Igniting Hope, Healing Hearts
A beacon of safety, 24/7, against trafficking, violence, and homelessness.
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to empower youth and young adults who have experienced crisis, including trafficking, sexual violence, homelessness, and economic hardships by providing a sanctuary of safety, support, and transformation.
Prevent
Empower
Advocate
Restore
We believe it takes a village and partner with individuals, Law Enforcement, Social Services, Agencies, Families and Communities to END cycles of violence and foster healing, create stability and lasting change.
Our Vision
We envision a world where every young person emerging from crisis- be it trafficking, homelessness, or other hardship- is met with opportunity, support, and love. In this vision, youth are not defined by their challenges but empowered to break cycles and find a path to empowerment, stability, and joy.
We accomplish our vision through:
Prevention
Crisis Intervention
Case Management
Trauma-Informed Therapy
Assessment
Advocacy
Outreach
The Problem in Trafficking: Human Traffickers often target youth in foster care, runaways, or those facing homelessness. We Meet Youth And Young Adults Where They Are And Offer A Different Path. The Asher Drop-In Services Includes:
Housing Assistance
Case Management
Life Skills
Clothing/Food
Counseling
Asher Assessment And Treatment Center (AATC)
The AATC collaborates with many agencies using trauma informed and evidence based practices. The center offers evaluations, assessments, short-term and crisis counseling, mentorships and referrals to identify root causes of trauma. The AATC provides a comprehensive plan to help our youth and young adults meet their goals while establishing stability to ensure a promising future.
AATC Collaborators & Partners
Our Impact
What is trafficking?
Human trafficking occurs any time a person is forced, tricked, or manipulated into providing labor or sexual service for someone else's financial gain. Or, anytime a child is involved in a commercial sex act, whether or not there is someone directly forcing then to do so.
Sex trafficking is when someone is forced, lied to, threatened or coerced into performing any sexual services in exchange for something of value. Commercial sex can be a sex act in exchange for drugs, a place to stay, or even something like clothes.
The Facts:
- Trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry with America being the number 1 consumer in the world.
- There is an estimated 50 million victims of human trafficking globally.
- Approximately, 25-47% of trafficking is by a caregiver.
- It is estimated that 60% of trafficking victims have a history of involvement in the child welfare system.
- 80% of trafficking victims return to their abuser.
- Trafficking is consistently underreported due to its covert nature.
Why Here?
Trafficking happens in every state. No state is an exception.
Greenville, South Carolina has the highest number of cases in the state.
Texas is #2 in trafficking, and our goal is to maintain a presence in both states.
Will you partner with us?
We cannot continue to look the other way and hope for change or healing to occur.
No one person or agency can do this alone. We all have a part to play in ending this horrendous evil in our world. If not you then who?
Our Team
Ellisa Allen
DIRECTOR/FOUNDER
Ellisa Allen (LCSW) obtained her bachelors from MSU and her MSW from the University of Alabama. She is passionate to prevent and end trafficking. She loves helping people and longs to see them restored and thriving in life. She has worked with children, youth and young adults for over a decade in the field of social work as a case manager, advocate and counselor. She specializes in trauma counseling and crisis response. She is certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) an evidenced based treatment for children and adolescents impacted by trauma. She is a certified Chaplain, and she also has worked alongside the Fort Worth PD in CAPA and Anderson County Sheriff’s Department in crisis response. She is a mom to four amazing children and has been married to her best friend since 2009.
Olivia Messinger
Director of Case Management
Olivia Messinger is the Director of Case Management at Asher House since August 2022. She is a native of Anderson and loves her hometown. Olivia is certified in Mental Health First Aid and Ministry Safe. She has also attended the 2023 Global Exchange Conference where she was trained by experts in the field of addiction and mental health. She has a huge passion for prevention services and helping others heal from past traumas. Her outgoing personality and attention to details make her a perfect fit for Asher House. She is happily married to Eric and a proud dog mom to Gus.
Our Board
Ellisa Allen
President
Asher House President
Jessica Bagwell
VICE PRESIDENT
Owner Social Suites
Nadeen Suarez
SECRETARY / TREASURER
Graham Allen Ministries
Sheriff Chad McBride
Member
Sheriff Anderson County
Mary Catherine Taylor
Member
Prosecutor
Graham Allen
MEMBER
Business Owner
SGT. Jon Velez
member
Anderson County Sheriff's Office
Chelsey Tench
Member
Associate Director of Graduate Admission and Advising
