Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Such a heavy burden you’ve been carrying…

Are you exhausted… having kept shameful thoughts or panic attacks at bay for YEARS?

Are you lonely… lying next to the person you love, feeling like there’s a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon between you?

Are you scared… fearing how others might react if they knew about your painful past?

Are you bewildered… wondering why you were chosen – how anyone could do that to a kid?

Are you confused… thinking about what past abuse might have to do with your sexuality?

“Why can’t I just get over it??”

You’re probably still asking yourself that, even though it happened a long time ago.

You wish you could. And you’ve tried. Maybe it was booze, pot, raising kids, keeping yourself busy…

But it’s no use. You can’t forget it.

And that’s partly because you received messages throughout your childhood about what it means to be a “man” and many of them were incredibly harmful to you as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse:

Boys don’t cry.

Suck it up and be a man!

Boys aren’t raped or molested.

If any of it felt good, it wasn’t abuse.

Abuse makes men gay.

It’s your fault.

And on and on…

Unfortunately, you probably internalized many of these messages as core beliefs, and those beliefs have been subconsciously directing your thoughts, feelings, and actions for a very long time.

Are you wondering if therapy can help?

You might know that therapy helps female survivors… and are wondering if it can help you, too.

Fear often keeps men silent.

Fear of judgment.

Fear of rejection.

Fear of feeling more shame.

It is time to tell your fear that therapy is safe, strictly confidential, and proven by scientific research to help men recover from childhood abuse.

I know this feels terrifying.

After years of keeping secrets and living in shame, it might seem impossible finally to talk about the abuse.

Knowing that this process will happen at your pace is so important for survivors to feel empowered in the healing process.

I care, but right now, I’m a stranger to you. I know how important it is to build trust and rapport with my clients before they are ready to share the more vulnerable parts of themselves with me.

But you CAN get your life back.

With my systematic approach, we will uncover the core beliefs created by the abuse.

I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of some of the most common and damaging core beliefs associated with childhood abuse. Starting here, we will rapidly identify how your past is negatively impacting your current life. The first step to recovery is awareness. After all, we can’t change things that we do not know are happening!

I will empower you with proven tools and strategies to confront these core beliefs once and for all.

I will teach you evidence-based mind-body strategies to help you begin breaking traumatic associations that trigger these core beliefs. Through mindful awareness, you will become an expert at identifying and calming your trauma reactions before they cause havoc in your life. You will be empowered with critical knowledge about the brain and how your responses make sense, given your past experiences. Most importantly, you will learn how to harness the immense power of the brain to create healthier and more adaptive responses for your life TODAY.

I will help you transform your relationship with fear and shame.

We’ll do this by acknowledging the parts of you that are desperately trying to communicate a need for safety through these feelings.

For many people, the role of fear makes sense: a warning mechanism for threat or danger. But did you know that shame has a very critical, adaptive function that helps children survive trauma, so they carry this emotional response with them into adulthood? Many people don’t know this, and it causes them to judge themselves for feeling the shame they experience. Just like fear is trying to send you a message, so too is shame. Let me help you uncover these messages so that you can move past these old recordings of danger and survivor and step into an empowered present.

You’re going to learn how to create a sense of safety from within.

You don’t know what you don’t know.

If you’ve experienced childhood trauma and have not received the trauma-informed information and care you need to overcome the impacts on your mind and body, it makes sense that you’re not thriving right now.

You were not taught how to identify trauma responses and manage them. Once you know how to do this, you can take back your life from the debilitating thoughts, feelings, and behaviors arising from a traumatic past.

You can go far if you keep taking small steps…

You don’t have to tackle this beast all in one day. You just need to put one foot in front of the other. And I’m here to listen and help… without judgment of any kind.

I also invite you to visit www.1in6.org, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the healing of male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. You can learn about the experiences of men just like yourself and participate in no-cost support groups with people who understand.

You’re not alone in this… and I believe in your strength and resilience.

Give me a call, and let’s talk about how I can help: (407) 885-6151.