About us
We're an all-volunteer non profit organization. We receive no government or grant funding. We wouldn't turn it down if it showed up, but more than money, we want to engage everyone in helping the victims of childhood abandonment, abuse, poverty, homelessness, trafficking and every other thing that hurts when you're too little and too vulnerable to protect yourself.
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It has been estimated by the Pew Foundation that in the US alone there are 12 million former foster kids and 36 million adult victims of child abuse who were never in foster care. When you add children who experienced a sense of abandonment when a parent left the home through divorce, death or incarceration, experiencing homelessness, parents who suffered from mental illness or who struggled with addiction, etc., the number of people who have survived childhood trauma grows exponentially. WE ARE EVERYWHERE.
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Successful Survivors Foundation was founded by Rhonda Sciortino, a successful survivor of abandonment, abuse, poverty, and homelessness, to show survivors that they can use the character traits and learned abilities they acquired through their hard times to create successful lives. Rhonda and many other successful survivors have proven that it can be done. Everything on this website, and on Rhonda's personal website, www.rhonda.org​, exists to educate, encourage and empower survivors and the people who care about them to go from victim to survivor to successful survivor.
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Survivors of childhood trauma can live in victimhood or we can rise up and be the strong, resilient agents of change that we are capable of becoming. RISE UP!
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Why we think our approach is right
EDUCATION
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More than 2/3rds of youth report at least one
traumatic event by
16 years of age.*
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There are millions of survivors of rough childhoods
among us.
We're everywhere.
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The first step in healing is recognizing that we've survived hard things. We're still breathing! From there,
we can mine the lessons out ofd all we've been through, and use those things to create successful lives. That's how we stop
the generational cycles that harm children, families and communities.
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*SAMHSA.GOV
ENCOURAGEMENT
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61% of adult women and nearly 40% of adult men report experiencing anxiety.*
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Every one of us can encourage other survivors to become successful survivors by pointing out to them that they are strong, resilient and resourceful people. They have the character traits of successful survivors, which are precisely what they need to create successful lives!
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Share our social media posts, blogs, books and free resources with the survivors in your life. Let them know that you believe in their ability to create their
uniquely successful life.
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*SAMHSA.GOV
EMPOWERMENT
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Nearly 389,000 young adults aged 17-24 annually use community services for healing, crisis, and sustaining healthy change.*
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The beginning of becoming a successful survivor is the moment when someone else believes in us. When we know that someone is in our corner, we gain courage to reach out of our comfort zone to follow our dreams.
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Each of us can empower others by recognizing the fact that they survived, listening to them, and genuinely caring enough to help them find supportive people and helpful community services.
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*SAMHSA.GOV
RESOURCES
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An estimated 1.7 million non-profits exist in the US.*
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We believe in helping survivors help themselves
and others through our all- volunteer model of encouraging others to put their love into action.
There is power and healing in healthy relationships with good people and in connection with resources from good non profit organizations that exist to help survivors. Vetted, effective, safe non profit programs can be found at LOVEISACTION.COM
Consider bringing them to your community.
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*causeiq.com