BCIFV home > Newsletter > 1993 Archives > Fall 1993 articles

Counselling Women at North Shore Family Services

At North Shore Family Services Society we have developed a program for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse based on our belief that the effects of abuse, while enduring, need not be debilitating. Our treatment approach has evolved over time and is influenced by Ericksonian therapy, David Grove, King County Sexual Assault Resource Centre, our intuitive processes and collaborations, and feminist principles (including listening to the needs and voices of women survivors). The healing power of our treatment program is in the variety of services we offer combined with our treatment approach. Given that everyone is an exception, our program attempts to offer women a combination of experiences by using a variety of mediums i.e. art, guided imagery and guided writing.

Included in the program philosophy is our commitment to utilize the strength, courage, resourcefulness and natural abilities of women who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse. We believe that women survivors can make choices, set goals and act upon them firmly and positively in spite of the opposition and challenges encountered. Our goal is to create a supportive environment in which women survivors can share experiences of abuse in ways that allow for a more positive, fulfilling future.

The treatment program combines individual and group counselling with a self-help support group in a way that respects each woman's experiences and needs. Often, but not always, individual counselling is the entry point, followed by a choice of one or all of the group programs. The group component is an essential ingredient of our treatment program. Groups are offered in three stages, Level I, Level II and the Women's Empowerment Group. These groups are supplemented by an open-ended, bi-monthly self-help group facilitated by women survivors who are former clients of North Shore Family Services Society.

From our years of working with women survivors we have learned that the group experience is a powerful catalyst for healing. The act of sexual abuse is an isolating, disconnecting experience, but participating in a group is a supportive, connecting experience. Not only does sexual abuse affect one's relationship with oneself, it affects one's interpersonal relationships. A positive, supportive group experience can be a beginning to learning to trust others, learning to express needs and eliminating the fears associated with the abuse.

Survivors often say that family and friends tell them "that's the past, get on with your life, don't worry about it now, get a job, exercise more." These vague reassurances and isolated suggestions are not helpful. Mastering, transforming,and/or letting go of frightening historical experiences does not generally happen by addressing only the symptoms. The body is a reservoir of memory and feeling separate from the mind. Thus, the therapeutic challenge in helping women to heal from childhood sexual abuse is in finding ways to transform physiological responses (the body), as well as cognitive processes (the mind). Two prominent themes that address this issue in both the Level I and Level II groups are:

1. We develop each woman's repertoire of choices for dealing with feelings of panic, overwhelming anger and fear of being stuck in the past. This is done by physically practicing breathing techniques and visualizations, as well a creating a symbol or an object of safety - which makes safety more tangible and easily accessed.

2. We facilitate the woman survivor's ability to differentiate the self from the abuse. We do this by retrieving the feelings that occurred in anticipation of the abuse and literally objectifying those feelings, therefore externalizing them from the body.

We believe the strength of our program is that it is experientially based. As one survivor said upon completion of the group: "we have made peace with the ghosts that have been haunting our lives and we have attained peace within ourselves and opened the doors to the future."

Kate Blassnitz, M.S.W., Community Family Counsellor, North Shore Family Services Society