Therapy

Considerations for Child Sexual Abuse Survivors
WCSAP Webpage
June, 2018

Therapists can be a critical component of a child's support system and healing process following abuse. However, many children are reluctant to participate in counseling because they don't want to talk about what happened or they may believe that going to therapy means something is wrong with them. While there are significant areas of overlap between a therapist and an advocate, it is because of their differences that they are both important members of a child's professional team after a…

Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Therapy
With Considerations for Children, Teens, and Families
PDF & Printed Materials
July, 2016

Advocates and therapists have important roles in promoting the healing of survivors of childhood and teen sexual abuse, as well as survivors' nonoffending family members. When we work together, we can develop strong partnerships that ensure survivors have therapy options that are relevant to their needs. This offers survivors and their families a continuum of care that can help ease, and possibly hasten, the path of healing.

This booklet was developed for advocates and aims to…

Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Parents & Caregivers
  • Therapy
WCSAP Webpage
November, 2014

Sometimes a video is worth a thousand words! Some of these videos are intended to demonstrate techniques for therapists, and some can be shown directly to child clients. If you like a particular video, do a search to see if it is part of a series by the same person or group, as several of these are. The duration of the video is in parentheses after the name.

Helpful Thoughts: CBT Activity (6:35)
Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Therapy
WCSAP Webpage
September, 2012

"For someone to heal from PTSD, one must learn how to control bodily reflexes. PTSD causes memory to be stored at a sensory level-in the body. Yoga offers a way to reprogram automatic physical responses…What is beautiful about Yoga is that it teaches us—and this is a critical point for those who feel trapped in their memory sensations—that things come to an end."

—Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Trauma Specialist

As therapists working with sexual abuse…

Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Therapy
Nonabused Siblings of Children Who Have Been Abused
WCSAP Webpage
May, 2012

Including siblings in treatment permits families to realize the maximum benefits of therapy for the victim as well as each family member.

—Baker, Tanis, & Rice, 2001

A child can't help being affected in some way by the sexual abuse of a brother or sister, but siblings' needs are often overlooked.

Nonabused children whose siblings have been abused may have to deal with:

  • confusion because adults do not…
Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Therapy
Child Sexual Abuse
WCSAP Webpage
April, 2011

Children who have been sexually abused have often experienced an entire series of traumatic events, from multiple victimizations to seriously disrupted relationships with their parents. These children's experiences can't be described with the traditional posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) label; their fundamental ways of interacting with the world and sometimes even their biological functions are changed because of the chronic, pervasive stress to which they have been exposed at this…

Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Trauma
  • Therapy
WCSAP Webpage
April, 2011

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is a therapeutic technique that helps clients to deal with trauma and disturbing memories. Developed by Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., in the 1980s, EMDR has been extensively researched and found to be an effective method of treating posttraumatic stress. The theory behind EMDR is that trauma memories must be disrupted not only cognitively but also neurologically, allowing the brain to handle past trauma in a different manner. EMDR is…

Topic
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Therapy
PDF
January, 2010

Sometimes we are so busy walking the path of our daily lives that we don't have the time to go exploring for resources. We hope this resource guide will support you in your journey working with children and teens who have been sexually assaulted and their nonoffending family members. The resources in this guide were supplied by therapists across the state doing this work.

Some of the resources are designed to help therapists expand their own knowledge, while others are intended to be…

Topic
  • Parents & Caregivers
  • Therapy
Linkages to Sexual Assault
PDF
March, 2002

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a complex issue. The diagnosis was first acknowledged as a disorder of individuals experiencing the extreme stress of combat situations.

PTSD has now become a term familiar to the general public as well as a common diagnosis. This issue attempts to provide an overview of recent research on PTSD, particularly those aspects most directly related to victims of sexual assault. 

Topic
  • Trauma
  • Therapy
Resource Guide for Support Groups Responsive to Sexual Violence
-> TYPE MISSING, FIX ME <-

Survivors/Partners of Survivors A basic resource guide for support groups responsive to sexual violence.

  1. Therapy/Treatment: Adult Survivors/Partners of Survivors
  • Author: Beverly J. Horn, Joyce Lukima, Gail Witwer
  • Publisher: Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape
Topic
  • Support Groups
  • Therapy