Pathways for Change, Inc.

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Pathways for Change, Inc. Providing quality & multicultural services to those whose lives have been impacted by Sexual Violence

CONTENT WARNING: This page contains content about sexual violence that may be triggering

Our Vision is:
🔹That each survivor has access to culturally appropriate services.

🔹 That communities are actively engaged in prevention.

🔹 That systems be well coordinated and survivor-centered.

🔹 That survivors lead all aspects of the community response to sexual violence. As a freestanding rape crisis center, the efforts of the entire agency are focused on the issues related to sexual violence. Our sole commitment to these issues results in a deep and widespread impact throughout Central Massachusetts.

FLOURISHING THIS FALL | TIP 2 OF 5Count your spoons.Have you ever started the day already feeling like you've used up mo...
10/21/2026

FLOURISHING THIS FALL | TIP 2 OF 5
Count your spoons.

Have you ever started the day already feeling like you've used up most of your energy?

Spoon Theory, developed by Christine Miserandino from her experience living with lupus, offers a way to understand and explain limited energy. The idea has become an important tool in disability and chronic illness communities.

Imagine starting each day with a certain number of spoons. Every activity uses some: getting dressed, making decisions, going to work, visiting family, or managing an unexpected challenge.

For survivors, coping with trauma responses, reminders of past experiences, or distressing news may also require energy that others cannot see.

What needs your energy today? What can wait?

You may not have control over everything on your schedule, but recognizing your limits can help you decide where to spend the energy you have.

And remember, you don't have to carry everything alone. Pathways for Change is available 24/7.

Want to learn more about Spoon Theory? Explore this resource from Mobility International USA:

https://miusa.org/resource/best-practices/spoon-theory/

24/7 Support Hotline: 800-870-5905
24/7 VP Hotline (Deaf & Hard of Hearing callers): 508-502-7681

Transparency helps communities hold institutions accountable.The Massachusetts Attorney General has called on the Worces...
10/21/2026

Transparency helps communities hold institutions accountable.

The Massachusetts Attorney General has called on the Worcester diocese—the only diocese in the state without a public list of credibly accused clergy—to publish that information.

Accountability includes examining how church leaders screen, train, supervise, and respond to concerns about clergy. Simply moving someone with harmful behavior to another parish or diocese can expose another community to risk while leaving institutional failures unaddressed.

Preventing further harm requires leaders to acknowledge those failures and show what they are changing. Public information helps communities assess those actions. Survivors deserve honest acknowledgment of what happened and how the institution responded.

If this news brings up painful memories or questions, Pathways is here—whether the harm happened recently or decades ago.

Free, confidential support:
📞 24/7 Support Hotline: 800-870-5905
📹 24/7 Statewide VP Hotline for Deaf & Hard of Hearing callers: 508-502-7681

Read more: GBH News coverage of the call for transparency, including comments from Pathways President & CEO Kim Dawkins:
https://www.wgbh.org/culture/books/2026-10-05/ag-campbell-steps-up-calls-for-worcester-diocese-to-release-names-of-priests-accused-of-abuse

Reporting should not mean more trauma.The Cornell case underscores how much the response to a survivor matters. Some sur...
10/19/2026

Reporting should not mean more trauma.

The Cornell case underscores how much the response to a survivor matters. Some survivors describe their treatment after reporting as more harmful than the assault itself.

Procedural justice—being treated with dignity, honesty, and care—can reduce the added trauma of reporting. Survivors deserve people who:

• Listen with care and take their concerns seriously.
• Explain what happens next—and what remains uncertain.
• Keep them informed, including when an investigation stops or a decision changes.
• Make room for questions, choices, and support.

Whatever the legal outcome, how survivors are treated matters.

Pathways offers free, confidential support whether or not you report.

24/7 Support Hotline: 800-870-5905
24/7 Statewide VP Hotline for Deaf & Hard of Hearing callers: 508-502-7681

🚨Seguimos en la Zona Roja — el período del semestre de otoño en el que el riesgo de agresión sexual en los campus univer...
10/16/2026

🚨Seguimos en la Zona Roja — el período del semestre de otoño en el que el riesgo de agresión sexual en los campus universitarios es particularmente alto.

Y este riesgo nos afecta a todos por igual. Las investigaciones muestran que los estudiantes universitarios con discapacidades experimentan violencia sexual en tasas más altas que los estudiantes sin discapacidades.

Sin embargo, los esfuerzos de prevención de la violencia sexual no siempre han sido diseñados pensando en los estudiantes con discapacidades. Cuando la información, los programas y las conversaciones sobre prevención no son accesibles ni inclusivos, algunos estudiantes pueden quedar excluidos de los mismos esfuerzos destinados a crear comunidades universitarias más seguras.

La prevención efectiva tiene que incluir a todos.

Esto significa:
• Hacer que la información sobre el consentimiento y la violencia sexual sea accesible.
• Considerar diferentes necesidades de comunicación y acceso al planificar programas y eventos.
• Asegurarnos de que los estudiantes con discapacidades sean incluidos en las conversaciones sobre prevención, y no simplemente identificados como personas con mayor riesgo.

Un campus más seguro es aquel donde cada estudiante puede acceder a la información, participar en la prevención y saber dónde acudir para recibir apoyo.

💜 Pathways for Change está AQUÍ 24/7.

📞 Línea de apoyo 24 horas: 800-870-5905
📞 Línea estatal VP 24/7/365 para personas sordas o con dificultades auditivas (Deaf & HoH): 508-502-7681

FLOURISHING THIS FALL | TIP 1 OF 5Start with the basics.Recent news about sexual violence can bring up difficult feeling...
10/14/2026

FLOURISHING THIS FALL | TIP 1 OF 5
Start with the basics.

Recent news about sexual violence can bring up difficult feelings and memories, whether something happened days… or many years ago. Add the demands of everyday life, and even ordinary tasks can feel overwhelming.

Survivors sometimes tell us how much they appreciate simple reminders: Have you eaten today? Had some water? Gotten enough rest? Written down something important so you don't have to keep remembering it?

These aren't small things when you're carrying a lot.

Trauma can affect sleep, concentration, appetite, and energy. Paying attention to your body's needs is one way to support yourself through stressful times.

Before asking more of yourself, check in with the basics. You don't have to manage everything at once.

And if talking with someone would help, Pathways for Change is here to listen, 24/7.

24/7 Hotline: 800-870-5905
24/7 VP Hotline (Deaf & Hard of Hearing callers): 508-502-7681

The Cornell case is a reminder that survivors may find themselves navigating several systems after sexual violence.Campu...
10/12/2026

The Cornell case is a reminder that survivors may find themselves navigating several systems after sexual violence.

Campus resources can provide important support and may be able to help with things like safety, housing, academics, and other needs within the university.

Off-campus confidential resources offer something different: a place to ask questions, understand your options, receive trauma-informed support, and confidentially think through what you want to do next.

In Central Massachusetts, Pathways for Change provides free, confidential survivor support, including support available 24/7: 800-870-5905

The Victim Rights Law Center provides free legal services to sexual assault survivors in Massachusetts who want to understand their rights and options on and off campus: 617-399-6720

You can use one, the other, or both.

Getting information doesn't commit you to a particular next step. Decisions are still yours to make.

Yesterday's We Are All Jane Doe: Stand Out for Justice brought community members and leaders together with a powerful me...
10/09/2026

Yesterday's We Are All Jane Doe: Stand Out for Justice brought community members and leaders together with a powerful message: Survivors deserve to be heard, supported, and believed. Accountability matters.

Thank you to everyone who stood with us, including (left to right) Kim Dawkins of Pathways for Change, Senator Robyn Kennedy, David LeBoeuf, State Representative, Paul DePalo Governor’s Councilor and Deborah Hall, CEO of YWCA Central Massachusetts.

Our voices are stronger together. And we are not done speaking up!

We’re still in the Red Zone—the period of the fall semester when the risk of college sexual assault is particularly high...
10/08/2026

We’re still in the Red Zone—the period of the fall semester when the risk of college sexual assault is particularly high.

And that risk isn’t experienced equally. Research shows that college students with disabilities experience sexual violence at higher rates than students without disabilities.

Yet sexual violence prevention efforts have not always been designed with students with disabilities in mind. When prevention information, programs, and conversations aren’t accessible or inclusive, some students can be left out of the very efforts intended to make campus communities safer.

Effective prevention has to include everyone.

That means making information about consent and sexual violence accessible. It means considering different communication and access needs when planning programs and events. And it means making sure students with disabilities are included in conversations about prevention—not simply identified as being at greater risk.

A safer campus is one where every student can access information, participate in prevention, and know where to turn for support.

Pathways for Change is HERE 24/7.

24 Hour Support Hotline: 800-870-5905
24/7/365 Statewide VP Hotline for Deaf and HoH callers: 508-502-7681

10/07/2026

Join us tomorrow at 3:30 at the Worcester Wall of Women. Bring a sign, bring your voice, and stand with us!

The sexual assault allegations involving a former Cornell University student have put a national spotlight on alcohol, i...
10/07/2026

The sexual assault allegations involving a former Cornell University student have put a national spotlight on alcohol, intoxication and consent as well as on higher education institutions that are failing student survivors and not holding perpetrators accountable.

We have something to say about that and believe our community members do as well. We invite you to join us - the YWCA Central Massachusetts and Pathways for Change, Inc. on Thursday, October 8, at 3:30 p.m. at the Worcester Wall of Women (intersection of Francis J. McGrath Boulevard and Franklin Street) for a short “We Are All Jane Doe: Standout for Justice,” gathering in support of survivors of sexual violence and a call for justice and accountability.

Participants are encouraged to bring a sign with a message of support, solidarity, and justice for survivors. Survivors deserve to be heard, believed, and supported.

Stand with survivors. Stand for justice. We Are All Jane Doe.

We hope to see you there!

Address

588 Main Street
Worcester, MA
01608

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15088527600

Website

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