You are not alone. It was not your fault. We are here to help.*

sexual assault crisis

and

prevention services

Project Sister Family Services (PSFS) strives to reduce the trauma and the risk of sexual assault, child abuse, and child sexual abuse in the East San Gabriel and Inland Valleys of Southern California by providing a variety of crisis intervention services and outreach and prevention programs.

Services for adults molested as children

Surviving childhood sexual abuse

Many people assume that our sexual assault crisis services are only for adults who have been raped or children who have abused. In fact, nearly half of the work we do in our counseling department at Project Sister Family Services is working with adults who were sexually abused as children. A recent study found that as many as 27% of women and 16% of men had been sexually abused as children. Perpetrators can be men or women although men are more likely to perpetrate sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse may have gone on for years or have been an isolated incident. There may have been one perpetrator or several over years of repeated abuse. Sometimes the perpetrator is unknown to the child but most often it is someone very close to the child. When abuse was on-going with multiple episodes, with a perpetrator known and trusted by the child, the effects of the abuse can be particularity devastating. For some people, the trauma of childhood sexual abuse is compounded by a sexual assault that takes place when they are adults or when their own children are sexually abused, sometimes by the same perpetrator that abused them when they were children. The effects of childhood sexual abuse can be long lasting and impact many important areas of a persons life. Emotions someone might experience include: fear, guilt, anger , sadness, shame, confusion and/or hopelessness.

The effects of abuse can lead to:

difficulties sustaining healthy relationships
low self-esteem
difficulties with sexuality
addiction

and development of long term mental health problems such as:

depression
post-traumatic stress disorder
eating disorders
anxiety disorders

Treatment for the effects of childhood sexual abuse includes individual psychotherapy that helps survivors talk about their experiences with a specially trained psychotherapist who understands the healing process. Group psychotherapy is especially helpful to survivors after some amount of individual therapy allows them to share their experiences with others and learn that they are not alone.

Fortunately, not everyone who experiences sexual abuse as a child continues to experience difficulties as an adult. But for those that do, Project Sister Family Services provides specialized individual and group psychotherapy to address the multiple and varied problems related to a history of abuse. For information regarding counseling at Project Sister Family Services for adults molested as children, please call (909) 623-1619.

*24-hour Help Line • 909.626.HELP (909.626.4357) • 626.966.4155
7 days a week

For immediate crisis assistance, please call our 24-hour Help Line. All other questions or comments can be directed to Project Sister Family Services Information. Questions and comments should be non-emergency in nature and will be answered within a week of receipt.

How can we help?

Counseling groups

Rape survivor group

Adults molested as children (AMAC) - female groups available

Teen survivors of sexual assault or sexual abuse

To schedule individual or group counseling services, please call the Project Sister Family Services business office. (numbers below)

For questions about these groups, please contact Dr. Dina Daleo at 909.623.1619.