Sexual Assault and Abuse Counselling

Support, At Your Pace

Therapy after sexual abuse or assault only works if you are in control of it. So you are.

• You choose your therapist, including whether they are a man or a woman. Tell us your preference and we will match you.
• You choose where. In person in Edmonton, Sherwood Park or Calgary, or online from wherever you feel safest.
• You choose what you talk about, and when. You can say “not today” about anything, for as long as you need to. A session where you never mention the assault is still a session that counts.
• You can bring someone to your first appointment if that is what makes it possible to walk in.
• You can stop, pause, or ask for a different therapist at any time, and you never have to explain why.
• You do not have to report to police to receive counselling here. Whether you report, when, and to whom is your decision. If you want to understand your options, we can talk them through without pushing you toward any of them.

What counts as sexual abuse or assault

If you are wondering whether what happened to you was serious enough to bring here, it was.

Sexual abuse and assault include any sexual act a person has not freely agreed to, or has been pressured into through power, age, a difference in responsibility, or the use of drugs or alcohol. That covers unwanted touching, sexual images shared without consent, indecent exposure, unwanted explicit messages, and assault by a partner, family member, friend, or stranger.

It counts if it happened once. It counts if it happened for years. It counts if it happened when you were a child, and you are only now putting words to it. It counts if you knew the person, if you had been drinking, if you did not fight back, if you did not say no out loud, if you have never told anyone.

Men, women, and non-binary people are all survivors of sexual violence, and all of them belong here.

What you might be noticing

There is no correct way to respond to sexual abuse or assault. Some people feel it immediately. For others, it surfaces years later in patterns and reactions that seem to have nothing to do with what happened. Both are normal.

You might recognize some of this:

In how you feel and think

• Flashbacks, nightmares, or the sense of living it again
• Shock, numbness, or feeling strangely nothing at all
• Difficulty trusting people, including people who have never hurt you
• Feeling worthless, ashamed, or somehow responsible
• Anxiety, low mood, irritability
• Trouble concentrating or getting through an ordinary day
• Pulling away from people who care about you
• Questions about your sexuality, your body, or your identity
• Difficulty with intimacy or sex
• Strain in your relationships
• Symptoms of post-traumatic stress

In your body

• Not sleeping, or sleeping far too much
• Exhaustion that rest does not fix
• Gaps in memory
• Aches, pain, tension you cannot release
• Eating much more or much less than usual

Not recognizing yourself in this list does not mean you do not need support, and recognizing all of it does not mean you are broken.

How we work with survivors

There are several different treatment methods that have been proven to be effective when working with sexual abuse trauma, including but not limited to:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) looks at how the beliefs formed after an assault, particularly beliefs about fault and safety, shape how you feel now
• Person Centered Therapy differs from more traditional therapeutic approaches in the belief that, while the therapist has expertise in many areas, the client is the expert on themselves and their lived experiences.
• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a treatment method that is similar to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) but emphasizes building skills to manage stress, mental health issues, and the psycho-social aspects of relationship building.

Some people want to work through the memory itself. Some want to sleep again, or be touched again, or get through a workday. All of those are legitimate goals for therapy. Your therapist will work with you to determine the best treatment for your individual circumstances and unique needs.

What the first session is like

Fifty minutes, in a private room or on a secure video call.

Your therapist will ask what brought you in and what you are hoping for. You can answer in as much or as little detail as you want. Most first sessions are spent getting to know each other and deciding what to work on, not going through the assault.

You will not be asked to tell the story before you are ready. Some people never tell it in full, and still get what they came for.

If it is not the right fit, tell us and we will match you with someone else. That is a normal thing to ask for, not an awkward one.

If you are supporting someone

If someone has told you what happened to them, being believed may already be the most useful thing that has happened to them. You do not need the right words.

You can book a session for yourself, to work out how to support them and how to carry it. What you cannot do is book on their behalf, because the choice to attend counselling has to be theirs.