$30,220 raised by 124 donors
100% complete
$25,000 Goal
RBRC is a Child Advocacy Center serving child abuse victims and works closely with child protection and law enforcement to ensure that all child abuse victims are provided the necessary services to heal. We work to ensure that all professionals work together leading to the best outcomes.
Victim Advocacy: Specially trained family advocates provide crisis intervention and support throughout an investigation and prosecution. The advocates inform each child and family about their rights and local resources.
Forensic Interviews: A forensic interviewer speaks with each child, asking age-appropriate, non-leading questions allowing children to disclose their traumatic experiences. At RBRC, the child describes their experience while being videotaped in a private, child-friendly room. This approach limits retraumatizing the victim and promotes coordinated investigations. Forensic interviews are offered in English or Spanish as needed.
Medical Exams: Children may receive a forensic medical exam to determine if any health treatments are necessary and to gather potential evidence of assault. RBRC employs and contracts with Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) who provide examinations on-site for children and adolescents.
Mental Health Consultation and Counseling: The mental health therapists provide consultation, education, referrals, and individual and family counseling for the abused children and their non offending family members to help them recover.
Case Review: The multidisciplinary approach provides ongoing case reviews for every child seen at RBRC, to help ensure complete investigations and comprehensive treatment services.
Mountain West SANE Alliance (MWSA): The SANEs of MWSA provide compassionate, professional, trauma-informed, medical examinations for adult sexual assault victims in the 9th Judicial District. These specially trained medical providers are available at all times (24/7) to coordinate and respond to requests for sexual assault victims’ consultation, education and/or medical exams. MWSA provides SANE exams at RBRC in Glenwood Springs, as well as at Garfield County Public Health in Rifle.
Education/Training Services: RBRC provides ongoing training for professionals in the Multidisciplinary Team with topics including signs and symptoms of child abuse, prevention, and best practices in child abuse investigations.
Community Education and Outreach: RBRC provides education and outreach about child abuse dynamics and prevention, as well as sexual assault information, to educators, parents, other professionals, and the general public.
River Bridge Regional Center (RBRC) provides collaborative services to child abuse victims, their families and the community in a supportive environment through a child centered approach.
The primary mission of Mountain West SANE Alliance (MWSA), a program within RBRC, is to meet the needs of assault victims by providing trauma informed, compassionate, culturally sensitive, and comprehensive forensic evaluation and treatment by trained, professional nurse experts.
Founded in 2007, River Bridge Regional Center (RBRC) is a Child Advocacy Center (CAC), a child-friendly facility in which law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health providers, medical providers, and family advocates work together as a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to investigate abuse, help children heal, and hold offenders accountable.
In 2007, RBRC initially offered services for child abuse victims and non-offending family members in Garfield County and subsequently expanded to serve Eagle, Pitkin, and Rio Blanco counties. At the outset, RBRC was housed under the umbrella of a national nonprofit organization. In 2012, our local board determined that we needed our independent 501c3 status to provide the best quality of services for the region. RBRC is the only CAC between Grand Junction and Summit County to provide services for abused children in Garfield, Pitkin, Rio Blanco, and Eagle County.
Referrals to the organization are provided from law enforcement and human service agencies. RBRC's physical location allows for a coordinated team to meet on-site. This 'one stop' approach provides a neutral, child-friendly environment to provide crucial services to children (ages 0 to 18) and non-offending family members. In order to treat child abuse and prosecute the abusers effectively, RBRC staff ensures that victim advocates, medical personnel, law enforcement, the District Attorney offices, forensic interviewers, child protection workers, and mental health professionals all work together. This multi-disciplinary team (MDT) uses a child-centered approach to generate an efficient, comprehensive, and effective method of service delivery where the needs of the child always come first.
RBRC follows the child advocacy center model and the National Children's Alliance (NCA) standards and practices. RBRC earned its accreditation with NCA, a nationwide not-for-profit membership organization, in October 2010 and was re-accredited in October 2015 and for a third time in October 2020.
The community turns to RBRC for best-standard protocols regarding child abuse treatment and prevention. Support for the program was evidenced by the continuous backing from all partner agencies allowing the program to operate fully throughout the transition to a 100% local Child Advocacy Center.
Organization name
River Bridge Regional Center
other names
RBRC, Childhelp River Bridge
2007
Tax id (EIN)
45-5464778
Category
Human Services
Address
520 21st StreetGarfield County, CO, US
Rio Blanco County, CO, US
Pitkin County, CO, US
Eagle County, CO, US