NEW DIRECTIONS CENTER

​MISSION AND HISTORY

New Directions Center, Inc. is a non-profit community organization working to reduce the impact and occurrence of domestic and sexual violence by providing support services and raising community awareness on the issue of violence. We provide crisis intervention, emergency housing, food, clothing, and transportation to women, children, and men impacted by emotional, physical, and sexual violence in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County. 

 

We were created on July 1, 1996 by the merging of The Blue Ridge Sexual Assault Center and Alternatives for Abused Adults. It is our belief that individuals have the right to determine their own response to emotional, physical, and sexual violence. Most importantly, we believe that absolutely no one deserves to be abused. 

 

Emotional, physical, and sexual violence are expressions of a disorder of power between the victim and the offender and within our social structure as a whole. The Center's philosophy is guided by the perspective that these issues are a societal problem, not just an individual problem, and that all individuals have the right to live lives free of violence.

 

Assault victims, like other citizens, share community values and beliefs and interpret their experience in light of community values and traditions. Therefore, it is the belief of this agency that if the community believes that violence does in fact occur within its realm, and positive attitudes and a safe place for healing are offered, then more assaults will be reported.