Benefits of Counseling:

In seeking counseling at the Sexual Assault Center, you are provided a safe place to share your story of abuse and to receive the support and validation you deserve. SAC therapists help you understand how abuse can affect your daily life, empower you to learn new healthy coping skills, increase your sense of safety and support, and encourage expression of all feelings and emotions related to the abuse. Realizing you are not alone can be one of the first steps to healing and letting go of the guilt and shame that survivors of abuse experience. Seeking therapy will prevent you from continuing to carry the burden of the abuse and allow you to look forward to a hopeful future.

The impact of the crime of sexual assault can be devastating to the victim and their family if they do not receive effective support to regain stability and a sense of safety and security in their lives.
Victims of sexual assault are:

• 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
• 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
• 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
• 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

However, SAC provides hope for healing. If a victim receives therapeutic treatment, he or she is less likely to suffer from long-term trauma-related symptoms, and has a very positive prognosis for healing and recovery. Whether the assault occurred recently or years ago, therapy helps survivors regain a sense of power and control in his/her life.