Organizations committed to working with troubled individuals all face enormous stresses. Unfavorable financial, regulatory, social and political environments can adversely impact organizational functioning and make us lose sight of the mission, goals and values that should guide our work. Over time, stressed systems can become reactive, change resistant, hierarchical, and coercive. In fact, the organizations themselves may begin to exhibit the effects of chronic stress symptoms similar to those of their clients, and as a result may inadvertently create a trauma-organized culture.

Because it is a full system approach, effective implementation of the Sanctuary Model requires extensive leadership involvement in the process of change as well as staff and client involvement at every level of the process.

Multidisciplinary teams from a wide variety of mental health and social service organizations attend a five-day intensive training experience.

Then through the implementation steps of the Sanctuary Model, staff members engage in prolonged dialogue that serves to surface the major strengths, vulnerabilities, and conflicts within their organization. By looking at shared assumptions, goals, and existing practice, staff members from various levels of the organization are required to share in an analysis of their own structure and functioning, often asking themselves and each other provocative questions that have never been overtly surfaced before.

Member organizations become part of the Sanctuary Network that represent thousands of clinicians from around the country and in other parts of the world who are making a difference in the lives of children, adults, and families who are recovering from the damaging effects of interpersonal trauma.

The Sanctuary Model® is an evidence-supported template for system change based on the active creation and maintenance of a nonviolent, democratic therapeutic community in which staff and clients are empowered as key decision-makers to build a socially responsive, emotionally intelligent community that fosters growth and change.

The Sanctuary Model has been effective with children and adults across a range of human service organizations, including residential treatment centers, public and private schools, domestic violence shelters and drug and alcohol treatment centers.

At the conclusion of the five day training, organizations begin the process of implementing Sanctuary at their site. For the first three years of your implementation, the Sanctuary Institute faculty provide technical support. Sanctuary Institute will send faculty to your site periodically to make presentations, provide staff training or provide other consultation. Your agency will also receive support for implementation from other agencies who are using the model, a group referred to as the Sanctuary Network. As agencies across the country are using Sanctuary, Sanctuary Institute is setting up a network to allow them to share their experience and innovation with each other. In this way, agencies can count on long term support as well as a process to ensure fidelity to the model among all of the agencies practicing Sanctuary.

To date, The Sanctuary Institute has trained agencies throughout the United States in Latin American, and in the United Kingdom on the Sanctuary Model.

The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare ranks the Sanctuary Model as an Acceptable / Emerging Practice. Click here to learn more.  

If you think your program is a candidate for this opportunity or you would like to learn more about the Sanctuary Model, please contact Sarah Yanosy, LCSW at syanosy@jdam.org or 914.965.3700 ext 1117 for more information.

   Sanctuary Model of Organizational Change

   Components of the Sanctuary Model

  Sanctuary at Andrus Children's Center

  Sanctuary in Domestic Violence Shelters

  Sanctuary in Homeless Shelters

  Sanctuary in Residential Childcare

  Sanctuary in Substance Abuse Programs

  Sanctuary in Schools

  Sanctuary in Adult Inpatient Treatment