Sexually abused children often feel guilt, anger, sadness, shame and confusion.
Child sexual abuse is NOT the childs fault but the child doesnt understand that.
This is where professional counselling helps the child.
· Makes the child realise that the abuse is NOT his/her fault
· Encourages the child to feel good about himself/herself
· Develops the childs self esteem and re-builds his/her self confidence
· Creates a social support structure for the child to fall back upon.
· Minimises focus on the traumatic past abuse, and enables the child to move on and heal
· Comes to terms with the consequences about the abuser when reported and action is taken
The family also needs counselling on handling the child’s emotions and tackling sexual abuse.
Abuse is an incident in the childs life and they need to think beyond that and move on with life. Professional counsellings ultimate aim is to make the child understand that.
Fifty years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, how much you had in your bank account, or what your clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because you were important in the life of a child. – Anonymous