Values + Principles | Damaris House

OUR RESTORATION VALUES

The principles and values that fuel the actions our recovery program.

RECOVERY

We believe, once ready for lifestyle changes by entering the program, participants must be given the chance to learn to take ownership of their recovery. Healing is a slow journey, so we exercise patience with our program services to support long-term recovery needs.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Skill acquisition and mastery are necessary for program participants to become productive members of society. Thus, we provide for the development of soft and hard skills in our program delivery and involve participants in job training and shadowing.

SAFE HOUSING

We believe a secure atmosphere promotes the quality of life needed for success. We offer program spaces that reflect the living standard we wish for ourselves. We do everything possible to ensure a secure environment with guidelines, if followed, keep beneficiaries safe.

INTEGRATION

We believe that reintegration into society is a process that requires intentionality and time. Necessary skills, such as learning Greek language and integration classes, must be taught and paired with developing cultural understanding of life in Greece within the safety of community.

EMPOWERMENT

We believe that program participants have potential and talents to be discovered in their lives. We create programs and services that focus on participants’ strengths and not their weaknesses, as well as emphasizing their successes, not their failures.

ADDRESSING POVERTY CYCLES

We believe that a healthy and therapeutic community can stop unhealthy family cycles often experienced by our survivors and their children. We teach various parenting classes and family skills, striving for a new generation to be raised up with care and diligence.

OUR ORGANIZATIONAL PRINCIPLES

Our leadership, staff, and volunteers commit to the following principles.

1. VISION

As a Christian therapeutic community, we believe in the importance of a vision centered on servanthood, personal recovery, and community as we follow Micah 6:8 – “Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.”

2. THERAPY

We believe in the importance of healing and strive to develop a recovery culture at CHD. To promote this culture, Damaris staff also participate in a 12 Steps Recovery Program. We believe it is essential to facilitate personal recovery for our staff as a means to relate to the long-term recovery journey that program participants are walking.

3. PRIVACY

We practice a Principle of Anonymity at CHD to promote a safe recovery space that protects the identity of our leadership, staff, volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries. We do not publicly disclose identifying information or photographs of any of our beneficiaries under any circumstance.

4. LEADERSHIP

We believe in the importance of leading by example through our roles as trusted caretakers who strive to meet the needs of others first. We do this first and foremost by participating in the staff interrelation program, followed by exercising strong leadership practices in our roles.

5. UNITY

We believe in a common vision based on servanthood, personal recovery, and community. We believe, when fully dependent and centered on Christ, that local and international unity is achievable.

6. PROACTIVE INITIATIVES (SUSTAINABILITY)

We believe that to be proactive, we must create a sustainable therapeutic community that –

Trusts that when God calls, He also equips and provides as needed – one day at a time.
Collaborates with other enterprises or groups having a diversity of guiding principles, under the principle that cooperation does not mean endorsement.
Uses well-determined steps for promoting growth and commits to develop social enterprises to reach financial self-sustainability while training program participants.

7. FAIR WORKING ENVIRONMENT

We believe in developing a fair working environment that promotes equality. We implement this value by –

Remembering Scripture, that teaches us how to act with altruism and servanthood.
Implementing well developed human resource guidelines, a code of conduct, and policies that promote fairness and equality.

8. SUCCESSION

We believe in enacting the principle of rotation by providing ongoing training and mentoring at all levels of our therapeutic community to ensure successful Follow Care Programming.