Gabrielle Marijanich

KINS 4306

Project Narrative
 For the last semester, I had the privilege of doing my internship with The Bright House, a

sexual assault and child advocacy center. The Bright House Arrived in Milledgeville, GA in July

of 2019, so with this organization being so new, there were many things that could be done to

improve the function of their everyday routine. Shannon, the other intern, and I had lots of ideas

for our project, but there was one thing that really stuck out to us. We noticed that when

individuals would come in for an appointment, they were not given much information for

resources when they would leave. A large majority of the individuals who would come into the

office were underprivileged, therefore, they may not know all of their options or where they can

go to seek out help and other services. That is where Shannon and I came in. We thought it

would be helpful for our priority population to have a community resource booklet with

resources such as victim resources, healthcare facilities, counseling, food access, etc. Our goal

with providing this resource booklet was to support our patients and deliver help in their time of

need.

This community resource booklet included a wide range of resources for our priority

population. Our first section is Victim Resources. These resources include safe places for those

individuals who are a victim of a crime. Some services that these organizations may include are

comprehensive support, recovery services, and prevention education. Shannon and I felt these

resources were needed because of the nature of work that we did. The Bright House is a resource

for victims but providing them with more options is also important. The next section in our

booklet was Healthcare Facilities. These resources are important for our population to be aware

of in case they don’t have health insurance or a primary care physician. These organizations

provide excellent quality and equal care for all. Our next section included multiple resources for

counseling. If a child comes into our office, then you know that they have been through
something traumatizing, whether it was sexual abuse, physical abuse, or witness to a murder.

Counseling is an important aspect of our patients’ journey; mental health is just as important as

physical health. Our fourth section is food access. As mentioned earlier, a large majority of our

patients are underprivileged. Shannon and I thought that this section was beneficial because

having a substantial diet is so important for an individuals mental health. Although this section

doesn’t seem like a necessity, we felt as though it would help our priority population. Lastly, we

had a section for various things. This portion included organizations such as law firms, churches,

and transportation. Being in the community that we are, poverty levels are higher than the state

average, so the average family in this area may not have more than one car or enough money to

pay for a lawyer. These services help provide a cheaper alternative.

Being able to notice a problem is the first step to problem solving, and the next step is to

come up with a solution and make it happen. We felt that our resolution was the best way to

solve the problem, and we were excited to get started. In order to begin, we needed to collect all

of the resources that we wanted to include. We did this by looking online for local organizations,

and the child advocate in the office had her own resource binder. This binder was not sorted in

any way, so we took the time to sift through everything that she had. Once we narrowed it down,

we then begun to research these organizations and breaking them up into the sections that were

discussed above. We used Google Docs in order to put it together so that both of us could work

on it at the same time. This was fun for Shannon and I to be able to work on together because it

is important to be able to work with other individuals on projects and get their inputs and

opinions. Once we had our booklet made, we let our supervisor look at it, and she loved it.

I believe that this project will leave a lasting impact on The Bright House because this

booklet can be used for years to come. If more resources come into the community, then they can
easily be added. This project was very meaningful to me because it truly reminded me of why

my position was so important. It reminded me that my job at The Bright House was to be there

for the patients and to make them feel safe and heard. Being able to provide this community

resource booklet was a great reminder for me and an even better resource for our priority

population.