NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONAL STATUS

Growing and changing to better serve…

The Center for Well-Being and Resilience (CWBR) is a private operating foundation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which allows you to make contributions that are tax deductible on your income tax returns. CWBR’s mission statement is to provide holistic life support to survivors of trauma assisting them in their recovery choices and their journey to find renewed meaning, purpose and joy in their lives. CWBR follows the 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery used by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) emphasizing healing through faith-based approaches; peer support; creativity; social networks and community participation. Programs available through CWBR include educational programs for parents, teachers and students. Individual and group psycho-social trauma healing is available at no or low cost through CWBR Centreville location. Beginning in 2021, Therapeutic Living, a 6-week intensive healing curriculum will be offered at CWBR’s Martinsville, VA location, the Wellness House. Modeled on the SAMHSA Treatment Improvement Protocol for Trauma Informed Care, the curriculum will emphasize holistic creative and spiritual recovery include meditative techniques, art and narrative, peer and individual counseling. Art therapy groups are also offered through the Centreville location, giving opportunities for healing through the expression of feelings and memories in a safe, non-verbal modality. CWBR success stories include several individual with histories of childhood trauma who are continuing their educations or working, leading clean and sober lives, in some case following years of alcohol and drug abuse or incarceration. The founder of CWBR, Merri Katherine Davis, has a background in art and spirituality, having served as a minister in Woodbridge and Danville, VA, where she served on the Board of Virginia Cares, a non-profit assisting citizens returning from incarceration to successfully reintegrate into the community. An ordained minister, Ms. Davis earned a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry in 2010 from Northwest Nazarene University. In 2015 she completed her second master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, studying methodologies for resilience building following communal experiences of violence. Ms. Davis completed her PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 2019, focusing on healing following collective trauma. According to Ms. Davis, her approach to healing centers on fostering hope for survivors in a brighter future; “I believe people heal not in isolation, but in a community and context of warmth and caring, surrounded by others who, with empathy, are willing to accompany them on their journey of recovery” (Interview with M. Davis, 2016).