Find Services for You
Being an Adult Survivor means asking this question:
“What do I need right now to start my healing?“
What types of services are available to adult survivors?
When you’re preparing to address a history of childhood sexual abuse trauma in your life, it’s important to know some basic information. First, you made a good choice in learning more about this issue. Second, it’s okay to give yourself plenty of time to decide if, when and how to move forward to prioritize your healing.
Childhood sexual abuse creates developmental trauma and survivors who have repeated experiences of abuse or multiple abusers can also have complex trauma needs. This means you may need ample time to address these issues. It’s important to have trained professionals to assist you throughout your journey.
Your needs matter. You deserve a comprehensive process to heal. We’re here to help you understand the provider landscape, so you can make the right choices for you and your healing journey.
In terms of knowing where to begin, it may be helpful to start with the type of issue that is most pressing in your life right now. You may need multiple types of resources and service providers to address your many needs either simultaneously or sequenced over time. Trust yourself and your process. Be empowered to create the right support system around you, as you move forward in each step of your healing journey.
The following list is offered to help you gain knowledge on the types of services available to you. You are always welcome to contact Wings’ Survivor Services Navigator to have a personal phone consultation and be offered referrals in your area.
Service Providers Based on Your Needs
What issues are you experiencing?
Many adult survivors have spent a lot of time feeling “out of control” in their lives and in their bodies, possibly since they originally were in a place of not being in control of what happened to them in childhood. As such, they may adopt ways of “self-medicating” or “coping” to help ease their feelings of overwhelm. This can look like substance use or abuse issues, eating disorders, sex or pornography addictions, even workaholism. We do many things to fixate ourselves on “other” issues to avoid the scary thing that put us in overwhelm in the first place. This is very normal. Recognizing that these addictions may be taking over in our lives and seeking help is a way we can actually start to take healthy control of our lives. If we have active substance abuse, addiction or eating disorder issues, we need specialized support to bring these addictions to a manageable level. There are many organizations that can support you in taking these next steps in your recovery journey.
It is also very common for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse to experience suicidal thoughts. When we can’t see a way out of the pain we are experiencing, suicide may feel like the only option to stop it. Please know – there are many options to heal CSA trauma. The despair you may feel now can shift to peace and wholeness. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to specialists who can assist you. You are not alone. We are with you.
Beginning to consciously address a history of CSA trauma is not easy. It requires us to focus on the reality that our minds and bodies have been protecting us from for decades. We need to make sure we have the personal capacity to allow ourselves to enter into the process of recovery. This means we need to have many of the following needs met:
- Safe and affordable housing
- Being free from current abuse in our lives
- Being free from substance abuse or misuse
- We need a fair and livable wage job to maintain a quality of life. If we are unable to work because of our trauma, we need support systems to assist us as we do our recovery work.
- Being able to take time off work, as needed, for therapy or other healing appointments
- If we have children, we need safe and affordable day care while we attend to our healing process
- If you are a survivor who is struggling with basic needs in these ways, attending to these issues as your first priority will help you be ready for deeper trauma recovery.
Unfortunately, being sexually abused as a child puts adult survivors at a much greater risk of experiencing domestic violence or intimate partner violence as adults. This means you may be experiencing violence in your current dating or married relationship and possibly in your home. If this is your experience, it is important to get support to be safe in your life and in your relationships. There are resources to help you with this called Domestic Violence programs. Many have housing shelter options, if you and/or your children need support in this way. Taking the brave step to prioritize your safety is essential in breaking this cycle of violence that may have been repeated in your life since childhood. You are not alone. Many survivors have made this brave journey.
Human trafficking is when people of all ages are recruited, transported, transfered harboured or received through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. People from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world. It is not uncommon that adults who were sexually abused as children may be more vulnerable to also experience human trafficking, especially if they have fled the home to escape being sexual abused within it. Human traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims. If you have experienced or are currently experiencing human trafficking, know that you are not alone. Help is available.
Many adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse may experience sexual assault in their adult lives, as well. It is not uncommon that this assault may be by someone you know and trust. If this is your experience, it’s important to know that help exists for you. Sexual Assault Centers, sometimes called Rape Crisis Centers, have specialized services to help survivors heal from sexual assault. They may also have services to address an earlier, childhood experience of sexual abuse. Many of these centers have services that are free or donation based. You can find services in your area through a number of resources. If you want to make sure they have resources for you as an adult survivor, be empowered to ask that question.
Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color have faced additional historical and cultural trauma in societies who have privileged White people over all of these groups. This includes the United States and many other countries who have had colonization by European people. If you are a survivor who is BIPOC, you deserve to have all of you seen, heard and responded to with care and compassion. It’s important that providers from whom you seek help are trained in your specific needs and the multiple layers of trauma you may be healing from, in addition to the sexual abuse you experienced as a child.
When seeking services to heal from childhood sexual abuse, your gender identity and expression, as well as your sexual orientation should be welcomed and included in the types of services you receive. If you identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, agender, asexual or other identities or expressions, your needs matter. All of who you are deserves to be seen, heard and responded to with care and compassion. There are questions you can utilize when seeking services to heal.
Childhood sexual abuse is an “everybody” issue, meaning it impacts people from all walks of life, all genders and sexual orientations, all education levels and socio-economic status levels. Yet, myths and stereotypes in our mainstream culture suggest that men should not be emotional, cannot be “hurt” and must be “tough” and aggressive to be men in our culture. This hides the fact that many men experience sexual abuse as children. It is not “weak” to admit that you have been sexually abused as a child and may need support to address that trauma in your life and to heal it. Many men have embarked on their healing journeys and experienced tremendous hope and healing by connecting with others, especially men, who have had similar unwanted experiences. If you are a male survivor, know that you are not alone. There are resources to support you.
Being abused by a person who is a clergy member, religious leader or Priest can be especially harmful to adult survivors. Getting support in this specific arena may be helpful to survivors with these experiences.
For some survivors of childhood sexual abuse, getting faith-based support may be a desire in their healing process, as they may look to faith-based leaders for encouragement, support and referrals. Others may not want to make this choice.
Working one-on-one with an individual therapist can often be a great early step in healing from childhood sexual abuse trauma. Sharing aspects of one’s trauma with one trusted person who is trained to understand the developmental and complex needs of adult survivors can be a safe and helpful way to start unpacking this history. It is important to know that not all therapists are trained on CSA trauma recovery. There are many considerations to think about when selecting a professional with whom to start this work. Our list of questions may assist you.
Peer Support
Once adult survivors have established a therapeutic relationship with a trained and trusted counselor and done ample initial recovery work, they may find that peer support can be an excellent complement to their healing journey. There are two types of peer support options:
- Group Therapy is a more intensive process for adult survivors and is usually offered in conjunction with other mental or behavioral health services. It is led by a therapist who may intervene as needed to provide insights and conduct therapeutic interventions during the group process.
- Support Groups for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse are less intensive and more focused on mutual support and psychoeducation than psychotherapy.
Some support groups that may be offered at sexual assault agencies or elsewhere may not be exclusively focused on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Some may be focused on all survivors of sexual assault, for example. It’s important to consider what you may want to get out of a support group experience if this is an option you want to pursue. Peer support can be a powerful offering for adult survivors. Many report feeling this is the first time they “don’t feel crazy or different” and “don’t feel alone.”
Wings Support Groups are co-facilitated by masters level therapists, and they are peer-led in terms of the topics discussed and ways that the group engages in that dialogue and exchange. The discussion is focused on how CSA trauma is affecting each member today and how they can move forward.
Currently our Wings groups are only available in Colorado. Learn more.
National Resources for Support Groups
Childhood sexual abuse trauma creates impacts to the mind, body, spiritual, emotional and relational aspects of a person’s being. Therefore, the healing journey may prompt alternative or holistic healing opportunities for adult survivors. There is no order in which these modalities may be utilized. Trust yourself and your own needs and interests to explore these types of resources if and when you feel ready. These include:
- Art Therapy / Expressive Arts
- Music Therapy Dance
- Creative Writing and/or Journaling
- Trauma Informed Yoga
- Acupuncture
- Somatic Experiencing or Body Work
In our current prison system today, there is a very high percentage of adults who experienced trauma as children, including childhood sexual abuse. When available to incarcerated individuals, therapy and social services may include treatment for this prevalent health issue. Beginning to connect the dots between experiencing harm by others and choosing to act out in ways that may create violence and harm can be a powerful and important step to changing one’s behavior and world view.
If you are a survivor who is an immigrant or refugee, it’s likely you may have endured traumatic experiences in your journey to find safety. There may be many layers to your trauma recovery process if you also experienced sexual abuse as a child. There are resources to help you process mental health and trauma recovery services, along with other needs you may have in your life. You deserve to be supported in your healing process. We see and honor your courage and resilience.
Disabled survivors of childhood sexual abuse may require multiple resources to navigate their healing journeys. Whether you are blind or visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, or have other physical or mental disability needs, you deserve to be accommodated sufficiently in your process to heal from childhood sexual abuse. Wings is working to adapt our specialized services to be more responsive to these accessibility needs. In the meantime, you may find support through these peer providers for related needs in your life.
When children are sexually abused and a report is made, they may be referred to a Children’s Advocacy Center which is designed to help collect forensic evidence of a recent experience of abuse or assault in childhood. Many CACs may provide counseling services for the child and may sometimes have services for non-offending caregivers of the child. In some cases, adult survivors may be able to access treatment at these centers for the childhood sexual abuse they endured. This is not always the case, though you may be able to inquire at your local CAC if this may be an option. Because CACs may be more likely to understand intrafamilial dynamics of childhood sexual abuse, if you are survivor who was sexually abused within your family, you may want to inquire as to whether a CAC may be able to support you in your healing journey.