It is a safe caring residential accommodation for up to 45 days for battered women and children. We provide housing, counseling, case management, legal advocacy, social and healing services. A developmental, therapeutic program is provided for the preschool children and older kids alike. Counselors and case managers with appropriate professional degrees staff the shelter.

Contact the hotline toll-free at (877) 854-3594 to inquire about services.
 

STOP-GAP – 30 Years of Drama (therapy)

STOP-GAP Drama Therapy Team at work.

Thirty years ago Don Laffoon and Vivian Clecak joined forces and did something innovative. The result was a powerful, unique healing modality called drama therapy and Human Options became the first battered women’s emergency shelter in Southern California to offer the therapy to their clients. The drama therapy was facilitated by STOP-GAP and this partnership is still strong today.

Founded 32 years ago by Don Laffoon, STOP-GAP provides drama therapy sessions in hospitals, shelters for battered women, and other treatment centers. Don was a pioneer in this therapeutic approach. As a registered drama therapist and board certified trainer, he recognized the healing power live theater could have on victims of abuse and trauma.  Last year, this award winning non-profit theatre provided more than 500 drama therapy sessions making it the largest practitioner of drama therapy in the world. 

Monday is STOP-GAP Day

If you ever get a chance to talk with a shelter graduate, you will most likely hear them say STOP-GAP was one of the most powerful experiences during their stay. Each Monday, women watch professionally trained actors play out the scenarios they have anonymously submitted on note cards at the start of the session. The goal of drama therapy is to use theater to get to the “heart of the situation” being played out in front of the audience. For the women watching it is a chance to observe behaviors and difficult, dangerous situations in a safe, non-judgmental setting.

Recently Don and his team improvised a scene where a man repeatedly interrupted or ignored a woman peppering his conversation with “How stupid are you?”, “You can’t ever get anything right.”, and “Wow, you look like a cow.” As Don watched, one woman sat with her mouth hanging open with a look of astonishment. He said it was as if a light bulb had gone off above her head. She then said out loud, “That was me. That’s emotional abuse. They’ve been trying to explain it but I didn’t get it until now.” That’s the power of drama therapy.

When a “light bulb” goes off during a session, it is an opportunity for change to begin for a woman. STOP-GAP calls this self-realization “The It” or getting to the heart of a situation; in this case the actual dynamics happening between the man and the woman. According to Don, “Change can only happen when the opportunity to clearly see happens. That is when healing can truly begin.”

Why it works

And here is where the value and importance of this partnership lies: These powerful experiences in the STOP-GAP sessions create the opportunity for Human Options’ counselors and case managers to begin to restore self esteem, teach boundaries, and develop parenting skills. Two unique approaches working together to benefit families for 30 years and still going strong.