Family Support Services

Crisis Services:

• The only emergency safe house for victims of family violence and human trafficking in Potter and Randall Counties.
• Assistance to victims of sexual assault/family violence 24/7
• Face-to-face crisis intervention
• 24-hour Crisis Hotline
• Advocacy services, including accompaniment through medical, legal, and judicial systems
• Accredited volunteer advocate program serving adult and child victims
• Sexual assault survivors’ group
• Family Violence support group  

Counseling services:

• Individual, group, marital, and family counseling
• Play therapy
• Battering Intervention and Prevention Program
• Women’s Anger and Violence Program
• Supervised Visitation
• Parents As Teachers and Healers
• TransParenting
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
• Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TFCBT)
• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
• Parenting group for single mothers, grandmothers, and their children   

Education Services:

• HOPE (Healthy Outcomes through Prevention and Education) Program- a child abuse prevention program.
• Strengthening Families Program - an evidence-based family skills training program found to significantly reduce problem behaviors, delinquency, and alcohol and drug abuse in children and to improve social competencies and school performance.
• Walk this Way- presentations show how acts of discrimination can be turned into positive lessons of affirmation and hope.
• Sexual Assault  and Family Violence Prevention Education for all ages in schools and throughout the community
• Texas PEACE (Peer Educators Acting For Change And Equality) Project - a peer leadership program offered in several high schools and middle schools - exploring topics including bullying, dating violence, domestic violence and sexual assault
• Parenting  Education classes - 10-week course that utilizes the Love & Logic curriculum
• Mean Girls and Salvaging Sisterhood- a group curriculum designed to teach relationally aggressive &/or bullying girls how to effectively communicate with one another.
• Too Good for Drugs and Violence- managing emotions, communication, positive friendships, countering social influences, analyzing media messages and refusing peer pressure.
• Choose Respect- an initiative that helps teens form healthy relationships to prevent dating violence before it starts.
• Love and Logic Parenting Education- This program is designed around weekly 60 minute classes that teach parents how to raise self-confident, motivated children who are ready for the real world.
• STOP FILM FESTIVAL (Students Taking On Prevention)- Competition for submissions of a PSA with a positive prevention message to be judged by area film professionals for a chance to win cash prizes and have their work be used toward their campus prevention efforts.  Only Peer-led student film festival in the Nation.
• HOTDOGS and HORSEPLAY- A parent empowerment project offered at Horace Mann MS, Emerson and San Jacinto ES.  Whole Families were invited to come out and enjoy hot dogs and then separate into groups for hands on educational sessions involving equine therapy techniques.
• Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)- advises the FSS Education Division on key policy issues affecting youth, gaps in services locally and meeting with civic leaders to advocate for youth needs.
• Life Skills Classes - money management, employment skills, home management, health, recreation, communication skills and problem-solving for adult clients.

Veteran Services

• Identifying and addressing needs of Veterans and connecting with the resources they need
• Providing assistance to homeless Veterans and those at-risk
• Referrals to local Veteran-friendly agencies
• Peer support groups
• Family support groups
• Creating a safe, understanding and trusting environment for Veterans
• Networking with local, area and statewide services for claims, compensation and education assistance
• Life skills training
• Individual, family and marriage counseling
• Equine therapy

Family Support Services (FSS) is a private, non-profit, multi-service agency that has provided a continuum of services in Amarillo for over 100 years.  FSS provides a comprehensive network of services in four major areas: domestic violence/sexual assault services, counseling services, educational services, and veterans’ services. The FSS mission statement is "A community where individuals and families are healthy, stable and violence free"

Approximately 25,000 people are currently served each year, including:

• victims of sexual assault and family violence
• at-risk children, families, and individuals in the Amarillo area
• area residents in need of individual, group, marital, and family counseling
• Veterans, family members of Veterans, and surviving spouses