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About Our Residential Program

Merci’s Refuge is a 4-11 month Christian residential counseling program for adult women (ages 18-40) seeking freedom from various life-controlling issues that keep them from experiencing joy and accomplishing their goals. These issues often stem from past trauma and include things like depression, anxiety, addictions, unhealthy relationships, unplanned pregnancies, unstable income and housing, and involvement with the child welfare system. Our aim is to provide the safety, time, space, and professional and relational support for women to step outside of survival mode and begin the hard work of healing from past trauma. Merci’s Refuge is a sober living environment and can be a great next step for people who have completed a detox or shorter term recovery program.

A Holistic Program

Merci’s Refuge is a 4-11 month (including optional 6 months transitional period) Christian residential counseling program for adult women seeking freedom from various life-controlling issues that keep them from experiencing joy and accomplishing their goals. These issues often stem from past trauma and include things like depression, anxiety, addictions, unhealthy relationships, unplanned pregnancies, unstable income and housing, and involvement with the child welfare system. Our aim is to provide the time, space, and support for women to step outside of survival and crisis mode and begin the hard work of healing from past trauma.

Our program includes individual counseling, group work, life-goal coaching, and various life-skills classes for pregnancy, parenting, finances, and healthy living. We are a Christian ministry and our program encourages residents to explore and grow in their faith through bible study, prayer and worship, and being a part of the Christian community.

What does it mean that we are a Christian program?

Merci’s Refuge is a program of Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center. Since 1985 Living Alternatives has served women in Illinois and Indiana experiencing unplanned pregnancies through material assistance, mentoring, pregnancy testing, and free ultrasounds. It is out of this mission and history of supporting women that the vision for Merci’s Refuge was born.

 

The need for residential care was evident early on in the organization’s history. Families became “Shepherding Homes” to house and support women during their pregnancies. However, without formal structure and programming, this method was not sufficient to help women move beyond the various issues keeping them from reaching their goals and potential.

 

Some years later, Greta Henry, then the Director of the Champaign Pregnancy Resource Center, visited a residential program in Tennessee and experienced a working model for truly supporting women through their pregnancies and other challenging situations. In 2008, a team of volunteers from the Champaign community began meeting and praying about how a life-transforming residential program could be started in Champaign for women in Illinois and across the United States.

 

In September of 2016 Merci’s Refuge officially opened to residents!

Community is Critical to Change

At Merci’s Refuge women live in a community with one another and often share a room with one other resident unless they have an infant with them. This is intentional as it creates opportunities for residents to learn from each other and also press into conflicts that arise. Most of our wounds in life come from relationships yet without healthy relationships it is extremely hard to experience joy and achieve our goals, at least on a long-term basis. Merci’s Refuge is a safe place to begin trusting people and practicing healthy communication, assertiveness, and conflict resolution.