How can Phoenix help support you?
Phoenix believes in supporting their clients through the many stages of dealing with historical child sexual abuse and our counsellors are here to help through every step of the process.
Working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse requires dealing with issues such as:
Assessment
Engaging a client (on their terms), learning to talk, learning to trust, and confidentiality. Client safety the key factor.
Client safety
Environment, relationships, triggering events, sexuality and self-care (as opposed to self-harm or suicidal ideation). Gaining a sense of choice & control.
Being believed and validated
Dominant narratives, validating narratives, deconstructing self-blame narratives, identifying strengths. Immediacy will the therapist reject or abandon me?
Identifying traumas
Challenging denying, minimising, blame shifting, rationalising of traumas. Recognising the impact of trauma & harmful lies the client believes.
Effects of trauma reduced
Identifying triggers, affect regulation, memories, insomnia, hypervigilance, addictions, self-blame, shame, self-harm. Review of client self-assessment at intake compared to now.
Mental health issues
Diagnosis stigma, what does this diagnosis mean? Shame issues. True vs false guilt. Fear of abusing (especially for males.
Identity
Who am I? Grieve loss of sense of self, Gender & sexuality issues, co-dependency issues, and self-character strengths identification. Emotional intelligence.
Integration
Reconstruction of alternate narrative, communication how-to’s, assertiveness vs aggression, sexuality (what is ok for me), boundaries in relationships. Where am I now?
Reconnection
With self (acceptance), significant others (understood), children (safe, competent parenting) and society (work, study, socialising feeling ok).