If you have been sexually abused, you are not alone. One out of three girls and one out of seven boys, are sexually abused by the time they reach the age of eighteen. Sexual abuse happens to children of every class, culture, race, religion, and gender. Children are abused by fathers, stepfathers, uncles, brothers, grandparents, neighbors, family friends, baby-sitters, strangers, and sometimes, aunts and mothers. Although women do abuse, the majority of abusers are heterosexual men. All sexual abuse is damaging, and the trauma does not end when the abuse stops. If you were abused as a child, you maybe experiencing long-term effects that interfere with your day to day functioning. However, it is possible to heal. It is even possible to thrive. Thriving means more than just an alleviation of symptoms, more than band-aids, more than functioning adequately. Thriving mean enjoying a feeling of wholeness, satisfaction in your life and work, genuine love and trust in your relationships, pleasure in your body (The Courage to Heal, Bass & Davis 1994).

Here at the Women’s Center we are dedicated to helping survivors do just that, thrive. We offer individual counseling as well as have a free support group for women’s incest/childhood sexual abuse survivors that meets every Tuesday at 5:30pm and a free men’s childhood abuse survivors group that meets every Thursday at 6:00pm. Here at the Women’s Center we are humbled by the amazing work our client’s do in therapy. We feel privileged to be apart of their healing process as it gives hope to those that once thought they could not heal the trauma of incest. Here are some quotes from client’s that have successfully completed therapy for incest:

“I always thought, yeah, that is great for them but they are not me when I would hear of other people healing from incest. I thought; I am different. I didn’t believe my therapist when she told me it wasn’t my fault and that I was not a bad person. Now I do. I truly do. Every part of me now knows it wasn’t my fault and I actually love me now. I never thought I would love me. Thank you!”

“I never thought it was possible for me to feel joy in my life and now I do.”

“I never thought I would be ok with me and now I love me.”