One person can generate change, but a group of unified people can evoke a movement. Your support to Little Warriors helps us advance the awareness, prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse—and transform the lives of countless kids! 

In order for us to achieve our mission at Little Warriors, we seek funding each year for our key programs as well as projects.

Projects Seeking Funding

As we continue to be innovative and keep up with emerging needs we are seeking funding to support projects that will compliment our current programs. See below for a list of projects we are hoping to launch once funding is secured.

  • Renovations to Cabins at the Be Brave Ranch

    At the Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch we have four cabins where the children stay when they are on-site receiving treatment for child sexual abuse. We currently have capacity to accommodate 26 children at one time, but with our growing waitlist we have an urgent need to renovate underused space in the cabins to be able to accommodate the increasing demand for treatment.

    With the help of generous donors, we are looking to secure funding and materials to help renovate the existing cabins to create additional trauma-informed bedrooms on the lower levels. Once completed, we will be able to significantly increase our capacity from 26 children to over 40 children each and every month.

  • Mindful Movement Take Home Program - $22,000

    A increasing body of research indicates that yoga and mindfulness improve both physical and mental health in school-age children. Yoga improves balance, strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity. Yoga and mindfulness offer psychological benefits for children as well. A growing body of research shows that yoga can improve focus, memory, self-esteem, academic performance, and classroom behavior and can even reduce anxiety and stress in children. Children in the Be Brave Ranch treatment program participate in mindful movement and yoga each week, but at home between treatment rounds, they report difficulty continuing their practice. In response, we are building a mindful movement “take home” program with yoga and mindfulness techniques to promote wellness and reduce stress. The program will include videos, readings and visuals to guide the children and their caregivers through movement practices to support healthy habits at home. The mindful movement program is an important ongoing part of the Ranch treatment and support program.

    With approximately 150 children and teens participating in our onsite Ranch program each year, and an additional 50 children and 100 adults in our online “Bridge” program, we anticipate that 400 – 450 family members and caregivers will benefit from the impacts of this program each and every year. The mental and physical health benefits of the mindful movement program help create real and lasting change on the lives of the children who participate as well as their families.

    There is also the potential that the children and teens in our program will share the Mindful Movement program with at least one of their friends and/or peers, as is often reported to us, for an additional 150 children/teens who could benefit each and every year.

    We are seeking $22,000 to proceed with this project. If you or someone you know can help support this innovative addition to our program please let us know by reaching out to Shannon at shannon@littlewarriors.ca.

  • Art Therapy Supplies and Therapeutic Supports - $10,000

    One of the multi-modal therapies we offer at the Be Brave Ranch is Art Therapy. It uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the children. As you can imagine we go through a lot of Art Therapy supplies with over 120 children on site at the Ranch each year. Canvases, paint, paper and so much more.

    Sensory experiences can also be used to calm, soothe, and ground a child – such as a fidget/sensory toys.  A child who is in an activated state would benefit from something that is calming for him/her, and a child who is in a disconnected dissociated state would benefit from something relatively energizing. Traumatic experiences are stored in the body. Therefore, sensations can become triggers and sensations can become misinterpreted as real threats. Children will adapt to survive the perceived threats, which can have many appearances (withdraw, act out, hypervigilance, regress in development etc.).

    Your support will help the Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch with operating costs to provide Art Therapy and Therapeutic Sensory supplies such as fidget/sensory toys, plastic lace string to make chew toys, Playmobile toys, sand table toys, therapeutic/educational games, perler beads, small toys under six inches: figurines, dinosaurs, animals of all kinds, matchbox cars.

    Your support will help change the lives of children and youth who have experienced the trauma of child sexual abuse.

  • Our Lighthouse: A treatment centre for adult survivors of child sexual abuse

    Our Lighthouse will provide specialized support and trauma treatment for adults 18+ who have a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) and would benefit from an intensive individualized care plan to strengthen existing abilities, develop new strategies to support their ongoing healing process, and build individual resiliency. 

    Our Lighthouse will be a guiding light to bring CSA survivors back home to their true selves and the strength to step into their power. They will work with our dedicated and highly trained Little Warriors Multi-Disciplinary Team to co-create an individualized treatment or care plan which includes individual, group & family treatment, ongoing psychoeducation, online coaching, telephone support.

    For more information view this PDF or contact Shannon at shannon@littlewarriors.ca

    Together we can cast a light through the darkness. Donate to Our Lighthouse program today. 

Ongoing Operational Funding Required

At Little Warriors we require ongoing operational funding for our programs to be able to achieve our mission of awareness, prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse. Our annual operating budget is $4.2 million. We rely on the generosity of our donors and supporters to help us raise these funds each year to help us continue to make a difference in the lives of children and youth.

  • Be Brave Ranch

    At the Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch outside of Edmonton, Alberta, we provide intensive, outcomes-based mental health support and trauma treatment to address the pain of childhood sexual abuse to children and families from across Canada.

    The Be Brave Ranch offers a clinically proven program combining evidence-based and other therapies for children ages 8-12 and teen girls ages 13-16. Programming starts with an initial 28 day stay at the Ranch for children 8-12, and 12 days for teen girls. Throughout the year, children return to the Ranch for three additional 12-day stays to continue their face-to-face therapy and reconnect in person with their cohort.  Each child in the program receives more than 200 hours of multimodal therapy from clinical professionals.

    The Be Brave Ranch program has been built using leading research and the best available evidence. The Little Warriors evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment program is the only program of its kind in Canada to offer intensive, specialized, multi-modal treatment to child sexual abuse survivors from ages of 8 to 16.

    Published clinical data results confirm the success of the Be Brave Ranch treatment program for boys and girls ages 8-12 and girls aged 13-16, including a 25% reduction in child PTSD scores and a significant reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety. In teen girls, results show a 20% reduction in average scores for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety, as well as a roughly 20% improvement in Quality of Life and Self-Esteem after only one round of treatment. Additionally, the program significantly improves self-esteem, cognitive abilities and resiliency. Research results highlighting the impact of the Little Warriors treatment and support programs have been published in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Journal of Child & Adolescent Behavior.

  • Be Brave Bridge

    The Be Brave Bridge Online Programs are for children, teens and families impacted by child sexual abuse to provide them with trauma-informed strategies, skills and tools.

    Designed with significant input from many leading academic and clinical experts who specialize in child sexual abuse (see Our Team), the Be Brave Bridge Online Program helps children overcome the devastating effects of child sexual abuse, and change the trajectory of their lives.

    The Be Brave Bridge Online Program features three unique components:

    • Parent/Caregiver Online Program (for parents/caregivers of children or adolescents who have been sexually abused)
      Through reading, videos, reflection and interactive components and ongoing video and phone check ins with your online coach, parents and caregivers will learn how to help support children and teens with a child sexual abuse trauma history.
    • Adolescent Online Program (ages 13-16)
      Teaches and supports traumatized teens ages 13-16 through reading, exercises to complete, interactive reflection, video education and ongoing video and phone coaching.
    • Child and Supportive Caregiver Online Program (In development)
      Teaches and supports traumatized children ages 8-12 through reading, exercises to complete, interactive reflection, video education and ongoing video and phone coaching.

     

  • Prevent It! Program

    Offered in person and online by Little Warriors, Prevent It! is an evidence-based educational workshop developed in conjunction with researchers at the University of Alberta. We have recently released an Indigenous version of the workshop. This was developed with input and feedback from several Indigenous communities across Canada.

    Prevent It! educates and empowers adults to take action and help prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.

    The Prevent It! workshop offers hope to help prevent child sexual abuse. Research has shown that adults who complete it become more supportive of children and begin using more behaviours that are believed to reduce children’s vulnerability to sexual abuse.

Social Return on Investment

Preliminary calculations and research conducted by the Little Warriors Scientific and Clinical Oversight Committee indicate that for every dollar invested in the Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch treatment program, $11 is saved in social services and healthcare costs over 5 years. For every $1 million invested, $11 million is saved over 5 years. With child sexual abuse affecting millions of children across North America, and multiple long-term psychiatric and physical outcomes identified, these results signify a major milestone for children, families and society as a whole.

Thank you