Our Program
Mer Hooys Changes Lives
Our program is designed to help severely at-risk girls recognize and develop their talents and skills, and to utilize those assets as they mature into self-sufficiency. Mer Hooys provides qualified girls with a comfortable and safe home, a family environment, psychological support, family preservation and reunification services, and educational support, including training in languages, social skills, community relations, arts, religion, health and life skills, and independent living and job skills. Our graduates are prepared with the tools they need for success and hope for a better future.
Carefully screened by our professional staff, all the girls come from crisis centers, boarding schools or seriously socially disadvantaged families currently receiving substantial government or private NGO support. As our older girls graduate from our program and are able to reunite with their families, move into the Mer Hooys Transitional Living program, or are capable of living safely and successfully on their own, we continue to admit new, younger girls from both Yerevan and villages throughout Armenia.
All our girls are at severe risk; most have a parent or parents who are financially unable to properly support their families. Most have no career or vocational goals, no vision for their futures, poor study skills, and little academic achievement. Many exhibit serious behavioral issues and are coping with significant psychological challenges related to their family backgrounds and previous living situations. Others are victimized by addictive behaviors, prostitution, or domestic violence.
Small group living enables our program to deliver the high level of professional services, individual care, and focused attention that are the hallmarks of our success. We accommodate approximately 20-25 girls in residence, with up to 5 additional Transitional Program participants, and our graduates received ongoing educational and psychological support and counseling as needed.
Our Success
Mer Hooys has achieved remarkable success since we launched our first class in September 2012. Of our first class of 15 girls who joined us in 2012, more than half are married into healthy families with children of their own, and many of our single girls are living independently with jobs. More than half went to university and graduated, now working in nutrition, graphic design, business, entertainment, sales, and as teachers.
Our program graduates are respectful, independent-thinking young women with the solid academic, psychological and emotional foundations they need to help ensure their ability to live independently or in a healthy family, and they have positive outlooks for their lives. Some return regularly to the Nakashian Children’s Support Center to serve as mentors to our younger girls. Mer Hooys continues to enjoy high regard in Armenia, and is a unique model in the country for providing needed services to in-need youths, teens and their families.
