About Us
Mission
The Ananias Foundation helps individuals who have committed acts of domestic violence or abuse to stop hurting the ones they love. We offer a roadmap for change, share helpful resources, and connect people to a community of others who have traveled the same road. We do our best to make these resources practical and understandable. We know this journey is difficult, so we encourage every person seeking this transformation.
To learn a little more about us, the gap in addressing domestic violence and abuse that we fill, our vision, and the approach we take in our work, watch the short video on the right. And, if you like what we are doing and would like to be a part of our mission, please consider donating by following the link in the button below.
What we believe
- Regardless of a person’s past, your future can be different.
- Domestic violence is not just an issue where men are the perpetrators and women are the victims. Both genders can and do hurt their partners, and people from both genders are victims. Read more about that here.
- Domestic violence undeniably hurts victims. It also hurts those that do harm because it prevents them from experiencing a full and abundant life that comes from having close, loving, intimate relationships.
- Every person is worthy of love and the opportunity to experience an abundant life.
- Getting help with this issue should not be contingent upon a person’s ability to pay.
- It makes more sense to address domestic violence at the source than to clean up the consequences. For more, read this blog post.
- Educating people about various forms of abuse is helpful, but it needs to be paired with practical strategies to help them respond differently.
- Guidance for change should be based on evidence-based research, not social narratives about the causes and treatments for domestic violence and abuse.
- Shame-based messaging is ineffective because it damages a person’s belief that they are worthy and capable of change.
- Every person is capable of change if he or she is motivated.
- Change is difficult and it takes time and effort.
- This site probably won’t be all a person needs for change. (We hope it’s good start, however.)
- Violent reactions happen in an intimate relationship when a person is trying to protect themselves from some perceived hurt to an internal, emotional wound.
- A good counselor can help a lot.
- A relationship with God through Jesus Christ matters greatly in a person’s change process. Only God can fill some of the places we are trying to protect when we overreact to a situation.
What we do not do
- Domestic violence is wrong and we will never justify it.
- The hurt and fear victims experience is real and we will never minimize it.
- Victims are under no obligation to stay in a relationship with someone who hurt them. Nothing we say should be interpreted otherwise.
- While providing victims resources and support is important, there a lot of organizations already doing that well. We do not try to duplicate these efforts.
- Society has built laws to protect victims and punish perpetrators of domestic violence. We accept there will be legal consequences for those who do harm and will not argue otherwise. This is part of the motivation for change.
- We do not address legal issues.
About our founder
Ananias was founded by Michael Clark after twice being arrested for domestic violence. Michael felt called to share what he learned and how he was able to change with other individuals who were also motivated to change and stop hurting the ones they love. You can read more of Michael’s story by clicking on the button below.
Media and event availability
If you are interested in interviewing Michael or having him speak at your event, click on the button below.
Ananias in the news
If you’d like to see what others are saying about Ananias, follow the link provided under this text.
Our name
Wondering what Ananias means or where the name comes from? Click below for the story.