. Some had been raped. Fanny Garcia was there to tell them they were not alone as victims of sexual assault. "Many feel 'this happened only to me.' We reiterate it doesn't happen only to that person. It happens a lot. That's why we want to give them counseling," Garcia, a Valley Trauma Center prevention education specialist, explained in English and Spanish at a meeting at El Proyecto del Barrio in Panorama City.

The Valley Trauma Center at Cal State Northridge has received a $12,500 grant that will allow it to reach more people who speak only Spanish. The funds, from Kaiser Permanente San Fernando Valley Health Partnership, will go toward providing more Spanish-language versions of the trauma center's date rape prevention project outreach materials. "It's exciting to reach that segment in the community," said Dove Poock, the trauma center's prevention education coordinator.

A rape victim's journey to recovery can be a lifelong process, but having someone to talk to can make that process easier, said Patti Dengler, assistant director of the Valley Trauma Center. The center, in Northridge, is searching for volunteers to help victims get through medical examinations and police interviews, or to counsel them on the center's 24-hour hot line.

The Volunteer Center Assistance League of Southern California is looking for people to maintain a thrift store in the West Valley. Duties include keeping inventory, maintaining the store and operating the cash register. The center is also looking for volunteers to stock shelves, bag groceries and perform other duties for a food pantry in the West Valley. Volunteers are required to lift 20 pounds. For more information, contact the center, 8134 Van Nuys Blvd.

The San Fernando Valley's only free trauma center for victims of sexual assault is opening its doors and telephone lines to victims of another kind of trauma: the Northridge earthquake. With a grant from the Los Angeles Women's Foundation, the nonprofit Valley Trauma Center is offering assistance to people feeling rattled and fearful in the aftermath of the devastating quake.

The 30 or so women had battled drugs, alcohol and abusive men. Some had been raped. Fanny Garcia was there to tell them they were not alone as victims of sexual assault. "Many feel 'this happened only to me.' We reiterate it doesn't happen only to that person. It happens a lot. That's why we want to give them counseling," Garcia, a Valley Trauma Center prevention education specialist, explained in English and Spanish at a meeting at El Proyecto del Barrio in Panorama City.

The Valley Trauma Center at Cal State Northridge has received a $12,500 grant that will allow it to reach more people who speak only Spanish. The funds, from Kaiser Permanente San Fernando Valley Health Partnership, will go toward providing more Spanish-language versions of the trauma center's date rape prevention project outreach materials. "It's exciting to reach that segment in the community," said Dove Poock, the trauma center's prevention education coordinator.

The Valley Trauma Center, which has provided crisis services for sexual assault victims in Northridge since 1984, said Monday it will open a second center later this month in Newhall. Trauma center officials said the Newhall branch will be the only facility of its kind in the Santa Clarita Valley and will help to make up for a lack of sexual trauma services in northern Los Angeles County. It is scheduled to open the week of May 18.

The Volunteer Center Assistance League of Southern California is looking for people to maintain a thrift store in the West Valley. Duties include keeping inventory, maintaining the store and operating the cash register. The center is also looking for volunteers to stock shelves, bag groceries and perform other duties for a food pantry in the West Valley. Volunteers are required to lift 20 pounds. For more information, contact the center, 8134 Van Nuys Blvd.

The San Fernando Valley's only free trauma center for victims of sexual assault is opening its doors and telephone lines to victims of another kind of trauma: the Northridge earthquake. With a grant from the Los Angeles Women's Foundation, the nonprofit Valley Trauma Center is offering assistance to people feeling rattled and fearful in the aftermath of the devastating quake.

A rape victim's journey to recovery can be a lifelong process, but having someone to talk to can make that process easier, said Patti Dengler, assistant director of the Valley Trauma Center. The center, in Northridge, is searching for volunteers to help victims get through medical examinations and police interviews, or to counsel them on the center's 24-hour hot line.

It was a noisy rally, and that's how the students wanted it. Marching and carrying signs Thursday at a school yard at James Monroe High School in North Hills, they shouted, "Is there ever an invitation to rape? No." Many motorists on Nordhoff Street honked in support. About 80 students and rape crisis center supporters gathered to draw attention to what they say is a lack of sufficient rape prevention education at schools. The demonstration was triggered by the Dec.

For Lorretta Woodbury, the Valley Trauma Center was the last resort before suicide. Despite thousands of dollars and many years of private therapy, the 39-year-old incest survivor couldn't escape the nightmares and the flashbacks of being a terrified 10-year-old girl on an isolated Wyoming range, being raped by her father in his pickup truck.