Phoenix Coalition for the families and victims of child sexual abuse
Referrals to Resources for Parents of Family Trauma
Phoenix Coalition for the families and victims of child sexual abuse
Referrals to Resources for Parents of Family Trauma
Survivors are not victims!
A message from our clinical director...
Greetings!
Phoenix Coalition for the Families and Victims of Child Sexual Abuse is a non-profit entity formed on July 23, 2021, as a resource for parents and familes who are surviving horrible tragedies.
Presently, we do not offer counseling services at the Coalition, but refer parents and familes to resources in their communites based on individual needs.
Many parents and families suffer high levels of stress and anxiety when such things happen in their lives.
That's where we are here to help!
We will direct you to resources within your own insurance providers, no-cost or sliding scale community based counseling, and referrals to basic needs to keep you going while dealing with these events that have hijacked your life.
If your family have been victimized in this manner, you are more than likely the victims, and now survivors of Narcissistic Abuse. Learn more about this topic on the folloing page:
https://parentsofsexualabusevictims.com/narcissistic-abuse
When looking for a therapist or counselor to address your specific needs and desired outcomes, you need to familiarize yourself with the different counelsing approaches and find a therapist who practices in the areas of treatment you are most interested in pursuing. To learn more about the various counsleing approaches, go to the following page:
https://parentsofsexualabusevictims.com/counseling-approaches
Although we do not offer counseling at the Coalition presently, feel free to schedule an inatake appointmetnt for help locating resources at the following link:
https://parentsofsexualabusevictims.com/intake-%26-scheduling
Remember, when these events happened to your family, you were vitims. Going forward, you are survivors!
Good luck in your journey of healing.
Sincerely yours,
Michael Robertson, Clinical Director
Phoenix Coalition for the Families and Victims of Child Sexual Abuse
You are not a family of victims...you are survivors!
We promote healing so you can be strong for your children & family!
Everyone carries the past into the present day. For some, the past is full of pain that they struggle to keep at bay. Research studies continue to show there are many adult survivors of sexual violence in the world including both women and men. Some have moved through their experiences by receiving some forms of treatment, others have been able to recover through their own means and gone on to live healthy, productive lives. For others, treatment, including counseling options, would be considered a luxury. Their lives became consumed with caring for their own children, holding down jobs, paying the bills, etc.
Regardless of where adult survivors may be in their own process and regardless of whether they received past help, it is critical for advocates to be aware of and responsive to the needs of parents who also are survivors of sexual abuse. A child’s sexual assault can bring on a cascading flood of memories and emotions related to past sexual or physical abuse of the parent. When this happens, a parent’s ready defense may be to avoid the painful memories of the past by pushing away the current cause for pain. On the outside, this may appear as an uncaring parent who does not believe his or her child or does not have the capacity to support the child. However, if looked at through a trauma lens, it could be a parent trying to avoid the pain of reliving past abuse.
It is important for the advocate to keep in mind that the parent may be struggling with both the emotional pain of the current situation and also bearing the burden of their own past abuse. This calls for a greater level of empathy and compassion to reach beyond what a person’s outward behavior may be showing. Advocacy with a parent who also is a survivor can be complex. Adult survivors of child sexual abuse often fall through the cracks of our support systems.
By supporting parents and caregivers in addressing their own needs as adult survivors, advocates are ultimately helping the child who needs them. It can be a challenge to strike a balance between supporting the parent/caregiver while also keeping the focus on the needs of the child. However, as the parent receives support, he or she will in turn be able to better support the child. Advocates can play a key role in helping a parent understand the importance of actively supporting the child.
One way to open the discussion is to impress upon parents how important they are to a healthy resolution of this situation. Start by sharing what the research says: The strongest indicator of a child successfully adjusting after sexual abuse is parental support (Cohen, Deblinger, Mannarino, & Steer, 2004); support from non-offending parents is the primary need of a child for a positive outcome (Elliot & Carnes, 2001; Scheeringa & Zeanah, 2001). Assisting parents to understand the importance of their role may, in turn, motivate them to get support and counseling of their own. Advocates can further engage parents by explaining how some form of therapeutic interventions may be helpful both in healing themselves as well as helping them deal with the sexual assault of their child. Advocates can provide resources for parents on services that may be available to them within the community.
Some parents will be reluctant to engage in counseling for their own benefit, but may change their minds if they know that it will in turn help their child. If parents are not in a place where they can choose to access services for themselves, advocates can still provide support to parents in navigating options and resources for their children. Free counseling and sliding scale counseling available based on income.
approaches to counseling parents & adults
Trauma Therapy for Caregivers
Trauma-Focused Therapy is a specific approach to therapy that recognizes and emphasizes understanding how the traumatic experience impacts a child’s mental, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. This type of therapy is rooted in understanding the connection between the trauma experience and the child’s emotional and behavioral responses. The purpose of trauma-focused therapy is to offer skills and strategies to assist your child in better understanding, coping with, processing emotions and memories tied to traumatic experiences, with the end goal of enabling your child to create a healthier and more adaptive meaning of the experience that took place in his/her life.
- Realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery
- Recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system;
- Responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and
- Seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.
Benefits of Trauma-Focused Therapy
Trauma-Focused Therapy can be beneficial to youth who have experienced a traumatic event . By engaging in trauma-focused treatment, your child can learn more about what he/she is experiencing,how to address the concerns, and develop healthier ways of coping. The following are a few examples of the benefits of trauma-focused therapy:
Learn About Trauma
Trauma-focused therapy provides a space for children and their families to learn about normal responses to trauma and specifically how a traumatic event has impacted the child and family. This type of discovery and learning helps you and your child to digest why certain thoughts, feelings, and behaviors might occur, gives names and explanations to his/her experiences, and reminds your child that he/she is not alone in his/her experience.
There are a large variety of different activities or strategies that used within the trauma-focused treatment process. These trauma-focused activities may look different based on age, trauma experience, setting, or location. Therapists may use creative strategies and activities to address memories, emotions, or problematic behaviors associated with traumatic experiences as part of the therapy process. These are conducted in a way that is sensitive and unique to your child’s experience and are often used in conjunction with relaxation skills.
Types of Trauma-Focused Treatments
Many different types of trauma-focused and trauma-informed treatments exist today. These may also be referred to as trauma-focused interventions. One intervention type is not “better” than another, but rather each was developed to meet the different needs of individuals and families. Trauma-focused treatments may look different based on age, trauma experience, setting, or location.