Avalon Healing Center

Avalon is a Detroit-based non-profit, 501(c)3 organization that provides comprehensive, compassionate and trauma-informed care to survivors of sexual assault.  Mission statement: “Avalon inspires healing and empowerment for those affected by sexual violence through free and immediate comprehensive services; promotes public awareness; and advances social change.”

Avalon Healing Center is the only dedicated provider of sexual assault medical-forensic exams (often called ‘rape kits’) and trauma-informed, comprehensive services specifically oriented for survivors of sexual assault and their families in the region. While there are two other stand-alone sexual assault organizations in Michigan, one in the Upper Peninsula and the other on the west side of the State, Avalon is unique in that it is the busiest and largest program of its kind in the State and the only one that has an organizational-wide trauma-informed certification initiative. Avalon is among the nation’s top 5% busiest SAFE providers because, unfortunately, the sexual assault and human trafficking rates in Wayne County and Michigan are some of the highest in the nation. 

In 2022, Avalon responded to 1,344 crisis calls for acute medical forensic services. Six hundred and twenty-six (626) kits were collected and released to law enforcement, with several more that were collected and secured for patients, until a time in which they decide they want it to be released to law enforcement, a State mandate. Since its founding in 2004, Avalon has served over 20,000 people.

Avalon is expanding all of its services, including increasing access to medical-forensic exams, through the build-out and activation of Avalon Healing Center’s new facility, located in an Art Deco building near the corner of 3rd Avenue and Bagley Street in downtown Detroit. This first-of-its-kind center incorporates trauma-informed design of the physical space combined with a one-stop-shop approach to services and referrals required by sexual assault survivors.  This includes a medical clinic (for both acute and follow-up care), comprehensive traditional and alternative healing services, a biophilic-designed atrium inclusive of survivor spaces, a healing garden, a yoga studio/meditation room, several community partner rooms, and safe places for families and survivors to meet privately with counselors and other support team members. Importantly, Avalon’s new home symbolizes Detroit’s healing and resiliency against sexual violence.