Listeners at nonprofit also connect people with resources
Libera means freedom.
It’s also the name of a nonprofit that aims to empower West Virginia women and teens to live in freedom, according to its founder Karen Haring.
Libera was inspired by the state’s motto, Montani semper liberi, Haring said.
“I wanted to help our state be free,” she said.
Haring decided to start Libera after talking to a therapist to try to help other people after she found two people she knew following their suicide attempts and realized that she had unhealthy patterns in her life.
So, she gathered some like-minded women and came up with Libera.
The nonprofit’s listeners listen to a woman’s or teen girl’s problems without judgment, help identify the lies and barriers in her life and then connect her to resources to help overcome those issues, Haring said.
Haring started working with Libera full-time in January 2016, and its two buses have traveled to every county in the state.
Many of its 40 or so listeners were so impacted by the program, they decided they wanted to join after being helped, Haring said.
One example is 54-year-old Alexis, a listener who told her story to The Dominion Post on the condition that she not be identified.
“It was completely overwhelming as to what it disclosed in my life about things that I wasn’t even aware of,” Alexis said of her first half-day Libera session. “Dysfunctional relationships pretty much from my childhood, with my own sons, friends, workplace, pretty much every relationship in my life was not healthy.”
Alexis was in a marriage where she was abused financially, physically and emotionally, she said.
One day, shortly after making a large purchase, her husband quit his well-paying job because “he was tired of working,” she said. That left Alexis working three jobs for years to make ends meet.
“In your gut you know it’s wrong but because of my generation and because of beliefs I had followed my entire life, I was under the impression I was still doing the right thing,” she said.
Since becoming a listener, Alexis has been able to help some women in similar situations.
“It’s so much easier to disclose and feel free about a time in your life not being OK and it just gives other people peace, I believe, if somebody else has walked the same walk,” she said.
Haring said Libera is for every woman and teen girl because everyone has struggles in their life, even if they are small, and the program is about helping women realize they aren’t alone.
Once they realize that, the women start supporting and empowering each other even outside of Libera sessions, Haring said.
Libera has affected every relationship in Alexis’ life, helping attune her to others and even picking up on struggles in everyday interactions, she said.
“So, when I say it’s affected every interaction in my life, I truly believe that it has,” she said.
Listeners undergo training because not many people are naturally good at listening, Haring said. One day of training teaches listening skills, what to do in a crisis and mandatory reporting for minors in abusive situations. A second day of training covers mental health first aid.
Libera works with schools, has group sessions and individual sessions. For more information visit Libera’s Facebook page or website at liberawv.com.
