Story by Abby Siegel, News Editor
The Purchase Area Sexual Assault and Child Advocacy Center (PASAC) recently expanded to a new office in Murray, located in the Weaks Center on Poplar Street.
An open house was held on Oct. 13 to celebrate the new space and expanded services now provided in Calloway County. The organization previously had an office in Murray that was restricted in therapy services due to lack of space. PASAC has a main office in Paducah.
“The plan is for us to offer more therapy services out of this office and more days a week,” said Amberly Walker, Development Director.
The mission of PASAC is to promote the health and well-being of the community by reducing the impact and prevalence of sexual violence. The nonprofit organization provides prevention education programming in addition to specialized intervention services such as a 24-hour crisis line; medical, legal and family advocacy; forensic services; clinical therapy and holistic health coaching.
Walker said the organization is currently seeking funding for equipment to provide forensic interview services out of the Murray office.
Two different therapists work in the Murray satellite office in addition to Walker, who splits her time in Paducah and Murray. She said they are hoping to hire another staff member.
She said the limited space at the previous office was cluttered and could be distracting for clients.
“We really strive to provide a peaceful, comfortable atmosphere for our clients, and so we hope that they feel that when they walk through the door,” Walker said.
The therapy services offered at the Murray location now mimics what is offered in Paducah.
“We provide integrative-treatment approach where we have our evidence based practices and we enhance those with expressive arts activities, sand tray, yoga and mindfulness and movement, body-oriented activities to take that holistic approach for people to heal all parts of themselves through the trauma process,” said Kelli Morrow, clinical coordinator.
“This space is much larger than our last space, so we have much more space to be able to do individual services,” Morrow said. “We have more space to be able to incorporate some of the movement activities and body-oriented practices that we didn’t have space for in our other office.”
Morrow worked in the smaller Murray office previous to the move.
More office space is also provides more opportunities for the organization to better fulfill other aspects of their mission that was previously restricted only by the lack of space.
“In the old office, we didn’t have space for an advocate to meet with the client, so if we had therapy scheduled we couldn’t schedule a time for us to meet with clients because there was no space for that,” said Amanda Harris, family advocate.
“Now we have our own little room, so that is really nice,” Harris said.
Client services are available Wednesday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Murray office. Self referrals and referrals from community partners are welcome.