Helping a Friend

True Friendship
True friendship means more than a wave, a smile, or a quick "Hey! How are you?" A friend is one who looks out for your best interests and who walks alongside you as you pursue them. A friend is one who loves you enough to tell you the truth, and who will stand by your side when life's difficult times come.

How to Help a Friend Who's Pregnant
We realize that some of you visiting our website are here to help a friend or loved one. We recommend the following three options for helping a friend who's become aware that she's pregnant:

• Offer to come with her to our center for a free pregnancy test.
• Call The Center and speak with one of our caring and knowledgeable counselors.
• Spend some time looking around our website with her. There’s lots of information to help your friend start thinking through her options.

Your friend needs you in this time. And she needs us too. Many women lack support from their families and loved ones. In fact, more than 80 percent say they would have completed their pregnancies under better circumstances or with more support from the people they love.

You have an awesome opportunity to help your friend start calmly thinking through her options, working through her emotions, and moving forward with wisdom! We offer counseling, classes, limited material help (like baby clothes, diapers, and sometimes even cribs and strollers!), and lots of referrals that helps new parents prepare for the challenges of raising a child. It might be hard for your friend to come in by herself to get the help she needs—you can come alongside and get her that help.

Infected?
If you (or your friend) think you might have a sexually transmitted disease, please come into The Center. We can provide you with detailed information about STDs, and can get you a referral for testing. Our counselors are prepared to discuss sexual lifestyle issues with you and help you get truly informed about your sexual choices.

Abortion Recovery
If your friend has recently had an abortion, we are here to help her heal from any unrest or pain that results from what is called Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS), a variation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Click here for more information about signs of PAS.

If you are unsure of the best way to support your friend, we would love to meet with her. Our counselors are caring and confidential, and are experienced in talking through issues of pregnancy and sexual health. We care about young women, young men, and their futures. So we want you to make the very best decisions and to have all the information you need to make those decisions.

Be a Friend
An unplanned pregnancy can be one of the most terrifying situations a young woman faces. Please be a true friend! Help her to learn all the options. Help her realize that she doesn’t need to rush into a rash decision. Remember…