Yes. I offer both individual counseling and family sexual health therapy to help traumatized children, teens and their families cope with the lasting effects of sexual trauma.
In these cases, I often recommend this two-pronged approach because while the traumatized child needs to work through their own traumatic issues, sexual trauma inevitably affects all family members as well as the family dynamic.
Finding a Safe Space for Sexual Health Therapy Is Vital
In order to successfully work through their traumatic experiences, traumatized children and teens need to know that they have a safe space where they can reveal anything without ever worrying about recriminations or being judged.
Sexual trauma is insidious because of the enormous guilt burden many survivors carry. Being able to release this unearned guilt in the safe space of a trusted counselor’s office is intrinsic to the survivor’s healing journey.
Unaddressed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Persist Into Adulthood
Addressing the trauma now gives your child or teen the best chance of resolving their complex feelings about the abuse. When the trauma is minimized by the survivor, e.g., “it wasn’t that bad,” the chance of lingering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) complications surges.
By starting sexual health therapy now for your child and family, you are giving them the coping skills to work through their trauma before they face the additional life stressors that come with the transition into adulthood.
Secrets Make You Sicker
Abusers typically convince children not to tell through a complex system of threats, bribes and an erosion of their own self-worth, i.e., “Who would ever believe you over me?” As you might imagine, this can permanently scar a child’s fragile sense of self-esteem and persists long into adulthood as the little voice inside their head that tells them they are unworthy of happiness, love, healthy relationships, and a good life.
Unaddressed traumas do not go away. Instead, they are buried deep but always manage to emerge in negative ways later in life. In the right setting, I can help your child confront these primal fears and flip the script on the abuse and trauma that were inflicted upon them at such a tender age. That gives them the best chance possible to emerge victorious over the childhood traumas that they suffered.