PARTNERS family services in Humboldt has a new program to help with children who have been exposed to violence.

Partners executive director Hayley Kennedy explains more about the Children Exposed to Violence program.

"It's a therapeutic group or individual program focused on providing intervention and support services to children who have been exposed to some form of violence, whether that's family violence or the extreme bullying in schools. The program is really focused on mitigating some of the effects of that exposure for the kids who have experienced it."

She tells us where people can receive the programming.

"Families can self-refer if they have concerns regarding their own children. They can get in contact with our office directly. Professionals who may be working with children who have some of those exposures can also refer over to the program again directly through our office. Once the referral is received they'll get some follow ups from our social workers together, a little bit more information to make sure that our groups are done in a way that's reflective of the needs of the kids who are in them."

Funding for the new program comes from Justice Canada, who is providing nearly 200,000 dollars over the next 30 months.

Kennedy says that programming like this is very important.

"We did our community need assessment which had great response last August. One of the biggest gaps that was identified there was the need for more children and youth focused services. From that, we spent about a year looking at our own internal files to determine where the largest gap was for the families that we work with. The area that was really obvious was therapeutic services for children who have experienced in some form."

The program has been in the works over the last 10 months, PARTNERS Family Services extends their sincere gratitude to City of Humboldt, Victim Services, Carlton Trail college and Provincial Ministry of Social Services, and Humboldt and District Community Services,