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The Joyful Heart Foundation was founded in 2004 by actress Mariska Hargitay. The Foundation works to support victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse 1

History

According to Hargitay, who is both the founder and the president, she set up Joyful Heart after experiences she had through playing Detective Olivia Benson on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Hargitay first began playing the role in 1999 and not long after started receiving fan mail. Her fan mail however did not consist of the usual letters asking for autographs, but rather Mariska experienced something quite different. Hargitay recounted in a TV Guide Interview "I started getting fan mail from survivors who felt a connection to Olivia. In many of these letters, people would disclose their personal stories of abuse — some for the very first time. I remember getting the sense that many were living in isolation with so much shame, but the shame belonged to the perpetrators. I wanted to help find a way to help people reclaim their lives and live them with a renewed sense of possibility and hope. And that's what we work to do every day at Joyful Heart.”  2  3

Hargitay uses a unique retreat-style program to help survivors. The inspiration for which came from her own personal experience of swimming with dolphins in Hawaii. She recounted in a Joyful Heart Video that the kind of inner peace she felt when she was swimming with the dolphins was one she had to share with the survivors. As of November 2010, the Joyful Heart Foundation has sent over 2,000 women and children on therapeutic retreats in New York, Los Angeles and Hawaii, which combine yoga, meditation, massage, maintaining journals and swimming with dolphins1.

Methods of Healing

Hargitay describes her approach as “holistic” to healing trauma victims and helping them reconnect with their "mind, body, and spirit"1. Joyful Heart offers retreat-style programs that are nature based to take survivors "out of their familiar surroundings and into themselves" 1

Types of Retreats

Joyful Heart Foundation conducts four different kinds of retreats to help a variety of survivors heal1

Week Long Retreats

These are one-week long retreats that bring survivors to either Kona, Hawaii or Bimini, Bahamas. These retreats are designed to take the survivors out of their environment and give them the opportunity to reconnect with themselves. According to Joyful Heart's Program Information, these retreats include "individual and communal art therapy, guided writing, body work, group dialogue and sharing circles, balanced meals and nutritional eating, surfing lessons, yoga and meditation, being in the water and swims with dolphins in the wild" 1.

Local Hawaiian Retreats

The Hawaiian Local Retreat Program is designed for survivors in the Hawaiian community. According to Joyful Heart's Program Information, these survivors are referred to Joyful Heart by local violence intervention programs.This retreat program incorporates many of the same healing techniques as the Week Long Retreat, while incorporating rituals that are native to the Hawaiian culture. Participants on the retreats learn to use a variety of healing techniques such as "art therapy, guided writing, sharing circles, hula, meditation, and swims with dolphins in the wild" 1

Urban Retreats

Joyful Heart also runs urban retreats which take place in New York and Los Angeles. These retreats are led by local professionals. They emphasize healing through a variety of methods that are available to these residents in their local environment. The goal of these retreats is to help survivors find resources and techniques that help them in their day-to-day life. Some of the activities used on these retreats are "art therapy, spa days, massage and body work, yoga, movement, journaling, poetry and meditation" 1.

Heal the Healers

Joyful Heart also runs a program designed to help those who treat trauma patients. The program works to deal with "vicarious traumatization" 1 which can result from the "repeated exposure to stories of violence, betrayel and suffering" 1. The program recognizes the demanding job these professionals have and provides support to these caregivers.

Funding and Support

All programs that Joyful Heart runs are free of charge for participants. Joyful Heart Foundation finances its programs through the assistance of donors, fundraising events, and partnerships with designers who agree to donate a specific portion of their proceeds from a given item to support Joyful Heart Foundation. 4,5

Source Notes

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6 "Mariska Hargitay: The Sexiest Cop Alive". (Feb, 2010). More.com, pp. 74-77