Using Trauma Informed Care with Sexual Abuse Victims

The Sexual Assault Center of Child and Family Services sees many clients each year, each receiving different treatment strategies crafted to help each person find a way to heal.  The strategies as are as varied as the clients but all of them have the clients’ care at heart.  Susie was one of these clients.

Susie is an 11 year old girl who came to us after being sexually abused by a family member, a story more common than people are aware.  The trauma doesn’t end with the abuse though.  Susie was experiencing extreme sadness, nightmares, painful thoughts, and frequent flashbacks of the abuse.  Victims of sexual assault can suffer with these symptoms for decades without help.

Her therapist decided to use trauma informed care with Susie, a philosophy that someone who experienced trauma and violence can be affected neurologically, biologically, psychologically and socially.  Trauma informed care uses a mix of play, art, and talk therapy to help someone reprocess their trauma, letting them eliminate the symptoms plaguing them from the abuse.

Susie suffered from panic attacks and anxiety, sometimes waking from nightmares and having difficult time breathing.  Using trauma informed care; her therapist taught Susie the Bubble Breathing technique.  She would blow all kinds of bubbles.  She would try to blow as big of a bubble as she could.  She would try to blow as many bubbles as she could.  To her, blowing bubbles was fun.  What she was learning with all of this fun though was how to do a deep breathing relaxation exercise.  Susie was learning to control her breathing, and if she woke from a nightmare, she could practice bubble breathing to relax again.

Susie also had a physical reaction to her trauma.  To help her with this her therapist used a technique called “Where is the Hurt.”  They talked about where in their body they feel their emotions, like how we feel sick when we’re nervous or full of energy when we’re happy.  Susie had a lot of anger from her sexual abuse and she felt that anger the most in her stomach.  After realizing that, Susie was able to understand why her stomach hurt and how she could help it.

Susie went on to successfully graduate counseling with a few new tools in her toolbox to help her cope with the abuse.  She now understands the sexual abuse was not her fault.