“I am the voice for my clients when they are afraid or not confident enough to speak. I worked with victims of domestic violence for years and was very weary of taking on something again as heavy as domestic violence counseling . My work, however, with the Santuario del Corazón Program is my calling. With all of my experiences and skills, I feel that this is where God put me - to help my clients overcome barriers to language, social, cultural, financial. I want people to understand that I am working with families that were forced to leave their home of origin. Their trek to the US Border is just as dangerous, if not more so, than the reason they had to leave their home. I am inspired and motivated to move mountains every time I am able to gain the trust of a mother or a father and they finally open up about the trauma they endured just to get to the the US. Their hearts spill to me because they have been trying to keep it together for their children. They’re in constant fear that the family is going to be broken up and have anxiety of whats to come for them because there is so much unknown. The families I work with want what every family wants - a sense of security, that their family is safe, and that they belong to a community. I am their navigator to assist them in achieving these basic human needs and helping them deal with the traumas they endured. I am their cheerleader and encourage them to continue their therapy because those experiences will live with them forever. In my position with the Santuario Program I look at my life and am far more grateful for little things I have taken for granted. Things that I formerly overlooked as small and meaningless now are magnified to reveal how lucky I am to be where I am. For example, over the holidays last year we were able to get a couple of bikes donated to brothers. Those bikes instantly became the pride and joy of these brothers and experiencing their excitement will remain with me.”
Carla Corriz is a Family Navigator for Las Cumbres Community Services and working with the Santuario del Corazón Program. She assists immigrant and asylum seeking families to navigate systems and agencies so they can contribute to the communities in which they live.
Visit the Santuario del Corazón page to learn more about program